An Apple a day

Yesterday was fruit day at my son's school.This inspired me to restart posting...
With a second baby at hand and restricted to the house,I tried using the stuff around my house to create something which doesn't get torn enroute. 
I used brown fabric paint and red and green crayons from my sons box to create this apple cut out worn as an apron.. 
Thank fully it survived the journey and came back..:)

Fabric painting with toddlers

Fabric painting with a three year old is both fun and messy.Since my son expressed interest in fabric painting,I decided to use only minimum colours,but finally had to use many:).He was clear he wanted sun and umbrellas.Finally we came out with this kid painting with inputs from him.It may not be the most artistic,but definitely the most fun painting.:)

Colours in batik

I was just reading about batik.The traditional colours used in batik are brown,indigo and white representing the three hindu gods,brahma,vishnu and siva.brown and indigo is because they are the natural colours available.

Hibiscus flowers

I learnt  a lot of brush strokes from a very good teacher.The hibiscus painting is an adaptation of one such brush stroke using a round brush  where the brush is held vertically after dipping in paint and pressed on to the cloth to spread it hairs around and then pulled back gently and slowly.

Rose petals

Painting rosepetals is lot of fun .Trace the shape of rosepetals and at first paint them white.Now start colouring from bigger end slowly towards middle making shading uniform.

Painting on a bedspread

I wanted to do something different with fabric painting.So I got this picture from the web.It is a very nice picture with clean strokes.

Initially I just drew it to a small white cloth and did my own version with fabric paint.

Then the idea of an enlarged version on a bedsheet.Instead of doing a line by line version as in the first place,I did a freehand enlarged version to make this handpainted bed spread.

Painting on kurtis

Painting on real nice kurti was scary initially.So I tried painting on an old kurti of mine and wore it.Then started painting on newer ones and on ones which my friends and family were generous to let me try on.Things  which I found out while painting:

• Keep it simple.People don't enjoy too much of any design on their kurtis..
• Make sure you don't let the paint spread.If at all it spreads think innovatively,don't panic .Follow the principle,design follows the paint.:)
• You can divide the spaces on Kurti to mainly neck,sleeves,a small design on upper back,borders for slits or the end of the kurti,while doing the whole front make sure you do small repeated designs or stop by making a medium sized design on one corner or centre.
• Kurti may not fit to an embroidery ring.You have to get used to painting on a neatly spread out Kurti.
• Make sure to insert lots of newspaper in between two layers of kurti to avoid spread of paint from front to back.