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From the Malabar Coast

India is a home to numerous art forms, culture and heritage. Be it warli from Maharashtra, Pattachitra from Orrisa or the Tanjavore paintings from Tamil Nadu - all of them have their own essence and depict various mythological stories, tales from people of olden times and the lifestyles of tribal communities of India. One such art form is the Kerala Mural or the Chumara chitram, Chumar - meaning wall and Chitram - meaning image. Kerala murals are an exquisitely detailed picturization of the mythological stories. Quite like other traditional paintings of India, Kerala murals also originated with being made from natural colors in them. These colors are sensitive to sunlight and water. Over the years though these painting might have lost their shine and brightness but the tradition of making them still pertains. You can find these painting on the walls of temples in Kerala. The painting have now been repainted in most of the places so you can see how intricate and flawless they used to be. 

This post is personally one of my most favourite paintings. It took a good amount of time and patience to finish but was worth it. The color palette of the painting is obvious and simple but the color combinations make it look even better. 

One important to remember while making these murals is being confident with your strokes. A wobbly hand would ruin the details of the painting and it is important to use appropriate brushes. I used a 0 and 00 brush for this. 

Another trick to get this right is to play between wet and dry surfaces. For sharp finishes over the background wait for the color to dry and use less water to color ratio (for darker color) and spread the darker color with water later on as per requirement. For smother finish of colors and Ombre effect let the background color partially dry. 

These were some tips and tricks to making a water Kerala Mural. For more such works keep checking this space and for any questions leave a comment down below.

Ciao! 

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