Warli paintings are a traditional artform originated in the Warli region of Maharashtra which generally depicts the daily lives and culture of the tribals in village areas and their association with the Mother Nature. This artform mainly makes the  use of  shapes like circles, triangles, and  square to form numerous shapes to depict a plot or a story.

Warli Art is one of my favorite art, for the creativity and richness it provides in depicting the normal day in the life scenes and one can be as creative as possible. This week we chose to do a traditional Wedding Procession (called Baaraat in Hindi), as month of January is a very special month for religious and spiritual practices and considered to be one of the most auspicious month for functions like house warming or marriages. (month of Paush as per Hindu calendar and aligns with December-January as per Gregorian Calendar).

We picked up this theme for the week as suggested by our master painter Sanjay Sangle (lovingly referred as Sanjay Bhau). Like always, Sanjay Bhau first taught all of us the basic components of the Warli painting and we learnt how to draw different motifs like animals, human beings, instruments and birds that will eventually find its way into the final painting as the main components. And, then we followed with the borders and the motifs that form the background of the scene e.g. trees, village street path etc.

While the overall painting is easy to compose, but there are several nuances in terms of how to depict the same motifs to illustrate the typical Baaraat scene - for e.g. painting of moon, stars and the portrayal of people in the Barat including the bride and groom on the horse.

It was really interesting and fun experience to see how the same motifs can be used with small nuanced techniques to illustrate a complex subject as well, and all participants enjoyed the session tremendously. Here is the final painting from the session, while we await for the next week sessions on a new theme.