ARTABILITY

BATIK - PAINTING - PART I

2011-08-15T07:12:00.000-07:00

Batik is an ancient art, supposed to be about 2000 years old. it was practiced in Egypt, Persia, China, Japan, India. Practiced in Rajasthan and Saurashtra, the old style of Indian Batik printing used a special type of clay.
When the small water pools start drying up in summer, a kind of insect starts germinating. As the pools dry up completely, these die forming a layer on the pool bed. This clay is dug up, mixed with lime gum and soap and made into a paste used as resist. Carved wooden blocks are used to print the fabric with this paste. The cloth is then dyed. Once dry, the cloth is rubbed to remove the paste. Vegetable colours were used as dyes. Modern methods use hot wax as resist and chemical dyes. The hot wax method was introduced in India by Rathindhra nath Tagore, the son of Rabindra Nath Tagore. It was first used in Sriniketan in Vishwa Bharati.

Batik is originally a Javanese term, denoting a kind of resist technique for producing designs on fabric.

To give you an idea of what a resist technique is all about, I'll briefly explain the process before we get to the technical details.

The design is first transferred to the fabric from which all starch has been removed.
Let's say we want only 2 colours here. The design, a 4 -petaled flower. Hot liquid wax is dripped on the petals, taking care to leave the outline wax free. When the wax hardens, the fabric is dipped in say a red dye. The part of the fabric not covered in wax absorbs the dye. Or the wax resists the dye. Once fabric is dry, it is boiled in hot water to remove the wax. The process is messy yes. But the effect is beautiful.

Click here for the history of Batik painting/printing.

DECOUPAGE - INSTRUCTONS

2010-12-23T01:14:00.001-08:00

These are pictures of the decoupage project I recently completed.

Pardon the bad photography! But then as one of my uncles is fond of telling me, "If you insist on doing so many things and insist on doing everything perfectly, you are heading for the loony bin". I take up his philosophy as and when it suits me.

This was one of the courses I had signed up for
(at the Continuing Education Programme - Women's College - Trivandrum) and completed in a hurry because of my husband's transfer.

The procedure is not as difficult as it seems - just time consuming and demanding a lot of patience.

The picture I have used is Ravi Varma's

"Vanavasathil Seethai" printed on a glossy

8" x 12" photo paper.

I love the brooding expression in Sita's eyes.

1. White water based cement primer is mixed with water in the ratio of 1:1.

2. Apply on pot and allow to dry completely before giving the next coat. Do not dry in the sun - cracks may develop.

3. Apply a total of 8 coats of paint allowing it to dry completely between coats.

4. With size 180 sand paper, rub the pot until it is perfectly smooth to touch.

5. This compensates for any blemishes on the pots.

6. Soak a picture printed on glossy photo paper in a tray of white vinegar face down.

7. Now, very carefully remove all the paper until only a glossy sheet is left.

8. Smoothen and place in magazine & place under a heavy book to remove any wrinkles.

9. Paste the picture on the smoothened pot bit by bit by applying a mixture of fevicol & water. Make sure there are no air bubbles.

10. Apply 3 coats of varnish (allowing about 8 hours day time drying time between coats) on the picture including about a centimeter just outside the picture.

11. Use size 180 sand paper to smoothen the edges of the picture and size 320 smoothen the picture itself using circular motion.

12. With fabric or acrylic colours, paint the background to blend with the picture.

13. 2 more coats of varnish on the entire pot. Rub with 320 sandpaper.

14. 2 more coats, rub. Give one last coat and you are done.

The picture below highlights where the picture ends and the painting begins. You can make out the brush strokes.

