RAJASTHANI MURALS
Rajasthani painting is a mural painting, as there is a lot of relief work done to give it an embossed look. Rajasthani village scenes are usually chosen for this type of painting. We can also take up South Indian village scenes or temples etc., and work with the similar procedure. In general, we can also call these paintings as Indian paintings or Indian murals.
First, we need a board as a base for the painting. The base can be a canvas board or a ply board. In case of a ply board, preparation of the board surface is required. The surface is coated with wood primer several times to achieve a smooth finishing. This is done, as the surface of the board should be workable.
The sketch is then drawn on the surface. Relief work is done on the portions of the drawing, where embossed look is required, like trees in the background, if there is a well, it can be embossed, a hut … For the ladies, jewellery can be embossed. Relief work is done with a mixture of ceramic powder & glue. The mixture has to be pounded well to get a soft dough. This mixture is used to make the different shapes of the relief work, according to the designs that have to be embossed.
Once the relief work has dried, colouring can be done. First, the background is coloured. If there is a scenery in the background, it has be coloured completely. Then, the objects which are closer are coloured.The relief work also should be coloured with the appropriate colours, according to the objects. The dresses are usually colourful. For rajasthani paintings, bright combinations are chosen. After this, the skin portions are coloured. Metallic colours are used for the jewellery. . The painting is varnished for protection.
The dresses are designed by sticking mirrors & other decorative sequences on them. Now the painting is ready for framing.These paintings can be framed with or without glass. Many variety of synthetic frames are available. These paintings can also be framed with traditional wooden frames, such as teakwood or rosewood frames for an enhanced ethnic look.