fish

fish
Originally uploaded by radicaleye.

this weekend had dropped in at a local mall looking for modular office furniture, which is generally a boring experience - not the furniture, but the mall - there should be bazaars for stuff like furniture, crockery and spare parts... that would make it so much fun!

after having browsed through the few stores there i and deep were on our way back when we noticed a small stall in the lobby of one of the sections of the huge nirmal lifestyles mall in mulund...a young gentleman was selling his craft.... there lay a skeletal table adorned with hundreds of madhubani paintings... a beautiful, vibrant and colorful delight for the eyes...we were excited, like kids are when they spot an icecreamwallah...

we sat down with him to have a chat and started learning about the art and the artist... prasoon kumar comes from the madhubani district in bihar and has been painting in the traditional style of that region for years... madhubani is an ancient indian form of painting which uses handmade paper, paints and brushes too :o) prasoon is a pleasant, intelligent and amiable person and it was so much fun learning how he works...black colour is obtained by mixing soot with cow dung, yellow from turmeric or pollen or lime and the milk of banyan leaves; blue from indigo; red from the kusam flower juice or red sandalwood, green from the leaves of the wood apple tree, white from rice powder, orange from palasha flowers and red from rose...wow... for a poster size painting he spends almost 18-20 days labouriously working on each and everystroke for 7 hours a day...wow! now thats passion for art...

not only prasoon, most people in his region as madhubani painters who have inherited the craft from their ancestors... prasoons parents have been awarded state and national level wards for their talent, he too has won many awards and his little seven year old also draws in the same form...

more of his work at my FLICKR page, here