Sweetriot: Rock the Art Vote!

I am so excited!!!! [UPDATE - I WON!!!! The tins with my work will be sold in 3-6 months. I will post more details soon]

I've been selected as a finalist (one of two) in the sweetriot art promotion! Sweetriot is a company that sells 100% dark chocolate covered cocao nibs in cool little tins. So in the final round, everyone gets to decide in the Rock the Art Vote!, whose art will be on the tins!

You can go and vote here: http://www.sweetriot.com/art/rioters-vote-for-art.php . The vote will be live until December 8th. If selected the art that will be places is my plexi work. Here are the three contenders:

And learn more about sweetriot's great product and about the company's mission based philosophy. (Also a great gift idea!)

Untitled 4

Untitled 1

Untitled 3

More Aprons

Below are some new aprons that I have hand designed (closeup image of the design next to each one). On the lighter ones I have hand drawn the pattern in in fabric pigment ink and then either dyed the apron in tea or turmeric. the tea gives is a various shades of light brown/tan and the turmeric gives the fabric light shades varying between yellow and red. On the black ones I have both hand designed and block printed with my own patterns. Some of the black ones below have metallic fabric ink on them. (All items are machine washable and dryer safe)

Some of these will be on sale at my shop and the others will be sold at the Detroit Artists Market (DAM) for the Holiday Show. Prices range from $35 (black) to $50 (light). If you have any requests or custom orders, please contact me at ritagpatel@gmail.com.
See details below:

Bottom border and abstract line of people (see closeup above) and middle larger 'people' in iridescent fabric ink.

Circle pattern in paisley shapes in light pink, lavendar and gray block print of one of my designs.

Signature squiggly pattern both hand drawn in iridescent copper and block printed in light blue.

Signature squiggly pattern both hand drawn in iridescent silver and block printed in light lavender.

Hand drawn design in green and pinkish/red permanent fabric ink and with blue on the back side & dyed in turmeric giving light reddish and yellow hues. The design on th both sides and dying give the apron more texture and depth. (reversible: either side can be worn as front)

Block printed in light lavender of 'people' design.

Hand drawn design in blue and light blue permanent fabric ink and with red on the back side & dyed in turmeric giving light reddish and yellow hues. The design on th both sides and dying give the apron more texture and depth. (reversible: either side can be worn as front)

Hand drawn design in apricot and red permanent fabric ink and with purple on the back side (see below images) & dyed in turmeric giving light reddish and yellow hues. The design on th both sides and dying give the apron more texture and depth. (reversible: either side can be worn as front)

Happy Diwali

I have been wanting to design a line of Diwali cards for a years now and a friend of mine knowing this commissioned me to make one for him this year..as a way to get me going on my idea. It serves as a soft launch for a series for next year. Hopefully these cards will fill a missing gap and also provide a means of creating awareness of a holiday outside of the community that normally celebrates it...by people who do not celebrate the holiday to give to those that do or even companies that do work in India and to give them as a holiday card.

I am selling these at my etsy shop as single and bulk...Diwali this year is November 9th - stay tuned for next year!

The card is a soft mustard color with a black paisley and floral design. There is a quote about light inside the card:

front

inside

New Plexiglass Tableware

I created some new tableware out of plexiglass - a centerpiece slate (layered to add more dimension) to place food or candles---here are some different images. The dinner parties are getting larger and with that so has the table...



The bottom layer has the red color in it and the top layer has more of the blues and greens.
Below are more images:












Below is an image of the top layer on the floor of my studio:

Below is an image of the bottom layer of centerpiece in my studio:












Here is another closeup of the placemats (the reddish ones I had done before) on the table and in my studio:












Other plexiglass art/products

Kiva Update

I sold two paintings yesterday (Untitled 23 and Untitled 35) which was great for me...but what got me even more excited and happy was that meant I was able to make two more loans through kiva.og (3 total since I have committed to 10% of my sales to help entrepreneurs in developing countries):

So here are the three people and their projects that I am helping fund (So amazing and makes me sit back and wonder at each of our impacts when I see how making the painting led to helping someone around the world build a better life while someone else is enjoying my art in their home - priceless!):

1. Sevil Qurbanova was born in 1955. She lives in Aksu. She is married and has 2 children. She sells clothing on the central market. In 2005, Sevil took her first Normicro credit. This is her third loan application. Sevil plans to use the money to expand her business.

