Miniature art painting :Jewel of Indian Art

(Bani Thani - A common miniature art painting)

A miniature art paintings expresses what thousands of words can not. Art shows how artistic the people are and the imaginative quality they possess. Miniature art paintings possess a language entirely their own. No written words can express their charm. It is no small wonder that miniature painting have their own style in different parts of India. Painted on paper and silk in the most gorgeous colours-red, orange, yellow, blue and green in the miniature art painting ordinary becomes extraordinary

History of this Interesting Indian Art form

The history of the Indian miniatures goes back to Persia After the conquest of Hindu India by the Muslim Persians, the workshops of the painters, weavers and architects were moved down over here, thus giving birth to Miniature Art paintings in Mughal style.
After the Mughal reign, which lasted 200 years, by the second part of the 18th century, the Rajput Maharajahs became independent. They employed these highly skilled artists to replace their own artisans, leading to a sort of painting renaissance in northern India. The whole of Rajasthan divided into numerous princely states, patronized miniature art painting. These states had evolved a characteristic style of their own .The paintings of this era have their own unique style, being influenced by the surroundings- the deserts, lakes, hills and valleys, as the case may .Colourful glimpses of history are provided by these paintings depicting hunting and court scenes, festivals, processions, animal and bird life, and scenes from the Raagmala and Raaslila -- Lord Krishna´s life story. Also, courtly lavishness and prosperity have been displayed.
To this date, Indian and Mughal Miniature paintings provide an interesting insight into the lifestyles of earlier centuries and continue to fascinate people. Artists all over India still work and develop on miniatures and continue to produce work par excellence

(court singer)

Themes of Miniature Art paintings

The themes of Indian Miniature differ according to Schools ,the various schools of miniature art painting are:

Jodhpur School: The centre of these hand made paintings are love scenes then the other art figures.

Jaipur School: gods and goddesses, kings and durbars are very attractively painted on hand made papers by the artists.

Kangra School: Real gold, stone, and water colours are squirrel-hair brushes are used. Glittering effect is extended using silver and golden colours.

Mughal School: Love scenes and the Mughal durbar are represented very beautifully on the silk using real gold and stone colors. This art today can be seen on the wooden background also.

Mewar School of Painting: These represent hunting scenes which are painted on cloth and handmade paper using stone colours

Method of Miniature Art Paintings

(miniature art painting of a girl)

The beautiful art of miniature painting in India is a delight to behold, and it is not surprising that its creation requires a great deal of skill, patience and imagination

Material required

• Tracing paper and carbon paper
• Colours-Anyone of the two can be used.

• Oil colours- These tend to be a bit thicker than acrylics and require thinner for washing, thinning, and brush cleaning .They also dry late

• Acrylic paint- They are water-base and are smoother, though on drying it may become grainy. But mostly acrylics are artist’s choice posters

• Metallic colours

• Brushes-A variety of brushes are required 000 and 5/0 for smaller areas, and from a 10/0 to a 20/0 for fine detail

• Paper

• Rough cloth

( Mughal style of miniature art painting)

Process of Indian Miniature Paintings

Step 1:
Choose a design

Step 2:
First draw the required pattern on the trace paper and copy the design into the cloth/paper using carbon sheet

Step3
Now first paint the human figures. Then animals and other components of the picture. The background is painted last. This is to set each area's base colour

Step4
This step need fine brushes to beautify the Floors, carpets, human figure with intricate detailing. This also includes techniques like shading, highlighting, washing,

Step 5
Outlines the figures with a darker colour and highlight the jewellery and other parts using metallic paints to give an appearance of richness.

Step 6
Burnishing is the last stage. The miniature art painting is laid face down on a hard surface, and an agate stone is used to stroke it firmly. This gives the painting a uniform texture.

Miniature Art Painting Techniques

Shading and highlighting: These give a brilliant light effect. While shading is used to detail shadows, highlighting emphasizes the brighter areas.

Outlining: This technique is used to separate various parts of the painting

Dry-brushing . This miniature Art painting technique involves accentuating certain parts of the painting with a brush that has barely any color on it. The color used for dry-brushing is lighter than the base color.

Blending: Blending is an advanced miniature Art painting technique that is used to merge colors in one area with surrounding areas, to give the impression of a smooth and natural movement.

Washing: This is a miniature art painting technique wherein extremely diluted paint is put in the folds and low points of the painting.



(experimenting can be fun : Checkout the pepsi bottle in the miniature art painting)

Apart from paper artists also make miniature art paintings on the following:
Glass
Velvet
Marble
Silk
Wood

But making miniature art painting no doubt requires a lot of practice and patience. If you have both then go ahead and decorate your house with these wonderful pieces of Indian Art. You will find links to find Miniature art painting designs on the sidebar. So go ahead….

Do share your views and ideas and share your comments. Post your comments the tag board on the sidebar.If you want to know another traditional form of Indian painting.Click the links below

Madhubani painting

Glass painting Designs

Tanjore painting

Warli painting

Rangoli :Painted prayers of India