To the glorious 2015....

In the silence of the early wee hours, snatching a moment here amidst the peace to report our year end post.

As the holidays are approaching, I will be missing in action. Yes, we will be off the map and heading to create another memorable vacation and catch up with some much needed family time since the older one left the nest. We all are keen and so ready to get extra spoiled with lots of sunshine and grey sky and blue ocean sort of escape.

You all have been a real treat of my blogging. Even though, blogging was something I certainly did not plan on or thought of, though sharing bits and pieces of my life with you all, folks with good taste, has touched many lives and have made many wonderful new friends. Thank you for being there and tying me in your life. I had a great year connecting with you all, even though I am still learning to harness the expertise of the blogging ;)

 

After today this Pinkz is going to hibernate until over New Year. So, here is a shout out for a great ending to a glorious year and a toast for a wonderful New Year to crack open new decorating ventures. Until than suspend the guilt and indulge in the Christmas goodies , spend time with your loved ones and enjoy your holidays peeps! Do stay connected on my Instagram gallery to travel along with me,  toodles!

"Christmas Blues"

With the virtual world overflowing in dazzling array of Christmas décor, I am also nursing Christmas Blues. As the holiday spirit is inching closer, our home is festive ready touching every corner.  After my decked foyer for the season, our Living Room is also party ready garnished with the touches of aqua blues this year. So, come on in, grab yourself a chair and soak up the pictures on the post.

 

For a bit of whimsy, this year, I am ditching out the idea of traditional tones of the season and making it merry with blues.  

 

Pre-lit Christmas tree has been with us for 3 years but for a change I have weeded out few old heirloom pieces and have mingled new ones. Though, the excitement of decorating the tree wasn't the same this year without our young lady.

 

Clusters of my favorite blue accessories are flanked on the coffee table taking the center stage in the room. These accents not only bring jovial note but also imbue the room with festive air.

 

 

Most of the décor accessories in this room are from Michael’s purchased last year on seasonal sale after Christmas. A seed of "blue theme” Christmas was already planted back then :). With the year-end clearance sale, I ended up paying extremely small prices on most of them.

Our gifts are never made of any big ticketed objects; it’s always those silly, thoughtful things to make our loved ones smile.

To enliven our mantel, along with a long Christmas garland few fistful of lights are entangled in for that glow at night. Extra candles and lanterns are added to shine brightly to reflect the holiday glimmering. 

When the evening sets in, it sparks more radiance in the room. The best part of the holiday season is to simply curl up by the fireplace and watch the twinkling glow of the lights.

Hope this inspiration will lead you to cut and paste your holiday touches around the home. You may peek into last Christmas posts here and here.

 

With the whirlwind of shopping and brightly lit streets, it’s impossible to not get caught up in the year end celebration. May you all have a merry and positive Christmas in the world around you, until we meet again enjoy the last transitional days of the year. And do stay connected on facebook page of Pinkz Passion for more décor dose, toodles!

 

Christmas Cheer!

Christmas merriment is settling in the Christmas caroling on your drive to work or while you sought the answer of the perfect gift for the loved ones in the aisles of the stores. With approaching Christmas holidays, the home will be affording a perfect flow of the favourite crowd around, so little sprucing up for the holidays and easy-to-follow steps are scattered here to get you ready for the season to exhibit the warmth and affection of the season.

 

A front foyer spreads a welcome even before you do and for me it’s a winning location with an interesting display to grace any occasion. 

 

Collection of some glittery, glitzing objects has turned a table into surface that sings a Christmas cheer.  I have narrowed the range of colors by keeping it simply traditional tones of bold red and green for the festive.

Again I ran an eye on what I had and deftly mixed and matched an eco-friendly way. Jewel colored baubles are placed neatly in a clear glass which is rested atop the candle wreath ring.

Don’t underrate the power of candles; they set a place aglow like nothing else can. Multiple sizes, matching colors, glass votive or simple ones are a budget friendly way to make over a room.  My chalkboard is also placed here with a quote to spread Christmas spirit. Few trinkets are chosen solely to rest on the table to add more detail. 

Few small Christmas figurines are dotted for a visual appeal along with a twig Christmas tree in a vase. 

My shadow box is a witness of my celebrated seasonal touches. With the bang of any seasonal styling, it gets the transformation from functional to fantastic.   

I combed through the bin of the Christmas storage and mounted up this look without letting my budget break any limits. Hope this post will serve you as an entrée for the ideas to kick-start your own, do share your thoughts on the post, here or on Facebook. Don't forget to peek in our dazzling Living Room bathed in all blue for this Christmas, toodles!

A fairy tale castle (Mihir Garh - A boutique hotel)

Embark on a journey with me, today we are heading to another signature boutique hotel, Mihir Garh, a place where holiday, escapism and nostalgia go hand in hand.

Mihir Garh, is a motivated and designed brainchild of a couple Sidharth Singh and his wife Rashmi. The duo uplifted their vision and expression of their individuality, all united by an attention to detail extravagant fortress hotel near Jodhppur, Rajasthan, India. With a desire to share this heaven on earth, a sophisticated sand castle rising in the  middle of the dessert was built with attentive and carefully chosen interiors by Rashmi. 

Cut out arches or "zarokhas" are windowed in different walls through out the property, giving them a royal and stylish touch or gadh.

Zarokhas in this area, with clever touches of red in traditional seating is richly layered.

 

Most marvelous shade of aqua blue is my absolute favorite. Here also the same blue with rich and sumptuous peacock painting are adorning another mud wall with "zarokhas", balanced by repeating the same intensity of peacock blue color in cushions as well.

