Friday 30 November 2012

The making of My Kerala Mural

I'd mentioned my plans to attend a Kerala Mural workshop in an earlier post.....so here are the pics from it. I thoroughly enjoyed the 3 day intense program. Before I went for it, I was wondering how many murals we would complete sitting 7 hours a day for 3 days. How many?! We were hardly able to complete one! Its such a tedious process and there are so many intricate details in the drawings that its a lot of effort but the end result makes it all worth it!



A close up of Ganesha - My First Kerala Mural 

Traditionally these murals are paintings of Hindu Deities done on walls of temples and palaces in Kerala. The colors used were all natural dyes. The most interesting aspect of these murals is Panchvarna or the use of only 5 colors - Yellow, red, green, blue and black. These are painted on a white background, so the white spaces in the pictures are left blank to show through. 

Acrylics are being used on canvas and other media more recently. Except for those changes, we used the original traditional method to do the mural. The basic steps after preparing the background (which are not required on a white canvas) are -

Trace out the drawing. We used graphite transfer method for it. 
Do the outline again with red paint.
Fill in yellow for the ornaments, head-dress, the stems, the dress and the background.
A double coat of yellow where required.
A bold red outline and some shading and some red effects on the background.
Yellow for the body (multiple coats).
Then green for leaves, stems and dress.
Then blue for some parts of the dress and garlands.
Finally a black outline all over again and for the hair.


The starting point - the drawing given to us

The sketch on the canvas



The first step - outline with red paint

Filling in the yellow parts

Red outlines and shading 

With the reference painting

Background completed

 
Again yellow for the body

    Now for some green

  And some blue

                                           
After the final step - black outlines

And I completed my first Kerala Mural. Hope to make more sometime soon.

This one goes to PPF and Show and tell Saturday #30. Drop in there to see some amazing art. 

48 comments:

  1. That is an amazing process. I am so glad to know more about these beautiful murals, of which yours is just gorgeous. Happy PPF!

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    1. Thanks Jessica. I can now appreciate the effort that would be going in to those huge murals in temples and palaces.

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  2. This is beautiful and I love how you showed the steps it takes to make this masterpiece!

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  3. Oh my gosh, this is freaking gorgeous. And, I also appreciate the step by step photos. Thank you so much for posting this! Happy PPF!

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    1. Thank you! After all that effort, I think it was only fair to show what I went through :)

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    2. Thanks alot...very less people hv this mentality..god bless

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  4. Hi Apni. What a great piece and loved the step by step. Lots of work in this piece and the colors are awesome. Thanks.:) Happy PPF!

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    1. Thanks Gloria! It was a lot of work but isn't that what makes the end result seem sweeter?

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  5. Terrific process and thank you for sharing the amazing results. Happy PPF, Annette x

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    1. Thanks Netty! Sounded like an unnecessarily tedious process at first, but having gone through it once, I realized how each step brings the painting to life.

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  6. I do love the intricately detailed patterns in this!
    So glad you showed us the process, too!!
    ♥♥♥
    Happy PPF!!
    Mary
    Mixed-Media Map Art

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    1. Those intricate details are what got me interested in these murals.

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  7. What an intense and amazing process! It is incredibly beautiful and so finely detailed. Happy PPF!

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    1. Thanks Linda. Imagine making huge paintings on walls with this process.

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  8. Wonderful creation and would imagine very meditative in the creating ~ (A Creative Harbor) ^_^

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    1. Thanks Carol. It's been a long while since I completely immersed myself into any artistic task like this one.

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  9. workshops are the best, what a detailed process, the results are wonderful cograts.

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    1. I agree Linda. This wouldn't have come out half as good without the workshop.

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  10. This is so wonderful! Thank you for sharing!

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  11. Wow! Seeing the process helps understand the huge amount of work that goes into those murals.

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    1. Exactly! And the walls in temples and palaces are covered with scenes of Indian mythology featuring multiple figures!

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  12. I enjoyed your process of painting this. It's a tedious process but you made it and painted it wonderfully:)

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    1. Thanks Elisa! I not only loved the process but I felt so proud seeing the finished painting. :)

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  13. Absolute beauty :) The whole process is enchanting indeed :)

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    1. Thank you Ritu. Yeah I loved the entire process.

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  14. Woww awesome painting ..vibrant colours.what brand of colours have you used.Whats the blue is it cobalt blue ..I liked that blue shade , or isit some other.Have you applied varnish at the end?Its too good.thank you for the procedure too

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    1. Thanks Ambika. There were Camel acrylics. The blue is actually a mix of prussian blue and sap green to get a color close to the actual Haritha Neelam used in the traditional murals. Haven't applied varnish yet. Will do that before getting it framed.

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  15. Thanks for sharing the in progress shots. There is so much detail in this painting and I love it! :)

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    1. Thanks Natasha! Those details are a characteristic of Kerala Murals. In fact most Indian traditional art forms have a lot of details and intricate designs.

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  16. What a stunning piece! My daughter loves Ganesha and she would absolutely flip over this piece. Great job.

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    1. Thanks Deanna! Hope you daughter loves it too.

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  17. This is really fascinating. Thank you for sharing this process with us. It looks tedious, but also very meditative, and the end result is beautiful!

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    1. Thanks Debbie! The end result makes all the effort seem nothing.

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  18. So so so Beautiful! And I love the step by step pictures! WONDERFUL, xo!

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  19. Amazing - thank you for showing the step by step! Happy PPF!

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  20. April, this is so beautiful. I am so glad you shared the process with us. Thank you.

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  21. Beautiful work, great to see the progression pictures, it was definately worth the effort!

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  22. wow-- that is stunning. all your work was definitely worth the effort! so much fantastic detail!

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  23. So beautiful! Such intricate design and vivid colour! Since it is so very orange, you might like to share your work on Mandarin Orange Monday:)

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  24. Oh My God!!! That is BEAUTIFUL! And with so much detailing... it's amazing :D And is that an A2 sized canvas?

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    1. Thanks Vinaya! Its A3 sized canvas. Not too big actually :)

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  25. woww..it is awsome.Thank you for showing the step by step process.which yellow you used for the body?is it lemon yellow?And red is crimson ?

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    1. Thanks! The yellow is yellow ochre and red is a mix of ochre and vermilion hue to get Indian Red.

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  26. Hi,

    Where did you attend this workshop in? Dakshinachitra?

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    1. Hi Maheshwaran, this was a workshop organized in AECS layout, near Cosmos mall in Brookefield, Bangalore. This was organized by a very talented lady Renuka. She keeps organizing similar workshops from time to time. There were Kerala Mural and Pattachitra workshops last month too.

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  27. i was looking for step by step procedure and your site is very helpful. also googling for renuka workshops, pls share links if you have any.- thanks - ashok, bglr.

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