Flower rangoli designs

Different flower kolam

First a creative and innovative flower rangoli.  I have drawn the leaves and branches free hand.  The three flowers are drawn using the following method

a) place three bangles and place dots inside the bangles.  Using match stick or cotton bud form different shapes to get different floral petals 

6 dots flower rangoli designs

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Floral designs are one of the most used in rangoli design. Obviously, we are heavily dependent on nature for our rangoli designs.The next important festivals are Holi and Ugadi in 2013.  Holi is a festival of colours celebrating the arrival of spring among other things.  There are also many legends associated with it.  Probably colours are used abundantly during Holi because during spring we see the  colourful flowers blooming every where (It is my opinion or guess!) (Colourful) rangoli will be congruous with colourful Holi. . The rangoli designs here will not have only flowers or floral designs in the literal sense, they may have flowers or parts of flowers like only petals, petal like motifs.  However, let me start with a very simple design.


These designs can be used for festivals like Diwali and Margazhi too when there is a lot of emphasis on colourful rangoli designs

Flower rangoli designs with dots 

The image above shows a simple 6 by 6 dots kolam with rose buds.  As usual, place the dot grid, draw the stalks and leaves on all four sides and finally draw the rose buds using the remaining dots at the centre.  This design with colours  is in kolam designs

lotus kolam for festivals - Pongal kolam or Sankranti Sankranti muggulu

Since we live in Tamil Nadu we celebrate  Ugadi or Gudi Padava (our New Year ) and Tamil New Years Day.  Obviously more the festivals more the joy and fun.   This rangoli , has a padi kolam at the centre expanded with free hand floral designs with pink lotuses at the periphery.  Added to this design is a free hand rangoli border and blue lotuses.  The central floral design is filled with rangoli  on which simple designs in yellow have been added. I have added as many colours as possible to make the rangoli beautiful (!).  I hope it has come out well. 

lotus kolam without dots for Pongal kolam or Sankranti muggulu

                                

Two images  showing two steps in drawing the lotus rangoli ( or mandala )

Lotus is considered important in rangoli   Above I have tried my version of a lotus kolam for Margazhi.  The Hridaya kamalam is a lotus viewed from the top.  This mandala (or rangoli) above has the side views of four lotuses at right angles to each other.  The pattern at the centre can be drawn as shown in the image or we can draw any pattern suitable to draw four lotuses above and around it.  First the three-petal motif is drawn and then four flowers are drawn on the four sides. Fill with pink and any other colour to complete the design. If required a circular border can be drawn around it  . Since it is an auspicious symbol this design  can be used for festivals like Varalakshmi Pooja,  Raksha Bandhan and Navaratri.

Thamarai kolam design

The second design in our theme with lotus rangoli .  Four lotuses and four smaller ones have been drawn.  As usual draw the central free hand design.  You can  choose a convenient design of your choice.  The only factor is to see to it that the number of petals or any other pattern will decide the number of flowers above them.  I usually choose pink for lotus and so all  are pink in colour.  The four smaller lotuses are special additions to this rangoli to make it more pleasing.

Lotus is one of my favourites in  free hand rangolis along with rose and I presume that it is so for most women.  Hence it is not surprising that lotuses have been used by me in the rangolis posted so far.  Lotus has religous and philosophical connotations. (I am a novice in both areas). Lotus rangolis can be drawn for Lakshmi Pooja and Saraswathi Pooja.  Lotus is associated with both Goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswathi as also some  other deities.  The rangoli below is a free hand rangoli design.  Draw the central free hand design.  Add four lotuses on four sides with five petals as shown.  Around the rangoli draw a single line border to match the shape of the design inside.  Fill the area between the border and the flowers with light green. Colour the lotuses pink.  The remaining areas are finished with red and blue colours.  Decorate the rangoli further with white powder to get the final image.  Two versions are shown in the two pictures.

