Monday 3 September 2012

Mother Bunny.

I tried copying a Madhubani painting yesterday. I had underestimated the art, perhaps because it's "tribal", almost childlike in its style and colour, more akin to a doodle than, say, The Last Supper. It was much harder than I expected. It would have been easier with a thick felt-tipped pen, but I decided I had to do it with paint and brush. This was my first attempt:




Today, I decided that I was more Mother Bunny than Madhubani, and allowed myself to just paint as I felt like. As you may have noticed from my blog, I like drawing faces, so I painted what I remembered of the woman's face in the Madhubani painting. I took the whole evening to finish this, and thoroughly enjoyed myself until I started to feel guilty for not doing something "useful". But then I reminded myself how important it is for me to do just this - paint, enjoy myself - for my sanity, my health, my pleasure.

Later this evening I started reading a book by Bertrand Russell, called Why Men Fight. I'd forgotten the reason I picked it up at the library was because I read this quotation on the back cover:

"The supreme principle, both in politics and in private life, should be to promote all that is creative, and so to diminish the impulses and desires that centre around possession."

So in retrospect, I had a supremely useful day.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I really liked it, nice job. :)
I am fond of art, but the opposite of you. I can't/ don't do faces.. I think it seems so much more mystical without it.
But then again, it depends on artist and the art.

Jayant said...

Greetings from New Delhi!
My maternal grandparents are from Madhubani and I have seen quite a bit of Madhubani painting. I must congratulate you for the effort and it has really come up well, for someone who's just started out with it. I have never been inclined towards painting and that is all the more reason I appreciate those who are into it. Keep up the good work :)