Indian folk artists make their own colours from locally available materials, such as vegetables and minerals. Details of these materials are given in your text book. Experiment with all these natural colours by mixing them with gum. You can also add a few more vegetable colours of your choice. Use these home made colours to make a village scene.
Answers
Folk paintings have been a part of India’s traditions for many millennia. Starting from the pre-historic cave paintings of Bhimbetka, to Madhubani, which is believed to be as old as the Ramayana, on to the frescoes at Ajanta and Ellora, every region of India has had its own folk painting traditions. These painting styles evolved from simple depictions of the environment—trees, animals, and man—to detailed works of the elements, deities, and spiritual concepts to depictions of the universe.
The symbology of the gods, and indeed, of the universe as a whole, and of the human body influenced folk paintings in many forms. Canvases changed from walls of caves and temples to palm leaves to handmade paper, and created many tools and painting technologies that adapted to new discoveries while maintaining the traditions and ethos of “story-telling”, continuing and enhancing Vedic oral traditions and supplementing them, simplifying the spoken and written word, and making them accessible to the common man.