Many a rangoli with  a lotus design drawn with or without dots has been drawn in Rangoli-sans-dots. . No collection of lotus rangoli can be complete without the famous and auspicious Hridaya kamalam that is drawn on Fridays and festivals like Varalakshmi Vratham.  An important point to be noted is that most lotus rangoli designs  show the side view of the lotus whereas the Hridaya Kamlam is probably the only rangoli design with lotus that is drawn with the top view of the flower in the  mind.                                                                              

            

This is a simple but beautiful free hand rangoli.  The central pattern is a simple plus.  It is surrounded with four curved lines.  Lotus  like motifs, four numbers have been added on the four sides.  Two petal flower designs have been added between the lotuses.  The rangoli is covered with a border with straight lines bent at right angles to match the design inside.  Lots of straight lines are drawn in the two parallel lines on the border.  More simple designs and dots are added inside the rangoli to make it more attractive.  The remaining gaps can also be filled with bright colours but we need fifteen to twenty minutes then to complete the entire rangoli.  A simple lotus design.

Free hand rangoli with four lotus patterns

  

    Two floral free hand rangolis,with lotus designs.  The first rangoli has four leaves at the centre and hence the colour green.  On each leaf is attached a lotus by the stalk.  Four such lotuses have been drawn, two blue and two pink.  The rangoli is surrounded by leaf borders, free hand type, for a change instead of the lines drawn with parallel or single lines.  The leaves on the border have been coloured green.  The remaining areas can also be filled with suitable bright colours.  The second rangoli is also a lotus design with four flowers attached to the central pattern that is filled with blue and red colours.  The rangoli is surrounded by a simple white border to match the outline of the lotuses.  The gaps are filled with dark green colour.  Lotus is very important in rangoli drawing. Actually nature is very important in rangoli design.  Flowers like lotus and rose are used a lot.  The liberty in free hand rangoli drawing is, as stated earlier, it is not necessary to depict the actual flower as in painting but to be as close as possible.  After all we are drawing with commercial rangoli  and hence it has its own limitations.

My kolam videos
Some rangoli  videos with primarily lotus as theme

            

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Theme - Floral petals and leaves - patterns or motifs in rangoli

The white rangoli design is a combination of petals and leaves drawn free hand.  Draw the central leaves on four sides.  Expand the rangoli - two leaves on either side forming an arch with petals above and inside.  Four such motifs on all sides help us complete it
                                             

The theme of this post is nature, naturally(!) because without nature where from will I get my rangoli designs. Under nature this post will be on flowers and petals and more specifically floral  petals and leaf.  The free hand design above has four leaf patterns as the base around which we have floral designs.  Usually many rangoli designs, at least drawn by me have a flower at the centre.  This is to try something different.  Around the four leaves green in colour, we have more leaf patterns between them and above them.  The rangoli is finally decorated with pink petals to complete the design. I have used a combination of blue and green leaf patterns, the central green leaf patterns being the more dominant.  The pink and orange designs represent floral patterns.  Around them at the top are tendril like shapes.  Where ever possible I have added curlicues as they are commonly used by nature too ! It is as if nature challenges us to copy her if we can.  

The  rangoli  below is also a simple floral design with decorations on all four sides and between the petals with a simple border surrounding it. Fill up the gaps with any one colour of our choice.  This has to be done carefully and patiently to avoid colour spilling onto the already drawn design.  However the result will be very attractive.

                         

   For festivals like Diwali and Holi if we are looking for simple rangoli or for a simple rangoli with flowers as the theme we can draw a floral bouquet   in rangoli as shown in the rangoli below.  The rangoli has been drawn directly using the colours instead of drawing the rangoli in white and filling with colours.  Using bright and contasting colours will make such rangoli designs very attractive

Easy flower rangoli designs /finger rangoli designs / rangoli with cotton bud

 Easy and simple flower rangoli designs can be created using dots , rangoli colours and cotton buds.  This is a combination of finger rangoli making and rangoli designs with cotton buds or can be used for creating a floral bouquet as an art project .

Place a small dot grid , I have used 3 by 3 .  Create flowers of different colours using just dots and by pressing them .  Attach all the flowers to stem ( green ) and create the leaves using  cotton buds.  Also for a simple Diwali rangoli design.  

This may also be useful as an art project for children in schools. The images should help in knowing  the steps 

Continuing our discussion with floral rangoli patterns it is possible to draw very simple and floral patterns with manipulation of rangoli bullets ( big dots ) and cotton bud.  The pictures below show how we can try various options using this method .  The method is place the bullet , using a cotton bud spread the rangoli powder to form a circular ring and then push the powder outward or inward to get these patterns.

 

Next is a simple design with a floral petal at the centre, surrounded by simple patterns to get the effect of a floral rangoli design.  We can add colours to get a beautiful and simple rangoli for Diwali