পয়লা বৈশাখ

 জীবনের একটা বিশেষ সময়কালে আমি কালীঘাট অঞ্চলে থাকতাম। মায়ের মন্দির মুখি রাস্তা সবসময় জমজমাট থাকত। এক এক পূজো পার্বণে এক এক সম্ভার সাজিয়ে দোকানীদের দর হাঁকাহাঁকি চলতো। 

এর অন্যতম পয়লা বৈশাখ যেটা আমার খুব পছন্দের। মা লক্ষ্মী ও গনেশ পূজো আর হালখাতার নানান উপকরন দারুন লাগতো আমার। অফিস ফেরৎ শুধু ভালো লাগার কারনেই সে সব কিনে আনতাম। লাল শালুতে মোড়া খাতা, তাতে পুরোহিত সিঁদুর দিয়ে  মাঙ্গলিক চিন্হ আঁকবেন, তামা আর দস্তার পয়সা সাজাবেন, আর বাটা হলুদে পয়সার ছাপ দেবেন। কি সুন্দর প্রথা, যার সবগুলিরিই অন্তর্নিহিত মানে আছে। 

পেরেছি কিনা জানিনা, অনেকটা  সেই আদলটা আনার চেষ্টা করলাম এই ব্লাউজ টিতে। 

Motif টি এমব্রয়ডারি ও এপ্লিকের মাধ্যমে করা হয়েছে। ব্লাউজের হাতায় ওই দস্তার পয়সা আর  তামার ১ নয়া পয়সা এমব্রয়ডারি করা হয়েছে। 

P.S. আমার এই সৃজন শীল কাজ আমি শখে করি, যেটাকে hobby বলা হয়, আজ থেকে বহু বছর আগে থেকে, বলা যায় ছোটবেলা থেকেই।চাকুরিরত অবস্থায় সেটাতে কিছুটা ভাঁটা পড়েছিল। শখটা আরো অনেকের সঙ্গে ভাগ করে নেবার জন্য এই social mediaর

মাধ্যমটা বেছেছি। ভালো লাগা  থেকেই অনুপ্রেরণা ।

Embroidery

 This is an European counted thread embroidery sample book. 

Date: early 17th century.

 Region: Spain Italy

Saved from The Metropolitan  Museum of Art.

How beautiful is this. A form of Art originates in one place and then migrates to different places. Ancient Indian hand embroidery used in dresses and bed linen in Royal families, as I have seen in the Indian museum and Palace museums in Rajasthan were mostly satin, stem stiches, chain stitch done with silk threads or resham and pure zari. The stitches used in hills were little different. Even then the Chambal rumal embroidery is mostly stem and satin stitch. The one used in Kashmir is Kasmiri stitch which is a modified satin stitch outlined with another thread.

Indian counted thread traditional embroidery like Kuchh embroidery in Gujarat, kasuti and Lambani in Karnataka and others seem to have been inspired from these  European embroidery stitches and then modified according to the taste and culture of the particular region of the craft.

My first batik experience

Something happened a few days back. Something I did 45+ years back, has been preserved with so much love and care in my uncle's home in NewYork. A  photo of the same has been sent to me by my brother a few days back. The batik has lost its original colour a bit with time, which is quite obvious.
My uncle passed away in last March and now my brother wants to shift it to their home in Brooklyn. He says, a small part at the bottom is ripping off and so he has to be extra careful while shifting the batik artpiece. I am deeply moved. Cannot believe this! I thank God.
 My first batik expeience of Omar Khaiyyam wall hanging in hand wax resistant batik using blue, maroone, yellow colour on white background. The wall hanging was 4 ft×3ft approx. I made the drawing on a newspaper from a reference small picture in a book ( because large white paper was not readily available). I did two such pieces, one with white and one with black background and complemented the colours accordingly.  The wax painting was done with a fine paintbrush and molten wax mixed with rajan which was continuously being heated in a small aluminium glass over a lighted haricane. After wax painiting the first dip in the first chosen colour and the process repeated few times. All these art activities were done in a small 10×10ft room which I and my friend Indrani shared. I am grateful to my friend for her patience.

l learned batik during my college days from my friends in kalabhaban in Shantiniketan. Shantiniketan has given me my best time of my life and my passion for art and music. I am deeply indebted.

My journey in creative wearable art started way back in 2006 after I took a voluntary retirement from a Financial Instiution where I worked for almost 30 yrs. It was initially more like a hobby, which still is, but slowly gathered momentum with the support of my elder sister and friends. They started liking my projects. At the age of 50+ I started what I always wanted to do when I was young, but could not do.
Now at the age of 60+ I am full of creative ideas and enjoying my work. I love to do everything a new project needs, by myself, starting from conceptualisation, rough drafting, sourcing of raw materials to final execution.  People appreciate my work which keeps me going.
I thought of showing a glimpse of my workstation and creations and hence this post.

                     Paper boat first sketch

Design for Debi blouse was finalised after three drafts and two samplings

          Debi saree sketching of face of Maa

           Mrinalini blouse placement of lines  from the song with the drawing

         Sketching for Celebration of life was a                             real challenge

                     First sketch of Malati

Apur sangshar.. 'kawtha diyechho''

I have been greatly influenced by Satyajit Ray's work.
Apur sangshar, concludes one of the greatest film series of all time, Satyajit Ray's  Apu Trilogy, which chronicles the life of one ordinary Bengali boy as he traverses the road from childhood to maturity. 
In the story, Apu, ( Soumitra Chatterjee) gets married to  a girl from a well off family and brings her to his one room attic in North Kolkata. The wife, Aparna (potrayed by Sharmila Tagore), brings conjugal bliss into Apu's life. One morning Apu finds a message scribbled on his cigarette pack, reminding him to smoke less! Aparna influences Apu's life with her love and care for her husband. 
    This romantic scene inspired me to create this embroidery.

Step by step embroidery of the cigarette pack.
The design is drawn on fabric using carbon paper and lead pencil. Defining the lines by stem stitch using two strands of Anchor embroidery floss. Hearts have been filled by satin stitch.

 

I never thought myself as an artist in the true sense because I have never had  professional   training in any form of art. I just love art in any form and always tried to learn the best out of everything artistic. When I was a child I painted a scenery of a semi urban scene in water colour as homework of my art class in school.  My teacher felt that I got it painted by an artist in my family. As a punishment I was given five more pictures to paint. I composed and painted five scenes from Kobiguru Rabindranath Tagore's "Pujarini" and showed them to my teacher. She did not say a word and just put right marks on the pages. But I knew she was convinced this time that I did all the paintings. Later, I completed the series of 15 more scenes from "Pujarini". That is how painting and craft came to me. I feel, even if you don't have the formal training, you can do it if you have the passion and will. 

For me, creativity is not just a hobby, it is a way of life.  Embroidery is my passion from my childhood. Working from the scrap.... I have always done that and have always loved to do. Conceiving ideas and putting them into  shape and form is a continuous process for me. Not everything turns out to be perfect, you have to deal with failure . But when you get the right result, the joy is tremendous and this keeps me going.