A Royal Elephant.

Homesick (for my hubby), desperately wanting to go back home...but visa requirements necessitate staying for some more time....ahh well!!
                                          In the meantime, trying to keep busy. Here goes..

     

Vonderful Valentines

I'm an internet addict and can spend hours looking at other peoples' gorgeous creations. In this post, I am compiling some unusual love-themed art work. Hope visitors to this post will get inspired and surprise their special someone with a lovely valentine gift !

Here is one of the most beautiful, yummiest and easiest things to do on Valentine's Day. Simply dip some strawberries half in chocolate and enjoy with your sweetheart. (Strawberries really do look like little hearts!)




Here's a heart shaped terrarium for a plant lover-




Soap that smells like beer - the perfect gift for him...





Classy and stylish phone/ipod stand -




Japanese love candle, great for mood lighting at home -

            



Oh-so-cute frame-able art (I'd love to receive this...)




Driftwood heart - Awwwsome...


The list is too big to complete in one post really....Might do another one on interesting Valentine Gifts.




All pictures are from  etsy.com

Fantasy Creatures: Mermaid

Mermaids have fascinated mankind ever since man first ventured out in the oceans. I wonder who first described a mermaid and what made him (I am assuming it was a man who saw gorgeous fish-women in the waves; a woman seafarer would definitely have seen a handsome merman) imagine a woman who was half fish. Perhaps he had been a long time at sea and was lost in the thoughts of his young lady and that made his imagination run riot, perhaps it was some trick of the sun on waves or it is possible that he really saw a mermaid.

             Mermaids may even have been friendly to humans initially, but they came to know the humans too well after only a short while; and very wisely, they decided to retreat to deeper waters and not show themselves anymore to humans. Hmmm....

Here's Miss Mermaid with a Trident.

Fantasy Creatures:Dragon head

Another version of the dragon...

Fantasy Creatures : Dragon

Here is one version of the dragon. Another one is in the making. Will be complete soon.

Peacock

       Made a peacock in henna style...ink on paper. This is not the final version. I want to finish the image in photoshop and add an off white background before getting it printed, but I don't know how to do that in photoshop yet (I'm a little technologically handicapped).
           Meanwhile, I have to be satisfied with pen and paper.

                                                                         

Also working on a series of fantasy creatures...coming up next..

Suiseki

            Many people are familiar with the oriental arts of Bonsai and Origami. Today, through this page, I want to introduce a less well-known Japanese art form called Suiseki. Suiseki are small, natural stones kept and admired for their form and beauty. They usually suggest a natural geographic form, like a mountain, lake or waterfall in miniature.
                              Suiseki are displayed on wooden bases called 'daiza' which are carved to fit the stones, or in shallow trays known as 'suiban'. Whenever I go on holiday, I am always on lookout for such stones. So far, I have not found any.... maybe it was there, but I just did not have the eye to see it. After all, beauty is all in perception and the more subtle forms of beauty do require a trained eye....



A waterfall on a rocky mountain.





A mountain range. Don't miss the beautifully carved base. In suiseki, the daiza is as important to the overall beauty of the piece as the stone.



One can't help but marvel at the beautiful natural patterns...no artist like mother nature..!
Happy New Year to all!

All images are from various websites. See the original images and more here, here and here.