"Kaavi Kale", traditional art of Konkan

India is a land of traditions and art. There are so many folk, traditional art forms which are still alive, specific to a particular region and being practiced. There are also few art forms which is struggling to find their place either due to lack of patronage or due to lack of people to carry forward the tradition. Once such art which was once popular and slowly declining is the 'Kaavi Kale' of the Konkan Region of India.
'Kaavi Kale' famous in the Konkan areas mainly in Goa, South Canara(Coastal Karnataka) and few parts of coastal Maharashtra. 'Kaavi' is the reddish brown pigment obtained from the laterite soil and 'Kale' means art. The ingredients for this art is abundant in the coastal regions and hence this art finds presence in the Konkan. This is the only color used in these murals and forms a fine example for the monochrome art.
This form of art is said to be originated in Goa and the Saraswats spread them to other regions in the Konkan.
A mixture of burnt snow white lime, river bed sand, jaggery is made initially and left to ferment for two weeks. This mixture is hand pounded to make it smooth, later mixed with Kaavi and smeared on the walls. The desired design is etched on this layer and its smoothened by river pebbles. Water is is sprayed frequently for couple of days while this layer is hardened(It may sound simple but one needs to be expert in etching as well as good in Material Science).
The main features in this art are the deities, floral motifs, and characters from the epics like Ramayana, and Mahabharata. Most of the time the engraving depends on the main deity of the temple.
These murals look outstanding on the white walls and there is no doubt you will be left impressed by their beauty. Sadly in the name of modernization, the Kaavi work is on the verge of getting extinct.

On the outer walls of Udupi Shri Krishna Temple

Besides the main entrance(Mukhya Dwara)  of a small temple in Chempi, Udupi

Marikamba Temple, Sirsi, Karnataka

Outside Kaniyoor Math, Udupi, Karnataka

Dot Art to decorate

A very happy and prosperous new year to all my dear readers. I have been too busy to post anything. According to latest article in prime newspaper of India, Indian women are most stressed out. I think it's so true in most of our cases whether we are employed or homemakers. While sometime when I am awake in middle of the night, I would be thinking what should I do tomorrow, what should I cook, what should I pack for lunch etc.,. I keep reminding myself to take everything slow and love what you do at least once a day.
Coming to my post today, it's simple and I think you need to have a very little artistic talents. It's the dot painting.

Dot painting are part of the Australian Aboriginal art form. They are done using naturally available materials. It's vibrant, interesting, aesthetic, and these arrays of pattern of dots may seem meaning less to us but they do have some meaning to the Aboriginal artists. Each painting tells a story and are hidden sacred meaning, known only to the artist, hidden to the westerners. More about this art read from here

What I have done doesn't have any serious meaning but inspired by Aboriginal art. I created few simple art just to decorate my home walls. I drew the design on a handmade colored sheet roughly and used ear buds to put drops of acrylic paint on the design. If you want smaller dots then do let little paint drip from the ear buds(just a small touch to the paper)and for larger dots drip more paint. Do not add water to the Acrylic Paint, use as it is from the bottle.
My art teacher mentioned about these kind of Painting, and the first one was done in our class. This was done on a green colored fine handmade paper.

My husband had a T-Shirt bought as a souvenir from a recent trip and I loved the elephant face so much that I wanted to try that using dot painting. My second attempt was this.

 

So how did you like my painting? Want to try yourself? Have a wonderful, and happy year ahead.