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Getting to know about the workshop

A few days back I received a Whatsapp forward from a friend sharing about some art workshop. On checking the details I came to know that an arts professor from some Canadian University was visiting Jaipur for a short period of time and had decided to offer a two days workshop on mural painting. When I checked the date and time of the workshop I realized to my utter dismay (you don't get to learn from an arts professor every day, unless you are an arts student in some college) that I had already missed the first day of the workshop! Since kids were also welcome to join the workshop, I decided to call them up to see if we can attend the workshop the next day. And guess what, they said yes!

Reaching the venue

The workshop was from 6:30 AM to 9:30 PM. Although we reached the location on time, it took us a bit to locate the venue. We asked a few locals and then were finally able to reach the exact place. It was a very old and dilapidated building. As we entered the main gate of the building, a couple of ladies sitting in the verandah directed us to take a flight of steps that led to the roof. On reaching the roof, we saw a group of four or five people mixing colours in some old used paint cans. As soon as the professor saw us, he greeted us with a smile and told us that they were just getting started.

Getting the colours ready

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The instructor told us that he has got some colour pigments that he is mixing with some water and then adding some binder (a binder is a chemical which helps hold the pigment to a surface) to the mix to make it more viscous and to make the colours stick to the walls and the floor. Once the paints were ready we could barely hold ourselves from jumping right in into the activity.

But before we move on, let's learn a bit about "murals"

Any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or floor can be classified as a mural. A unique characteristic of mural paintings that distinguishes them from other art forms is that while making a mural you need to take into account the architectural elements of the given space so that it looks in harmony with them."

Murals are a very ancient art form and date back to Upper Paleolithic times. Paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Arde'che department of southern France have been done in around 30,000 BC.

There are many different styles and techniques in murals. A Fresco is a type of mural which uses water-soluble paints with a damp lime wash. An example of frescoes is the Shekhawati Frescoes.

Another example of a fresco:

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Please keep watching this space, I will be publishing the next part of this post sometime soon...