While shops and restaurants in the city are giving special discounts and food hampers for the festival of lights, artists have gone a step ahead to help their customers gift something unique and personal to their loved ones
CHENNAI: With Diwali around the corner and sales at stores peaking, the Madras Flea Market at Kalakshetra was organised a little earlier than expected. Artists and designers were ready with their canvas, sharpening their pencils, and wetting their brushes to gear up for orders that escalate during the festive season. From kalamkari saris to beaded jewellery, the market had them all and more.
Smitha Krishnan from Chennai works in the HR services by day. By night, she works on outlining and painting murals of several Indian mythological characters on saris. Transforming temple art found in Kerala onto apparels, Smitha’s passion goes beyond the innumerable hours she puts in for one piece of sari. “A lot of these murals take days to complete, with meticulous amount of time spent on adding coats of paints,” she says. “But it’s all worth it. This Diwali season, many have been asking for something different, but, with an Indian touch.”
Having begun her company — Eva Mural — four years ago, Smitha’s works deal with several elements of Hindu mythology — be it a Krishna in the garden and apsara dancing, or smiling Ganesha with his kozhukattais. Inspired by the concept of the Ashtavaranas, each cotton or silk fabric has three coats of paint but with only five colours. Starting with the outline and base coatings, Smitha paints all the features and expressions towards the end, especially the eyes. “Painting the eyes is always done in the end because sometimes you have some expression in mind and over the course of your painting, you may change it. The eyes get our full attention as opposed to other features,” she elaborates.
With customers opting for new sets of apparels this Diwali, Smitha has had bulk orders, toiling days and nights into perfecting her murals on materials. “My work is expensive with most of them starting from `5,000 onwards. But they last for 10-12 years and aren’t ordinary traditional attires,” she says.
Caricatures as gifts
Caricaturist MR Rajamaran excels in what is otherwise an underrated profession. With the speed at which he wields his pencils and presents one’s face on paper, Rajamaran knows that this Diwali, giving unconventional gifts is in. He has been specialising in customised caricatures for the past 10 years, having a busy stall at weddings, corporate events, and exhibitions.
“I can finish a caricature within a few minutes. And if there are a lot of them, then you give me two hours and I’ll finish them all,” he smiles. Having finished 60 caricatures under three hours, his passion is never time bound. “I used to work as a health inspector in the medical field. I always had this passion but I had to seek permission from the family before taking it as a career,” he laughs.
Adopting a unique style, Rajamaran’s caricatures have animated squeezed heads of his muse or subject. “It’s different, you wouldn’t see this in the works of other artists,” he says. While he indulges in the occasional live sketchings of the environment around or that of temples, Rajamaran likes to focus on making customised caricatures and printing them out in a jiffy.
Call Eva Mural at 7871249012 or email evamuralpeople@gmail.com
For customised caricatures, call Rajamaran at 9176914336 or visit www.caricatureindia.com