Collection of stand out brass pieces are grouped on the coffee table and are also scattered around the room for classic and timeless ambience evoking the very much styles of "Maharajas".

 

Design and décor is done meticulously  by the owner Rashmi, customizing every detail. Jewel-toned fabrics and even the jewel toned mudded fireplace not only cheer the craftsmanship of the local artisan but also add a focal point in the room. With few collective brass concentrated on the table and side table increases the over all visual impact.

Garh with only 9 private suits and each room is a total chill out zone belting out the stories of craftsmanship of local artists, decorators, carpenters, masons. Each room is with private plunge pool and a terrace. 



Backing into the dunes of dessert

 

Wrapping up the post with the view which makes me want to exhale a sigh of relaxation, as I head back to reality accepting the cold winter in my part of the world. If you like to view more of it, visit here. Until we meet again, stay connected, toodles!

Images: Mihir Garh

Rashmi Krishnappa - An Inspiring Artist

When it comes to the nitty-gritty of a subject art, I personally feel it is a mirror of artist’s inner self and unique individuality which is bound by anything but their own imagination. Being surrounded by the artist of the home, I have deepened into the understanding of the art through her eyes.  Though, our today’s self-taught artist Rashmi Krishnappa firmly interprets art as a creativity and imagination combined with loads of love, patience and tiny bit of skill. 

Recreated with an outline of a clip art on a colored paper

Our today’s spotlight is on an inspiring artist whose work is only anchored by mainly two gauges paper and pen. Her body of work can be called pen-art or ink-art using micro pens such as gel pen, sharpie pens and all kinds of markers in varying sizes. I have often witnessed my young lady in the home keeping herself busy doodling while talking on the phone or day dreaming despite studying for an important exam. After eyeing Rashmi’s work I realized that the focused art evolving beneath your pen is the creative process that starts with just a doodle. Rashmi derives inspiration for her art from everyday events and festivals. Her right combination of various art involves intricate patterns, tattoo designs, Mandalas, anything related to Hinduism. 

 

Rashmi, a software engineer and a mom of 2 beautiful children, rekindled her love affair with art after a gap of over 20 years. The lady, who left her art love many moons ago, is now shining brightly through her work. Rashmi coins: I rediscovered art and I find it very relaxing and therapeutic, I continue drawing now because it makes me feel good and I love it. My oeuvre includes influence from Zentangle and tattoo designs and my patterns are also influenced by madhubani, Warli and henna patterns. 

Creations of Freehand mandlas

Sharing the inside scoop, Rashmi proudly claims that her art work exhibits the inspiration from two of her favorite artists.

Bharti Dayal - I love Madhubani art form , though my art is predominantly pen art it is heavily inspired from Madhubani (in addition to zentangle , line art and doodle) , I love BharthiJi's style and it was one of my inspirations for getting back to art after a gap of 20 years.

Kerby Rosanes - does doodle art with intricate patterns and lines, in my art gallery, most of the art pieces are inspiration from him.

Traditional conch inspired by Tirupathi Balaji

Rashmi's intricate art work seems time consuming and demands patience, though she quotes: Patterns come easy to me so my art may not be as time consuming as they look , recently someone asked me to draw a realistic drawing and now that did not come easy to me at all. It really depends on the piece there are small illustrations and patterns I have done in an hour or two, medium sized art works with lots of details take me 6-8 hours, which I usually spread out in 2-3 days as with busy routine life, I put 2 hours a day for my passion.

Rashmi’s work is acutely rooted in Indian influence, being far away for the country her origins are strongly grounded with India.Even though she left the country 14 years back, her paintings are often garnished with dollops of Indian touch and magic. Firmly keeping the Indian roots alive for herself and her growing kids Rashmi believes: I try my best to keep our Indian roots alive not just for myself but for my kids to be able to experience a portion of the beauty of Indian culture we all got growing up as kids. Indian art is beautiful. I see beauty in anything Indian be in dance forms, patterns ,painting or even clothing.  I love recreating those in my own way in my art. Nothing is more satisfying to me than detailing out a spiritual piece related to my roots.

Indian festivals inspired work

Unleashing her creativity took some boldness, self-assurance and little faith in herself after a long gap. As Rashmi claims that “life” was the only challenge she had to face to chase her dreams. While building blocks of her career via engineering, job, marriage, and after being a mom, she could not nurture her creative spirit, though she did put her creativity at the best in her kids art/craft projects.

Inticrated sketch of owl done in 2 hours

Apart from her growing Instagram page, she recently leaped on facebook page, do join her page to see all of her creative work, right here. Rashmi’s future plans are still in pipeline to give her creativity a platform where she doesn’t intend to make a career out of it but would love to retail her art work in near future. Down the line, her further plans also include to teach art to kids and spark their interest towards this diversity of pen-art.

The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol drawn freehand inspired by a tattoo

Rashmi shares a good piece of advice she picked up through the years for those who are still trying to reach out for their creative calling. Challenge is within you, do what you love and do it with love. It has been expressed by many people over and over again - Please spare time for yourself and for what you love.

Amazing and unique transformation on a Starbucks cup

I strongly predict a bright and famed future for our uber talented lady of today's show. It was my immense pleasure to feature your awe inspiring art work on my blog Rashmi, and we wish you all the very best for your bright future. To get connected with her and see more of her art work, you can connect on instagram page here and facebook page here.

 

Until we meet again, see you around on facebook page of Pinkz Passon,toodles!

Image Courtesy: Rashmi's Instagram page and subject to copyright.