DECOUPAGE - INSTRUCTONS

2010-12-23T01:13:00.000-08:00

1. White water based cement primer is mixed with water in the ratio of 1:1.

2. Apply on pot and allow to dry completely before giving the next coat. Do not dry in the sun - cracks may develop.

3. Apply a total of 8 coats of paint allowing it to dry completely between coats.

4. With size 180 sand paper, rub the pot until it is perfectly smooth to touch.

5. This compensates for any blemishes on the pots.

6. Soak a picture printed on glossy photo paper in a tray of white vinegar face down.

7. Now, very carefully remove all the paper until only a glossy sheet is left.

8. Smoothen and place in magazine & place under a heavy book to remove any wrinkles.

9. Paste the picture on the smoothened pot bit by bit by applying a mixture of fevicol & water. Make sure there are no air bubbles.

10. Apply 3 coats of varnish (allowing about 8 hours day time drying time between coats) on the picture including about a centimeter just outside the picture.

11. Use size 180 sand paper to smoothen the edges of the picture and size 320 smoothen the picture itself using circular motion.

12. 2 more coats of varnish on the entire pot. Rub with 320 sandpaper.

13. 2 more coats, rub. Give one last coat and you are done.

12. With fabric or acrylic colours, paint the background to blend with the picture.

The picture below highlights where the picture ends and the painting begins. You can make out the brush strokes.

MURAL PAINTINGS OF KERALA - LINKS WITH MORE INFORMATION AND PICTURES

2009-12-08T18:28:00.001-08:00

THIS is the website of Mural artist Suresh Muthukulam. He has allowed modern art to sneak into his murals. If you are looking for Original Kerala Mural paintings, this is not the place.

This link describes how the wall is prepared for painting.

Here is another link giving a detailed description of the process of mural paintings in Kerala, the brushes and colours that were traditionally used.

The next link is to the website of Mural Artist Sadanandan - he underwent an intensive 5 year training in Mural painting. If you the kind of person who likes art retained in its traditional form, you will be disappointed. If however, you like morden flavours creeping in, you'll love this.

To round off this post, this link has links to all prominent pages featuring mural painting.

Have a nice time browsing! I'll be back with more pictures.

MURAL PAINTINGS OF KERALA I

2009-12-08T18:12:00.001-08:00

ou learn to appreciate India's diverse cultural heritage more - if you are interested in art. Indian mural paintings are very interesting in the sense that while the themes are almost always the same - stories from Puranas, the actual paintings themselves are distinct to each region or State.

The mural paintings in Tanjavoor for instance, have their own charm and characteristic style. Unfortunately, I missed 2 different opportunities to learn the Tanjavoor style due to other commitments.

When I learnt that Kerala too had it own wonderful style, I signed up for classes and started scouting around for pictures. We have been in Trivandrum for almost 3 yrs now and I never got around to visiting the Padmanabaswamy temple until someone told me that the temple has beautiful murals.

I finally visited the temple today and loved every aspect of it. No cameras or mobiles phones are allowed inside. So, within the premises, but for the electricity, there are absolutely no reminders of the pollution filled modern world out there. You are transported to another era!

And the murals! They are to die for! Even though I have seen several pictures of this style, the actual paintings leave me speechless with wonder. The temple and the paintings have left me wanting for more. I may go back with paper and pencil to copy the motifs the next time and hope it is allowed.

The picture below gives you an idea of what the style is like - but it is nowhere near the actual murals in execution and use of colour. Click on the picture for a larger image.

ART BOOKS ON PUBLIC DOMAIN

2009-11-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

I have been scouting the web for information on Oil on canvas and other painting techniques.Its amazing the amount of information you can obtain from the web if you have the patience to really look for it.

Here is a tutorial that taught me more than I learnt from the course I am taking.

This is my favourite.

The exercises are really helpful and I was filled with a sense of acievement once I learnt these basic techniques.

Here another wonderful tutorial.

Field's Chromatography, by George Field has a lot of information on
colour.

You can learn about the various whites like zinc white and titanium white,lead white and when and why you should choose one over the other etc.

The picture below is from the book A Colour Notation- Project Gutenberg

HISTORY OF ART FOR BEGINNERS AND STUDENTS is another book I found in the Project Gutenberg collection. The size of the book is 25.22 MB.

There are quite a few black and white pictures in it. The two pictures below, I liked best.

Here is how you download books from project Gutenberg.