2017-Backyard plants - 3

My last post (too much delayed) for 2017 summer backyard returns. First time ever I got Methi (Fenugreek ) in my backyard. I also had first time Turai/beerakaya/bottle gourd. It is a wonderful feeling to have organic vegetables right in backyard and have fresh food items made from them.

First time yield of fresh turai -

Only yield of Dosakaya/Yellow cucumber as the total creeper was killed by the squirrel's this time:

Some pictures and vegetables output from the backyard in 2017 from May - August 

Canvas Art -(2) kolam/muggu - for gifts

I saw this idea at someone's place (actually at two homes atleast) and loved the simple idea of saving the tradition as well as showcasing it in such a way that it blends in with transitional style. Past christmas I gave some as gifts. Finally I made 4 for my home. There were several parts that needed to be decided - choose the indian muggu that goes on it and figuring out how much space it needs and how big or small can we make and what colors would look nice.

I am big fan of metallic colors as it has a little ting of glow with it. So I chose mostly the metallic peacock pearl color, metallic berry, satin lipstick, satin red, regular black, white, metallic green (winter color) etc.





Here are some pics :

Canvas Art - (1) Initials

I tried looking at online to do something easy and fun for kids as well as me or as a gift, I saw the initial project at one of the website and started trying those. I made my kids do it for their own rooms with their initials. They liked it.

I also gave it as present to close family who has newly borns. I am happy how they turned out. Here are the pictures of some of them I/kids made:

Here are the final ones of what my kids made:
(We learnt from my son's one that we should stop at a point otherwise it will be too much rounds).

My first gifts I made - initials : I like the green and blue colors. However I still feel I could have made the A even more better. 

Another gift ready to be given (lots of names start with "A")

How to do - the first two pics shown are given below:

The color combinations I used are explained in picture below:

Paint the surfaces with the color you want. Paint the sides also. Let them dry and do a second coat of paint if needed. 

Use the circular dots, dip in paint and apply on the canvas. make sure you do not apply too much. adjust the paint with a small brush. Let them dry. If you are not satisfied, apply another coat of the paint on top again of the white dots using brush. 

Now I am not a free style artist, so I practiced the initial on paper first, then I tried to do the initial on the canvas using a paint of self color that way it is not that evident. I then applied the paint on it. That is how I achieved the initial canvas.