A picturesque view

Unique Hobbies

Ever thought what you could do with an old glass bottle or a plain wooden coaster? Add a splash of paint and stick some pieces of cloth and these will look as good as new. Lakshmi Prakash, a media professional, has made many beautiful pieces of art like this during her free time. However, this unusual hobby of hers is not as easy as it sounds. One look at her works and you would realise that it is a meticulous and time-consuming affair indeed.

Hailing from Chikmagalur, Lakshmi studied fine arts in Ooty and had always been passionate about painting, singing and theatre. Though work brought her to the City, she had the dream of pursuing art full-time and would paint whenever she got some time off. But slowly, she started painting on shoes, coasters, old bottles and combs.

It all started with a pair of old shoes that she painted sometime back, which turned out so well that all her friends loved it. “Though I wasn’t very happy with my first work, their encouragement made me go ahead with my hobby,” she recalls. Today, she can work on any wooden or cloth-based product. “My friends usually give me the stuff that they want me to paint on like wooden combs and coasters,” she informs. She then heads to stores like Sapna Book House and markets like Chickpet to get the raw materials for her work.

For the shoes, the procedure is a little different. “I look out for plain cloth shoes in the market. Once I get them, I measure the cloth that I want to stick on them and cut it accordingly. I then stick lace on them if needed and paint them,” she informs. “I like reusing things so sometimes, I cut my old kurtas to make the pieces so the result turns out to be pretty and colourful,” she adds. “When it comes to coasters, I draw an outline on them with sketch pens and then use acrylic paint to paint on them,” she notes.  

Of late, she has also started making quirky shorts. “The shorts available in the market are often plain blue or black. So I like to add a unique colour combination to them by painting and sticking things on them,” she adds. She also makes felt earrings and decorations. “I stick felt decorations on clutches and give them all new look,” she says. However, of all the things, she likes working with bottles the most. “The bottles are of different shapes and sizes and painting on them is a fun yet challenging procedure,” she adds. Lakshmi goes to add that she will start working on hair accessories soon.

Lakshmi enjoys working with neon colours. “A lot of my work has shades of green and orange. That’s what youngsters like as well,” she informs. Thanks to her full-time job, she gets time to paint mainly during the weekends. It is of course a challenge as she points out, “Shoes take around two days but the coasters take a longer time.”

According to her, one must always pursue his or her hobby. “All of us are busy with our lives and jobs. But it’s very important to take some time out and not lose touch with our artistic side,” she sums up.

If you are pursuing a unique hobby, do write to: [e-mail] or [e-mail]