Cinderella: A Tragedy

Just imagine…
You make a painting taking great efforts… You waste a lot of colour trying to make the perfect colour tone… You finish the painting and you get immense satisfaction that it looks good… you show it to your dear ones and they are full of praise for your talent… you preserve your painting… nothing should fall on it… and it should not fall down… days flies away… you think nothing can go wrong now…
Then… tragedy strikes.
You had made another painting… you had kept it with your previous painting… when you take them out of their safe place you see that they are stuck together. Two creations destroyed together...
Well, I don’t have to imagine such a situation. It has happened to me. Not once but twice. The above painting, which I named 'Cinderella', had stuck with another painting. I had to do some patchwork on it, but I was able to restore it.

So the tip for the day is: Never keep two glass paintings together. Glass paint and outliner are super sticky. When you try to take apart two stuck paintings, the outliner and colour will peel off. So you have to be very careful and try to avoid this situation by storing paintings separately. And get them framed as soon as possible.

Flower: A Glass Painting

In this painting, instead of outliner, I used glass colours that had dried a bit.
You can also make outliners with fabric paint and glue- Just mix a drop of fabric paint with a teaspoon of glue. This way you can get outliners of different colours.But personally, I prefer black colour outline as black sets the outline of a picture without interfering with the picture itself.

Glass Painting

I love painting on glass. It is, most probably, the easiest method of painting. There is no need to add water or oil. All you need is:
1) A transparent base like a glass or a plastic sheet. You can even use a mirror, a bottle, a jar, etc.
2) The picture you would like to draw
3) Glass outliner
4) Glass paint
All you have to do is:
1) Keep the picture under a glass. Fix the picture properly with clips or cello tape.
2) Copy the picture to the surface with outliner. Let it dry for at least 2 hrs.
3) When it is dry you can start filling the design with glass colours.
4) Always keep the base on a flat surface. Glass paints are not very thick, so they will flow to a side if the glass is tilted.
5) Let the picture dry for at least 7 days. Guard the picture from dust when it is kept for drying. You can keep the painting inside a closed area like a cupboard.
Now you know the basics of making a glass painting. There are many tricks to make your painting beautiful. I will post them in the coming days.

St. Anthony: This is a glass painting I made for my Aunt.

I used fabric paint for the flowers. Using more than one kind of paint for a picture will enhance the beauty of the picture.

Pista nut Peacock

This is the picture of the Pista Nut Shell Peacock I made a few years ago.

Its very easy to make. These are the things you will need-

1. Pista nut shells or any hard shells

2. Thermocole or cardboard sheet.

3. Glue

4. Paints.

First trace the picture you want to make on the thermocole sheet.

Then paste the shells on the sheet. The pista shells will have salt on them. So it must be washed and dried.

After the glue dries, its time to paint the picture.

You can use any type of paint- Fabric, glass, acrylic, sparkles...

You can also decorate your paintings with beads or sequiences or glass pieces. I put beads for the peacock's crown.

After the painting is done you can put some polish on it to give it a glow and protection.

Then for further protection you can frame it.

Hope you will try it and let me know when you finish.

Warning! Killers on loose.

Don’t worry. They are not the ones which lurk in your house with big knives. But beware! If you get out of your house you are likely to get one right behind you.
Well, I am talking about the omnibuses. I know they are no longer called omnibuses. They are called just buses. But their behaviour on the roads of Kerala is like they are omnipotent. So I thought I should give them some respect.
Bus- accidents and the subsequent deaths have become so common in Kerala that people are no longer shocked when they read newspapers. It is shocking only if we get an accident- free week.
Just think… loosing two of your kids to one wild bus. Rosna (10) and Rinsana (12)- latest victims of the monster bus. The sisters were walking to their school when a bus, trying to make way for a speeding tipper lorry, lost control and hit them and their friends. The onlookers reacted immediately by attacking the bus. The sisters died on the way to hospital. Their friends are recovering in hospitals from serious injuries.
The T.V news channels started the race to grab the attention of people with live discussions and debates. Ministers, union leaders, citizen. All argued-accused-defended. The bus union leaders tried to put blames on faulty roads; but clever news reporters questioned them this way and that way and finally made them accept that the driver should have been more careful. Reporting finished. There was a hartal. And tributes were paid to the sisters. Nothing more.
There is no improvement in bus driving. Roads are still full of gutters.
Why do these buses race?
There are many reasons. First there are too many buses. If you stand at Marine Drive, one of the busiest places in Kochi, you will see at least three buses, with the same route and destination, waiting for passengers simultaneously. They race to become the first to get to the next stop (which is just a few walks away). If they get there first they get more passengers.
Then they race just for showing who’s the boss. And if there is any personal grudge between the drivers, a shower of choicest swear words will accompany the race.
Recently bus drivers got counseling classes. They said in many interviews that they felt better. That they didn’t want to race anymore. But the counseling was given only to a few, so there was no visible change. There should be more counseling classes focusing on more numbers of drivers. And the pathetic roads must be repaired. It is not just for buses but also for any vehicles. There will be no development in any field if there is no safe transportation. It is something that our Government should focus on.

May their souls rest in peace: Rosna and Rinsana