Rangoli Dots

                                           A couple of months ago, my youngest daughter Christina called me about a request she had gotten from Blue Velvet Studio. Blue Velvet is a delightful gallery in the heart of Downtown Mobile that started a few short years ago. Karen Cassidy is the owner and wanted to have a space open for artwalks that featured contemporary art in a nice venue. The space is really her home, opened up during artwalks held on the second Friday of every month. I have participated in several of her shows held with wild imagination and loads of fun. These shows included designer clothing, corsets, costumes, hand painted gowns with famous artists works, and blacklight works to mention a few. Her openings are very well attended and always interesting to the public.
                     Back to my daughter, Christina Chavez and our conversation. Karen had asked her about a show for her at the Blue Velvet. Christina did not think she could carry one off by herself so she called and asked if I would participate along with her sister, Jessica Chavez Price. We last did a show together in 2005 at Arts Blanche, another gallery that was a co-op at the time. That show was very small, but featured a Geisha we all three did in our respective styles. We bounced around ideas for this show at BVS and she came up with "Rangoli~Mixtures of Color". This is a not so subtle nod to the love of her life, India. She has a boyfriend there in New Delhi that is a holistic Doctor operating a practice with his father. Christina has been there three times in the past visiting and has fallen in love with the country and his family.
                     I have been having trouble wrapping my head around this theme, but this piece is a literal translation of a Rangoli artwork. I do not promise to do the wonderful pieces that they do in India, as these fantastic designs are done in colored rice on the ground. They are good luck symbols for the festival of Diwali~a festival of lights held in the fall. The Rangoli are placed near doorways as tokens of good luck and some are quite elaborate and beautiful. They all are colorful, and I imagine take hours to create. I will probably add this festival to my "bucket list" of things to go and see before I pass this life. I imagine it is quite spectacular.
                     My piece, Rangoli Dots measures 8 x 8 and is one of 9 canvas, one large and the 8 smaller surrounding it. We hang the show this week so I am visiting India at my easel daily. I have paintings of the Taj Mahal, beach scenes from Goa, and the Rangoli pieces. It makes me want to visit this lovely country my daughter may call home some day.
                     "Rangoli Dots" 8 x 8, acrylic on canvas.