When a home is lovingly put together by sourcing unique Indian artefacts, tiles, wood work, statues from across the length and breadth of the country, it’s only fair then that the Ganga Arti, at once pulsating and spiritually calming, becomes a part of the décor.
A terrace wall measuring 20 feet wide x 8 feet tall became my canvas. The beautiful terrace with Thanjavur pillars, terracotta tiles is the perfect space for many a get-together. The homeowners wanted to create an immersive experience that could create depth and could add charm to the already beautiful ambience.
So, I set out to create a mural to give the impression that the terrace overlooks the absolutely magical ghats of the Ganges river, where the stunning spectacle of the Ganga arti unfolds.
The task began by preparing all the walls of the terrace – so they could play a role in the final illusion. A rough paper sketch drawn to scale and experiments with color palette happened next. I wanted yellow – orange to dominate the palette so as to recreate the warmth from a thousand little oil lamps and fires from the arti. My biggest challenge was to scale up the small paper sketch to a wall 30 times as large – a wall that had to be viewed from 10 feet away just to properly view composition relative sizes of every element.
The solution I found was the humble masking tape! A very important tool for all painters and artists alike. Using rolls upon rolls of masking tape, I created the skeleton of the sketch – putting in perspective lines first, then the horizon, then the buildings. Adjusting the slopes and relative sizes of buildings and people became easy, just by readjusting the tape! Going over the tape with color then gave me the building blocks for the overall sketch.
And then came the actual task of painting. As a watercolorist, I love messy strokes and the serendipity of water-flows building a painting. How could I recreate that magic on a wall that size where even getting an end-to-end view is tough!
A tour of hardware and art stores came next and I settled upon “Sponge” as my tool of choice – sponges in various sizes, shapes and forms – sticks, rollers, blocks. Loading a sponge with watery paint and using block-printing technique gave me some interesting textures and effects. And finally after 40 hours spread over 2 months, the mural was ready!
“We had been passionate in setting up our home – careful attention to the many little things. But Radhika’s massive 8ft by 20ft Ganga Arti mural on our terrace commands centre stage – it is both, the sweet spot and the centre of gravity of this house. It always gets a jaw dropping, eye popping, “oh wowoww” response from all who see it. Not only is it a brilliant piece of art, it transcends into something way deeper – it brings out a surreal, serene, spiritual response to those who gaze into it. Radhika’s passion for art has generated a spiritual energy source in this home. Thank you for blessing our home Radhika!”
Sridhar, Home Owner