And she is 99

I like to sit and observe her when she is busy with her art work. This picture was clicked last month as she was painting one of the sarees. Today (18th July) she turns 99. 

Those who appreciate her work are queuing up with their sarees and dress material to get it painted. 

 At her desk on the eve of her Birthday

You can see more of her work at this link.

https://joezachs.blogspot.com/2017/11/padmam.html

Padmam

Every time when I go to Padmam aunty’s house, she is busy with one of her creations. Nowadays its mostly painting sarees. She says that most of these are sold even before she finishes painting them. 

So it is not surprising to see that her posture and concentration is the same in practically all the pictures but the saree and the designs keeps changing. 

Her admirers are from different quarters of the world and some of them have even made me promise to arrange an audience with her when they visit Pune.   

She loves the sambhar that wifey makes. So it is a mutual admiration society. 

Some of her work that was recently framed and which has found a place in the drawing room. 

These two pictures shows how steady her hand is and how she looks at the finer details while painting 

It is not only painting, she loves to dabble with any form of art, like this cross stitch which is in one of her grandson’s room 

I had written about her previous work eight years ago.

One of the things that she misses now a days is the yearly visit by the flock of Munia that used to visit her balcony. (you can read it here)  Blame it on climatic changes and the unpredictable monsoon. 

Whatever the changes, I never miss having the yearly Onam Sdhya with her. In fact I have observed her directing the family members how and where each item has to be placed on the banana leaf, the proper traditional way.

Update: A saree she painted in December 2017

Update: March 2018 - using the self design of the saree to paint in the colours.

A picture of her on her 97^th birthday which was in July 2017.  

Update : 23rd Nov 2018

Yesterday I saw her painting on a black saree.

Sarees

There are many things in the above picture that looks appealing, it could be the greenery, or the hanging nest or the vermicompost khamba.

But what interests me here is the saree that is hanging on the clothesline. Not that it was washed or dried but I hung it there to click a good picture showing the complete saree with the pallu. Some like smaller block prints while others go in for bigger bold ones. But this is no print.

All the colours and designs that you see in the saree is hand painted.  And it was done by a young lady who is 93 years old. Yes the same “Lata’s mummy” about whom I wrote a few years ago.

When I had been to her place recently she was busy painting one of these. She says that people are buying plain sarees and giving it to her to get it custom painted. She is running short of time as there are many sarees to be completed.

I picked up two sarees of different colours and got it home to be photographed in daylight.

If you look at the border you will notice that each pattern is different though it may look the same from far.

I was just marveling at the patience and skill of this lady who could come out with different ideas and artistry skills.

Earlier I had seen her doing table cloths with figures painted all around the border.

The colour combinations are also appealing whether it is a peacock or a pharaoh

One of the pillow cases that she painted. 

A picture that I clicked on her 90th Birthday. 

And a recent one.

clicked in June 2014

A real inspiration for all I say.