Quilled Annam

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        Annam is the name of a bird also called annaparavai, I am not sure whether such a bird existed but its beauty and grace has inspired Indian art for ages. We can see this bird in paintings ,embroidery , in temple sculptures ,brass work and on saree borders.....Its also the favourite of poets and writers of Tamil literature. This bird has been celebrated by writers as an epitome of grace and purity. It is supposed to be white in colour and has a character of when given milk and water mixed together to leave out the water and drink only the milk.(symbolically when both love and hate or good and bad exists together, the lesson to be learnt from this bird is to choose good and love).


     I traced the picture of this bird from a shopping bag and then got an impression of the picture on this card . I started with the swirls in the tail, then next I wanted to make sure I got the face right before I quilled some more. I found it really difficult and I fairly gave up, but the eyes looked good and I was eager to know how it will look when completed and after a long struggle with paper strips , scissors and glue. I completed my annam. I have used a metallic brown colour paper strips through out , I had to cut small bits and piece them together. Its a bit thick paper and so I had to hold down the pieces until it dried. But the  end result was really more than I had hoped for.The beauty of this annam is it is wearing jewels around its neck , anklets and also a small dot on its ears, which I suppose are earrings.
   
    
     This also coincides with this month theme crafty JC Indian ethnic challenge.


     Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day.