Wednesday 23 December 2009

Commissioned artwork

commissioned
Title: ''Maa-meye'' (Mother-daughter in Bengali)
Size: 30 cm x 50 cm
Medium: Acrylic on pre-stretched gallery wrapped canvas
Finished with a mix of matte and brilliant acrylic varnish.

close_up
The text in Bengali says:
''মধুর আমার মায়ের হাসি চাঁদের মুখে ঝরে''
(Madhur amar mayer hashi chander mukhe jhore)
(Transliteration: My mother's smile, sweet like honey,
drips from her face as radiant the moon)
I have used brilliant varnish only on the text and the jewels so that
the rest of the painting has this matt effect, letting these elements stand out .

Ref_com-1
This was the photo that was sent to me from the Collector, Arnab,
of his beautiful wife Sunita and their lovely daughter, the reference for my composition.

close_up
This is how my mom used to tie my hair when I was a little girl,
with a generous dose of warmed coconut oil (which is considered to be the age-old-Indian-secret-potion to long-healthy-shiny hair)!!!
The hair-do is called a ''kala-binuni'' (binuni in Bengali means plait)
and very popular even today (more in towns and villages)
for little girls in many parts of Bengal.
I thought this goes beautifully with our folk theme.
Arnab had a suggestion and asked me,
during the conceptualization of this portrait, the possibility of adding
a "....half-open red lotus with stem in the mother's hand...''
as ''....the symbol of love, protection, purity & fertility/eternity...."
The parrot in the background was also something he had proposed initially.
Both, I was happy to add.

close_up
Bengali elements in this portrait:
White saree with a red border worn in the traditional drape
(a bunch of household keys were tied in a knot at the end of the saree
behind the left-shoulder), the bangles,
the red 'bindi', the style of the blouse with lace border,
text taken from a very popular Bengali poem,
the hair-accessories seen from behind the mom's chignon and of course the little girl's hair-do,
the ''Tiya'' or parrot on a bird-perch is also a favourite Bengali household pet.

10 comments:

pRiyA said...

hi dee,
the girl's hair is absolutely incredible as is the detailing in your work as always.
it is very interesting to read about the different symbols you have used.

wishing you a wonderful festive season!
love,
priya

word verif is 'supeoru', that's very much how super is pronounced here anyway.
;-D

pink dogwood said...

Oh my God - I am speechless - this is so beautiful. You are just amazing.

Parv Kaushik said...

cannot wait to get a job get a salary and get paintings done from you!! i already have in mind which ones i want... my future home is yearning for your paintings!!

jokes apart.... glad you pasted the original pic of the mother-dauther duo!! they must be blessing you for your art piece m sure!!

wonderful piece of art!!

nolaa gallery said...

this is very special! I love all the depth (emotionally) that you have given to this!

hope all is well with you my friend!
((hugs))
jen

Jean-Louis Beylard-Ozeroff said...

Simply gorgeous !

Param Chatterjee said...

Awesome awesome awesome... the eyes are so beautiful; PLease keep painting..best wishes

Miriam said...

Un caro abbraccio e un felice 2010!

Rupa said...

Dee, what can I say? Absolutely heart warming, gorgeous painting as usual! It's amazing how you can come with that painting just from a photograph. It's not like you are just imitating the photo, it's more like you are adding blood and soul to it and bringing out the life from the picture! Lucky lady/daughter that received it.

Deepa Gopal said...

Fab!!! Each and every detail is so fine, refined!
I just LOVE your works:)Esp Maa-Meye is so dear to me coz I am totally attached to my mom and so is my daughter to me...all that feeling swarmed me at the sight of this gorgeous painting.
Good Day!

AJ said...

DEEEZZZZ.... I wish I cud SUE YOU!!! Why on earth? Heck your painting are saala SOO DARN Addictive!!! I LOVE them (confession: might have seen them like 1,212 times till now). I love those eyes, the textures and the earth your work carries. Superkkk!!! Know I always loved to paint, but never ventured into it. Now, time and again, as I google your name for this blog, I think it's high time I took the brush. God bless you girl and keep doing such KILLER work :=)

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