How to do lord vitthal painting in the short timeline?

vitthal, vithoba, pandharpur, Ekadashi, dindi, vari, wari, palakhi, bhima, chandrbhaga, varkari, lord vithhal, pandurang, canvas painting, art, ehowart, surekha Bharne, Sanjay Bharne, Sanjay and surekha, dive ghat, aalandi, dehu, grandma gift, mother gift, mom gift

One day my daughter went to her grandmother’s house to meet her. My mother, her grandma was waiting for her from a long time back. They both are chatter boxes and together they have their own world. As usual, she was demanding brand new story from grandma. Grandma was thinking and thinking to create the new story but there was nothing new left in her wallet of stories. She suddenly said,“Hay Lord Vitthal, please help me to find something new”. My daughter’s eyes twinkled and she also followed grandma “Oh! Lord Vitthal”. She looked at her and declared with the clap, “Grandma, last time you promised to take me to meet Lord Vitthal next time. So when we are going?” My mother was silent. I knew that mom is not going to Pandharpur this year in “Vari” (Dindi) to meet Lord Vitthal because of her knee pain. Now it is impossible for her to walk 250 Kilometers in about 15 days. Yes! It is 250 kilometers in about 15 days.

I told my daughter that Grandma has a lot of pain to her knees, and Lord Vitthal's home is long away. So she can't walk or travel this year. My little Angel replied innocently “then let's ask Lord Vitthal to come our home to meet Grandma." All started laughing, even my mother. My Angel didn’t understand why all of them were laughing. She came to me and said I want to invite Lord Vitthal to our home. Even I also started thinking. Then I realized that I have to take initiative on this to make my daughter’s wish fulfill. Being as an artist, I thought let me try to do painting on this subject and dedicate this one to my little Angel’s innocence. You might be thinking, how that will be wonderful? Don’t you?

Lord Vitthal is whole Maharashtra's deity. Every year approximately hundreds of thousands of devotees (Varkari) go in possession to Pandharpur for annual pilgrimage (Vari).Every year this number of devotees increasing. You will find a lot of youth taking part in Vari which is a good thing to continue the culture. This is a history from last 800 to 900 years. Lord Vitthal’s temple in Pandharpur is very old, was constructed before the 13^th century. The architecture of the temple is Hemadpanthi. The temple is placed on banks of Bhima (Chandrabhaga) river. So, how Pandharpur & Pune is connected to me, my angel and my Mom? My mom is born and brought up in a small village near Pandharpur and now we all are living in Pune, Maharashtra (INDIA)

Prior to starting the painting, I have studied;

Painting theme

Layout

Painting size

Medium

Timeline

Colour scheme

I had two choices with me for the theme of the painting.

Vitthal is standing inside the temple with silver decorative shapes as a background.

Vitthal is standing in front of all walking devotees in Dive Ghat holding orange flags in the rainy atmosphere.

I thought that my Mom should feel that she is walking along with all devotees to meet Lord Vitthal. So, I finalized my painting theme will be composed of Lord Vitthal and devotees walking towards Pandharpur. I decided to create a painting on three canvas panels. The devotees will start their journey from Right side 3 Feet panel towards Left side same size panel& the center panel will join them as standing Lord Vitthal with his both hands on his waist.

I chose the canvas for a painting of size 5 feet height, so that when my Mom will see the painting she should feel that she is actually in front of Lord Vitthal. For long life of my painting which will be seen by Mom, I chose acrylic colors as a medium on canvas. Acrylic colors are quick drying and were suitable for my timeline. The timeline was very important for me to complete the painting. The last day for pilgrimage was after 20 days which was Maha Ekadashi. I wanted to surprise my Mom on the same day with nicely framed painting put on the wall at Mom’s home. While doing all this in the planning phase, I talked to the framing vendor and chose the best frame suits to my theme and he promised me to deliver the framed painting in a day time. It was a great relaxation for me. The pilgrimage is normally in June-July month. Those are rainy days. So, I decided to use colors of rainy clouds, wet roads, and wet brown hills.

The painting with three canvas panels was completed well within the timeline. I got excellent support from my framing vendor to make this happen in shortest framing time. This was the most valuable gift for my Mom. She was so satisfied. Finally, my angel asked her grandma, “Have we kept our promise? The way we decided whether the Lord Vitthal came to our home.”

Everybody at home again started laughing. At this time also my little angle did not understand why all we are laughing but she also started laughing with us. The chatterboxes open and continued.