How is Holi celebrated? 'The Festival of Colors'

 #HappyHoli 

Holi the festival of colors and fun is celebrated across India in different forms and themes, for various reasons. To know more visit http://www.holifestival.org/holi-in-india.html Exclusive Holi offers!!! Shop now on Artzyme.com. 

It is primarily observed in India, Nepal and other regions of the world with significant populations of Hindus or people of Indian origin. In recent years the festival has spread to parts of Europe and North America as a spring celebration of love, frolic, and colors.  

                              Holi Painting Contest organized at Artzyme 

                                      

Holi is an important festival to Hindus. It is celebrated at the end of winter, on the last full moon day of the lunar month Phalgun (February/March), (Phalgun Purnima), which usually falls in March, sometimes in late February. 

The festival has many purposes; most prominently, it celebrates the beginning of Spring. In 17th century literature, it was identified as a festival that celebrated agriculture, commemorated good spring harvests and the fertile land. Hindus believe it is a time of enjoying spring's abundant colours and saying farewell to winter. To many Hindus, Holi festivities mark the beginning of the New Year as well as an occasion to reset and renew ruptured relationships, end conflicts and rid themselves of accumulated emotional impurities from the past.   

                                    

It also has a religious purpose, symbolically signified by the legend of Holika. The night before Holi, bonfires are lit in a ceremony known as Holika Dahan (burning of Holika) or Little Holi. People gather near fires, sing and dance. The next day, Holi, also known as Dhuli in Sanskrit, or Dhulheti, Dhulandi or Dhulendi, is celebrated. Children and youth spray coloured powder solutions (gulal) at each other, laugh and celebrate, while adults smear dry coloured powder (abir) on each other's faces. Visitors to homes are first teased with colours, and then served with Holi delicacies, desserts and drinks. 

                                     

In the Braj region around Mathura, in north India, the festivities may last more than a week. The rituals go beyond playing with colours, and include a day where men go around with shields and women have the right to playfully beat them on their shields with sticks. 

In south India, some worship and make offerings to Kaamdev, the love god of Indian mythology, on Holi. 

After playing with colors, and cleaning up, people bathe, put on clean clothes, and visit friends and family. Holi is also a festival of forgiveness and new starts, which ritually aims to generate harmony in the society. 

Like Holika Dahan, Kama Dahanam is celebrated in some parts of India. The festival of colours in these parts is called Rangapanchami, and occurs on the fifth day after Poornima (full moon).  

   - Himjal (founder of Artzyme, marketplace for Arts - Paintings & Home décor) 

How to Sell Arts | Paintings Successfully? Part I

Sell Arts Successfully - I 

Arts Blog 

Many new artists approach me after making their first painting giving details of pains they have taken and the time they have spent on creating it. Rather than being passionate about Arts, artists with an intention to sell their 1st painting want to know how much money it will fetch. Or no. of artists with just 4/ 5 pcs with them expect to make a sale. And I always get to hear complaints from aspiring artists about how art galleries don’t entertain them, or don’t give response to their queries. 

  

 Emerging Artist - S Prabhakar 

                                                                     

  

 Established Artist - Sonjaye Maurya 

In this competitive market everybody wants to set the cash register ringing and not waste time or efforts in promoting new artists. Take an example from our day to day life.  Shopkeepers prefer to stock and sell branded goods rather than unbranded stuff though they could be of better quality as branded products are fast moving, requires no hard selling or pushing across the counter. We also, as a customer ask for branded product if the shopkeeper tries to sell us an unbranded product. The same applies to art too. Everyone has to make money, including online portals and galleries. 

My young fellow artists, Rome was not built in a day. And if it was that, every young lad alighting at Dadar (Mumbai) with rosy dreams of becoming a star in Bollywood would become Dharmendra. Being successful as an artist (painter) is not easy as in any other field. Lot of struggle is involved. You have to prove yourself. And if you are looking for someone to market you, first you have to make a brand out of yourself. 

So make a brand of yourself. Prove your mettle. One movie of a new comer or struggler when becomes a hit on the box office, producers’ line up at his place to sign him/her up for their new movies. Have patience. Look at the bigger canvas. Success is not easy to come. But when it comes, it knows no bounds. 

As I mentioned, paint with planning, in my article ‘EXPLORE, PRACTICE AND EXCEL AS A SELF-TAUGHT ARTIST' here I say promote with planning. As in any other business, to sell art also you require proper planning and strategy. 

So what should be done to sell your Arts! 

Creating art and marketing art are two different roles. Many artists are not trained marketers. They would rather spend their time in their studio creating. But, in order to sell art, some art marketing and promotion knowledge is necessary. Organize and set apart art creation and art marketing time. As artists, we need to realize that just as much as time is spent in creating art, same amount of time needs to be spent in marketing and promoting it. Without marketing it may be very difficult to sell art and receive commissions. Unless you have someone else to do the promotion and marketing for you, you will have to schedule and organize your time. 

Like any other product or service, art too requires good marketing. The only difference is that here the market is different and the clientele is different too. Everybody doesn’t buy art as it’s not considered a necessity. So the target audience is limited. It is essential to reach out to the prospective buyers. And how to do that! 

The path of an artist is different. Some of us lose vision and determination. So if you want to succeed, uphold to your dreams and fight the good fight. Take advice of successful artists, navigate adversity and embrace self-discovery. Never talk negative about your art or express self-doubt. Believe in your product. This is the business aspect of your creativity. 

                                                       To be Continued - Part II in coming Week....                                                                                                             www.Artzyme.com/blog