My introduction to madhubani painting

Last time I went home, I happened to meet my mom’s Madhubani painting teacher. Learning this painting was a new exciting development for maa… she has been learning and doing other kinds of paintings n other forms of art that are pretty common at personal, domestic level.
Her teacher seems to be struggling to earn her living, however knowledge of this art form fetches us some benefits. My mother met her in an ethnic art mela at my place.

Earlier, this painting has been done with a straw n not a brush. These days inkpen nib is used. Also, the natural colours have been replaced by fevicryl paints. This nib is fixed in the body of a painting brush for ready use. The idea or say the chanllenge or speciality of this painting is that only lines are drawn and it makes up to a whole figure.

Instead of filling up the outlines with colors, further smaller strokes

are used to fill them up. These strokes can be like curves, can be horizontal, vertical and as symmetrical they and the gaps between them are

better they are considered to be.

It becomes difficult as complex the picture gets. Look at the design of the dress of the girl and the bangles in the picture below.

And The scales of fish in the right...it has lot of overlapping lines...which
needs to look neat and needs lot of practice.

Haven't tried any such strokes myself but have only begun to understand this painting which though belongs to our part of country and receives acclaims worldwide.... but we ourselves don't do much to encourage it's healthy survival.