Madhubani paintings

Madhubani paintings , also known as Mithila paintings.have their origin at  Mithilanchal or Mithila region of state of Bihar. Traditionally these paintings were done by women of Madhubani and the nearby areas.The paintings were originally done on the kachcha walls ,mud walls of huts but now they have found expressions on various bases--handmade paper,pulp and even fabric.
 Unlike other folk paintings Madhubani is found in various styles and traditionally each of these styles belong to particular caste /strata of society.Such as Bharni style was practiced by Brahmin community while Kachni was prevalent among business community or vaishya.Godana style was popular among the lower strata of society.
Themes of these folk paintings are basically religious.Various Hindu God ,Goddesses,anecdotes from their lives are the popular subject matters.Besides these images from nature such as sun,moon ,trees ,birds and animals also find their places in the paintings.Scenes from royal courts,social occasions like marriages/weddings are also depicted .
Traditionally only  basic colors -red ,yellow,green ,blue,black and white were used.Even now Madhubani paintings set themselves apart due to their vibrant colors.Only herbal colors are used in these paintings.Different colors are obtained by different plants and trees.

Black color is made by adding soot to cow dung/burnt jwar /kajal.
Blue is obtained from indigo
Source of red color is Kusuma flower or sometimes red sandalwood.
Yellow is made by combining termuric and some times pollen grains with banana milk.
leaves of wood apple tree leaves,bilv leaf,saim creeper are used to extract green color.
Palash flowers are used for orange .
Rice flour provides the white color.

Twigs with cotton wrapped on the tips were used as brushes.

Few prominent characteristics of Madhubani paintings are that generally no empty space is left in whole of the frame. Space left after drawing the images is filled with leaves,flowers,birds or even various geometric designs and forms.
No shading of colors is displayed in these paintings.
Double line is drawn as border and the gap is filled with small horizontal lines or sometimes with small dots.


I have tried to make few paintings of Madhubani styles on my computer screen by using the basic paint and brush tool.Let us see how have I fared.

Krishna in Bharani style

Kachhani style tried by me.In this style usually light and subdued colors are chosen and the lines very fine.

Krishna Radha in Bharani style---In this style bright colors are used and the spaces are filled with colors.