Yesterday, I watched one of Mumbai’s topmost professional Rangoli Artists (he’s original from Gujarat) magically create art out of thin air.
What was even more fascinating that the myriads of bright lovely colors he used - was the speed at which he worked. And the fact that besides a little pan he used to sift the base colors, everything he did was by hand. Imagine that in a span of about 15 minutes, (now you don’t see, now you do!) there was this beautiful work of art.
These pictures that show the evolution of the rangoli really do not do justice to the artist or his creation. Truly it is something that has to be seen in person to truly appreciate.
Outline lightly done in color (freehand)
Base Colors being filled, from left to right. Note that there are many shades of a single color. Jitu did this by actually filling 2 colors (or more) at a time in a pan & then lightly sifting them onto the floor
Detail of artwork on top of the base colors (all freehand)
The powders he was working with!
More base colors being added, this time all the way to the right, we’re almost done now.
Borders being put, again freehand
Detail of design on the border. The speed at which this was done was truly UNBELIEVABLE. It was all in a matter of seconds. He just held out his fingers in a certain way & went WHOOSH. And it all looked perfect - as if one had painstakingly stencilled it out.
More details on the inside:
And the finished product.
(click to enlarge)
Breath-taking!
He had done another rangoli earlier but he was so fast I couldn’t take pictures. As soon as he started on the second one, I started clicking non-stop pics. The result is the evolution of the rangoli you just saw above. Here is the earlier one:
(click to enlarge)
And finally, the artist. Truly fantastic.
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March 21st, 2007 at 11:23 pm
gujarati people from where i am do really good rangolis every day during diwali. we made so many rangolis while i was in india during diwali at my home town with my mom and grandma and dad and all the neighbours doing at their homes. the best rangolis were done on the diwali night so everyone who comes in the morning next day for new year would see it. some of them were out of the world done with real flowers and stuff.
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:38 am
wow! Fabulous! I love how each color seamlessly blends into the next one! Man! some talent! Thanks Mel, for sharing!
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Beautiful… Nice one
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:35 pm
@ Shub: “I love how each color seamlessly blends into the next one” Seriously, lovely stuff!
@ Harsha: Glad you like!
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:48 pm
obviously we weren’t professional or anything we took out time. but from hearing you he must have been fantastic in how quickly he got it done. Must been a treat to watch him. I love doing rangolis with family .hopefully will do it again some day.
March 24th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
January 15th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
mind blowing.I cant imagine men can do such work.i am become fan of yours.Its a memorable “Rangoli” for me.what a colorful is it.
February 1st, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Hi people,
I need a Professional Rangoli Artist ASAP
Awaiting prompt response
April 8th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
namskar…..
ati sunder ahe rangoli chan ahe…
ani me pan rangoli artist ahe….
…..dhyanvad……