Based in Madras, Rukmani was first struck by the beauty of sculptures and paintings in a temple at Tanjore, seven years ago. This exhibition -- of 70 paintings -- is the time it took her to master the art and prepare these canvases. And the entire process is time-consuming.

Depending on the size and shape of a painting, it takes around 20 days to two months to complete a Tanjorepainting. It also takes an infinite amount of patience, as it is a slow process involving different stages. Stage 1 begins with pasting a white cloth over a wooden plank and sketching the form. Then the semi-precious stones are stuck. Pearls are put last, as they cannot be scraped. This is followed by the pasting of a gum called `mug' over the stones and on different spots to give it an embossed look. The painting is then not touched for two days, till the mug dries.

Then Stage 2 begins. Gold foil is fixed over the painting and then scraped out from over the stones. "Only then will it look like it is embedded in gold," says Rukmani. And it is only now that the actual painting begins. She uses water colour as a medium, concentrating on bright colours like red, ochre and persian blue.

Rukmani buys all her semi-precious and artificial stones from Jaipur. The gold foil comes from a goldsmith in Madras. And she has a carpenter make the traditional-looking frames -- the rudraksha frame, otherwise calledChettinad frames -- for her.

A very religious person, Rukmani has a small Ganesh temple in her courtyard, where she performs puja every morning. And this is where all her inspiration comes from, as the temple is situated right across her work place. As she reads a lot of religious books and shlokas, she knows small details like which particular weapon should be in which hand.

Thus there are paintings like Kamadhenu surrounded by Ashtalakhsmi in an octagonal frame, Shiva in the linga forms, Atreya Prabhu -- half Ganesh and half Hanuman, different forms of Lakshmi, Lord Ganesh, the coronation of Lord Ram, Lord Srinivas covered in gold, Goddess Saraswati and even Buddha. She even made a Buddha for the Soka Institute, Japan. But once in a while she does break the traditional shackles, like when she painted Lord Ganesh with a violin. This was requested by L Subramaniam, who presented it to the famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin.

The exhibition is on at the Y B Chavan Art Gallery, till September14, 1998.