Lord Vishnu / Satyanarayana Nail Design
In "South Indian" Hinduism there are 3 sects, 1. are Shaivaites or Iyers (Shiva & his family (Parvathi, Ganesha, Muruga) worshippers, 2. Vaishnavaites or Iyengars (Vishnu & his reincarnations on earth Lord Krishna, Rama, etc) 3. Shaktism (worship of the goddess, Durga, Shakti etc)
I personally do not agree with the whole Iyer/Iyengar Brahmin/non Brahmin crap nonsense. Why the class divide, why these labels? Bugs me. In my eyes we are all one all Hindus :) All equal. Hindus have a billion deities but believe in one all mighty powerful Lord, the Brahman who is formless, all encompassing, and endless. These many deities are manifestations of the one Lord. I love all them deities and find them a source of inspiration and strength.
I always admired how beautiful and tall statues of Lord Vishnu are in temples, he's usually depicted standing because he is the preserver (always incarnating on earth to uphold righteousness) he's got to be ready to go :) 9 times he has come to earth (Lord Krishna the narrator of the holy scripture The Bhagavat Gita Lord Rama, the righteous king, and Lord Buddha, founder of Buddhism) being the most famous of the avatars), the 10th is yet to come (he will be a man riding a white horse)
The thumb & middle finger have the stones placed to reflect the drape of the Lord's flower garland, with the red representing him. Pointer and index have a "Namam" or the mark of a Vaishnavaite.
The "u" shape represents the Lord's feet with the red straight mark in between representing Goddess Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth and his beloved consort)
I used dark blue as the base, Lord Vishnu and all his avatars are blue skinned, meaning God is endless and vast like the ocean and skies.
The whole process 2.5 hours.