Bhubaneswar: Noted sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik created a huge sand painting to welcome the sacred neem tree log for making of the new idol of Lord Jagannath for Nabakalebara festival at Puri today.
As the daru (tree log) reached the pilgrim town after a nine-day journey from Kharipadia in Jagatsinghpur district, the painting was created on the Grand Road in front of the Gundicha Temple, Pattnaik said.
Stating that this is a first of its kind, he said the painting is around 40 feet long and 60 feet wide depicting a neem tree with Sankha, Chakra in it.
Around one ton sand was used with some colour sand for the sand painting which took 5 hours to complete, Pattnaik said adding students of his sand art school helped him to create the sand painting.
"I always create sand sculptures on the beach. For the first time I have created such a huge sand painting on street.
I have used special sand from the golden beach of Puri," said Sudarsan.
The internationally acclaimed sand artist has created many sand sculptures during this Nabakalebara festival.
Recently he animated a small film on Nabakalebara through sand animation which was highly appreciated.