2. Rosa Ponce: Senora Rosa sells clothing door to door. Having a fixed group of clients, her deliveries are monthly. Many of her clients buy on credit, so part of Rosa's job is to identify the clients who need to pay and then make the collections.

3. Fadia Al Sayegh is a married woman living in Sharoun with her family and her 4 children. Fadia used to sell cosmetic products from door to door. When this activity ended, she started knitting and doing crochet, skills she learned from her mother at age 15. She either sells her work at home or she passes her creations to a woman in charge of selling them. Fadia needs to buy the necessary materials and accessories to sustain and gradually develop her small business. Fadia is part of a group with 5 other women from the same village. Her group's name is 'Al Eman' which means faith. The requested loan is for this group of self-chosen women, living in vulnerable conditions, mostly in rural areas. Group lending is based on incremental increase of loan amount and group solidarity to guarantee repayment. The strength of the group loan is that it encourages a collaborative approach in the borrowing community. The group loan is a very powerful tool towards the economic empowerment of women.

Plexiglass Art/Clipboard for CARE

I will be attending the NYC Ladies Who Launch LIVE event on October 18 this year and during the event there will be a silent auction benefiting CARE. For the auction I decided to donate one of my favorite plexiglass art pieces...I am showcasing it as either art or a funky clipboard or anything else the one can think to use it for.

I am hoping that people will be able to see how it versatile, durable and fun the pretty art work can be. It is one thing to tell people but it is more effective I think if people try it out on their own...hope it works! See two versions of the piece below:

Prints for Sale

I am selling selected photographs I have taken over the years as numbered prints - all are matted and 8.5" x 11".

In honor of Autumn I have the below two:

Pumpkin Patch Fall Print
$20
I love how the baby and mamma pumpkin are crisp in the forefront and that you can see the water drops on the mamma pumpkin. The photo was taken in the fall of 2005 in San Mateo, California the day afte a friend's wedding.

Autumn Squash
$20
I like the range of color and textures here - this photo was taken the same day and place as the mamma and baby pumpkin one above. This one also inspired me to do a series based on color (coming soon...)

"Swirly Paris Sky"
$20
I have had this photos as one my favorites that I have ever taken --- it was taken in 2002 during the evening in the plaza in front of Notre Dame in Paris. I love the surreal-ness of it and eery time I look at it feel really magical and full of the potential of the night!

The below three are variations of one digital photo I took on a walk in 2006 in San Francisco that I am selling as a series of 3- I really like the interest the texture and curves of the leaves and digitally altered the original to create the series so that the eye can see different aspects of the same image highlighted through color:
"Greenery Color Study Series"
$50

Cloth Napkins

I have some new home goods that I started to sell at my etsy shop (just click 'home goods' on the right hand column on my etsy site). They are all $25/set of 4 napkins. the gray ones I can make more of (or less). I also think it is nice idea to have a nice cloth napkin for those of us who take our lunch to work...environmentally friendly & elegant - making all more enjoyable.

Below are some images of three of different ones:

Cotton cloth napkin with a circular navy blue print pattern

Gray linen & cotton cloth napkin with a darker gray swirly print pattern

Light mustard yellow cloth napkin with a blue print pattern that reminds of either grass or people

Floor Cushions

I have designed the patterns on some more tufted silk floor cushions - I like the effect of the raw silk - shimmery in a textured way and in different lights. These are 22.5" x 22.5 inches and there are two of each - you can get one ($60) or both ($100/set). I'll be loading different colored ones in the next few days onto my etsy shop. I have here two different colors. For the yellow one I use a dusty rose and teal pigment fabric ink to hand design the pattern.



For the images for the chocolate brown cushions here I have used a metallic copper pigment fabric ink to make the hand designed pattern.