Actually I stayed in Anegundi on the opposite bank to Hampi and made all this stuff there!
I cycled to quite a few temples in Hampi and enjoyed the hippyness of the Hampi Bazaar area. But mostly I came for the stunning scenery and to stay in Uramma Cottages (https://urammaheritagehomes.com/properties-hampi/uramma-cultural-residency/) which came highly recommended. Every morning I ran around Anegundi village and my highlight was seeing Rosie the kitten.
Hampi Foil Vase Montages
Having a Bendick’s mint at the end of a Friday night or Shabbat lunch meal is commonplace for me. They are vegan and so can be eaten following a meaty or dairy meal. And then you make a miniature wine goblet out of the foil and see if it holds liquid. Best to use water as it rarely does!
These foil goblets inspired this project. Also, I still had all these foil squares to use up – the ones that feature in many of my montages and are for bespoke chocolatiers to wrap their products up in. Funny that you aren’t supposed to end a sentence with a preposition but the word wiggly blue line doesn’t come up. Just like you are allowed to use forums as the plural of forum rather than fora and antennas instead of antennae.
I digress. So, I have a series of my five different coloured foils turned into vases each with three flowers in them. There are cowrie shell flowers, string flowers, flower flowers which were originally white and dyed a mauve and a purple and one final one with beads bought in a necklace at the Hanuman Temple.
The short tape on the sides was from a recent stationary shop trip to Panjim in Goa. Super tacky I think!
Montages inspired by the Hanuman Temple at Hampi
Getting up early to cycle to Hanuman’s temple in Hampi was a treat. It wasn’t a hard climb and it was well before the heat of the day. On the way up there were some fabulous photos of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman.
At the top were the various groups of people as mentioned in the purple key-ring blog previously. The monkeys weren’t bothered where people came from or what size of group they were in. They were only interesting in stealing stuff!
By the roadside, I bought stuff for my purple key-ring mobile and three Hanuman charms that feature here in these montages. Before I got to the shop keeper there was a sign up with how much to pay for various Hindu prayer offerings (pooja). Some were exorbitant. I hope they worked!
Hampi Montages Large
I think these are my favourite out all of these montages on this blog. I had some new A3 thick white watercolour paper and I had found a formula of sewing on objects that I enjoyed whilst listening to podcasts. Currently, I am enjoying the ones by Stephen Fry who is witty and clear. A joy to listen to!
The seven plastic flowers are for an aquarium and were actually quite difficult to sew on as they were 3D and wouldn’t really behave all that well! I loved imprisoning the feather/s and sewing in the pretty corsage flowers I had previously dyed purple and mauve. The millipede was fun too! The series should fit my rules. And be a prime number (most of my montage series were of five and sometimes three but never six! But I had six ideas and six pieces of card. And what are rules if not to be broken!
I finished them off with the lovely spiral stamps using stamp ink which stains everything! But does stamp nicely. Here I used spiral trails.
Hampi Montages Small
Can one have favourites? Well obviously not with your children. That just is forbidden! But with montages then for sure. This is my least favourite of the four sets.
Probably because it doesn’t particularly speak to me. Also, I hear my New York friend Bernice Rubin speaking to me. She was the only one of you brave enough to call a spade a spade. Everyone is so polite and encouraging about what I have made here.
Even those of you who have commented upon my openness to where I feel I have failed – like in drawing and painting. But Bernice told me my montages could be improved. Yes she challenged me. Great, because that is what I feel we should all do a lot more. Then we would be genuine and authentic.
Anyway. Back to this my least favourite set. A hotchpotch of random things on bit of foil! And looking at them now Bernice is right. This group really is dreadful but it completes a set and even the runt of the family is part of the family! Also displaying them in a very small size means you can’t really take a good look at them!
4th Chakra – heart
Release all thoughts and any expectations you might have had. Take some cleansing breaths. Exhale all distracts us from living our true authentic self.
Breathe in light, breathe out tension, breathe in love, breathe out fear.
The heart chakra is located at the centre of your chest. It is where we give and receive love for ourselves and others. Love exists regardless of any situations or circumstances. Your heart is the window to your soul. It is where you give and receive love.
Let these affirmations be your affirmations
My heart is open to give and receive love.
I deserve endless love just as I am.
I love myself unconditionally.
I love others unconditionally.
My heart is open to give and receive love.
This fourth chakra corresponds to the years from 21 to 28. What were you doing then? I was qualifying as a doctor and getting married. All new and exciting. But was I ready for all these challenges? For sure I thought so. Maybe I feel more reserved now about this. I am sure this is because I have just got divorced and thinking about retiring as a doctor in the foreseeable future. And I probably still wasn’t a fully formed adult at that stage. But maybe I just want to rewrite my history. However, for sure, I certainly remember it as an exhilarating time.
I think I have decided to stay in this totally idyllic and wonderful place outside Pune for at least another week, maybe two. It is different in every aspect from my life in London and my planned life in Tel Aviv/Jaffa. It is organic, rural and peaceful. I feel well looked after and with my dongle I can be in email contact with people. I am, however, going off to the big, fast, expanding city of Pune to spend Shabbat!
