Thinking of the other styles of arts found in India, I couldn’t miss out on the Kalamkari Paintings. Kalamkari paintings are traditional to Andhra Pradesh in South India. The name Kalamkari is  derived from the words”Kalam” meaning pen and “Kari” meaning workmanship.

This art has its origin in Andhra Pradesh and was patronised by the Mughal rulers. There are two styles of this art form, the Machlipattnam style and the Srikalahasti style.  In the Srikalahasti style the pen is used to do free hand drawing on cotton cloth and  filling in the colours using natural dyes.This art flourished in and around temples and hence was used as scrolls, chariot banners etc. and depicted images of deities and scenes from the great epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

The cotton cloth on which the painting is done undergoes several stages of treatment to get  its glossiness. These days we can see paintings of birds, village scenes too.

Though its not right to name it “Kalamkari”,inspired by the pictures depicted, I have tried to do it on paper using acrylic colours.

I would like to try it out on cloth, atleast using fabric colours, if not vegetable dye.  how does this sound?