Madhubani painting primarily depicts mythological themes, nature and scenes from daily life. Artists use natural pigments and dyes to create stunning artworks on walls, floors and handmade paper. This form of painting is known for its bold lines, geometric patterns and bright colours.
The art form uses natural materials such as flower extracts and coal to create the colours used. Interestingly, the flowers used aren’t plucked from plants; they are either gifted to the artists or the artists use flowers that have been shed by the plant.
Here’s how you can make your own canvas Madhubani painting at home.
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MATERIALS
- Thick white paper
- Thick black permanent marker
- Waterproof ink colours
METHOD
- Draw 4 dots on the paper.
- Join them and make a double border. Do this free hand.
- Draw a very simple elephant.
- Add some decorative patterns on the elephant. Make sure you add double lines to all the patterns as that’s the basic rule in Madhubani.
- Draw tiny lines within the double lines around the elephant as shown in the picture.
- Repeat the same steps for all the double lines in the painting. These black and white lines won’t be painted.
- Create some more designs on the paper around the elephant frame.
- Use waterproof ink colours to paint the elephant. These colours give the same effect as the flower extracts, when done traditionally. Use one colour at a time and shut the bottle as soon as you are done as these inks dry up very fast.
- You can use any colour of your choice and mix colours to make your own shades. For example, yellow and green will give you a lighter shade of green. Complete the painting using shades of your choice.
Dipika Gurnaney studied at the Sir JJ School of Fine Arts and is a recipient of a scholarship from the Pont Aven
School of Contemporary Art in France. Dipika has been teaching children art since 2002.
