Learn Warli Paintings

Warli painting is one of oldest art or painting form found as early as in the 10th century.  Many of these kinds of paoining are from Maharashtra and belongs to tribe in outskirts of Mumbai city called "Warli Tribe".

The name "Warli" is derived from "warla" which means a piece of land or agriculture land.

In Warli painting, you will mainly see a group of people, celebrating, dancing or performing some traditional festivals.  These paintings also express the tribal daily activities and social events that they perform.  The tribal decorate their houses with these paintings.

What do these paintings consists of?

Warli paintings do not have any images of God or Goddess instead a simple human and animal character depicting their social life and day to day activities.  These paintings are painted on mud wals and also display their art of hunting, dancing, sowing ,harvesting, going out, drawing water from well, drying clothes or even dancing.

Warli Painting in modern day, have on developed on paper and has good demand all across the World.  Today these paintings have taken a place in houses be on Walls, Cloth or paper

Patterns of Warli Paintings:

• Geometrically patterns
• Circle - depicts sun and moon.
• Triangle - depicts mountains and trees.
• Square - a piece of land. Main motive of making the painting.

Lets Learn the method of Warli Paintings:

In Warli paintings color were not a part of the paintings.  The colors that they made use were black, white, brick red and mud.  However, the time passed there were many new additions to the same and now there are different ways of Warli painting being developed.  People have started mixing arts such Warli and Madhubani painting together and started making use of the metallic and poster colors.

What material do you need for Warli Paintings?

• Cloth/Handmade paper
• Trace paper
• Metallic colours(for cloth)
• Poster colours (for paper)
• White poster
• Carbon sheet

Learn how to draw Warli Paintings

Warli Paintings

Materials required

• Cloth / handmade paper
• Tracing paper
• Metallic colours (for cloth)
• Poster colours (for paper)
• Distemper (for walls)
• Carbon sheet

Step 1: Choose a design
Step 2: First draw the required pattern on the tracing paper and copy the design into the cloth/paper using carbon sheet.
Step3: If using cloth, paint using metallic colours and let them dry well. Use poster colours for paper
Step4: Draw outlines using the white colour and again leave it to dry for 24 hours.
If applying on cloth, iron on the backside of the cloth.

Tips and tricks

• Experiment with materials. You can even do it on your bed sheets, saris, dresses, cushion covers and curtains.
• Don’t restrain yourself on paper or cloth. Try making a stylish pot, napkin holder, lampshades or just begin with a bookmark
• First draw the circle and then join them to form a coil with freehand.
• If applying on the wall, use apex as base coat
• Combine figures in beautiful patterns like peacock, well, trees etc.
• Add mirrors or colourful threads, if you want that extra shine to your painting.
• Borders can make it look more attractive
• If using “geru” as your base, mix it with linseed oil so that it stays longer