Masmara - handcrafted products by rural artisans

"Masmara" the story unfolds here says their first post on their blog.....

Masmara, founded by Two friends ( who are incidentally married to each other :)) quit their jobs and then travel, chill out, laze around...and soon decide its time they did something more constructive with their time.. They travel some more, meet lots of people, research some ideas and zero in on starting "masmara".

Masmara, based out of Bangalore, was started with the intention of bringing little known rural crafts to a global audience. Masmara strives to bring before you some beautiful handcrafted products which sustains and promotes good craftsmanship.

All our products are eco-friendly says "Masmara" and are aimed to appeal to a wider global audience. Being original handmade selection of products, they are surely a treat for your eyes. Coming in an affordable range of prices, we have several products in our collection which are made of natural fibers like jute, cotton, banana fiber, sheep wool and hibiscus fiber. We also collaborate with NGO’s who promote craft-based sustainable livelihood projects for women.

I like Masmara,coz they have a huge collection of my favourite Kerala Murals in a different fashion,drawn on bamboo and which could be put on walls and cute pendants and silver jewellery which I have been always eyeing on....

Enjoy their products and promote "Masmara",Truly Indian

Simple jewellery from beads and colored thread and a mural workLambini jewellery made by lambini tribes in Karnataka

very colorful bagsbeads in different colors

mural work on bamboo,wall art

mural painting by rural artisans
mural art kept to the side of the mirror

Site: http://www.masmara.com/

Blog:http://masmara-india.blogspot.com/

All images are courtesy to "Masmara"

Making of a Kerala Mural

Kerala mural paintings are frescos (strictly using naturally available materials), depicting mythology and legends,which are drawn on the walls of temples and churches in Kerala. They stand out for their emphasis on beauty, clarity and symmetry.

Preparation of the walls

The walls have to be first prepared before one does the murals. The walls are given a rough plastering with a mixture of lime and sand, the juice of kadukkai or the juice of a creeper called chunnambuvelli and dissolved jaggery. Then a smooth plaster is applied. The ingredients are the same as in the case of the rough plaster, except that at this stage, cotton is ground together with the other ingredients.

After 10 days, 25 to 30 coats of a mixture of quicklime and tender coconut water are applied.  Its features are the lime medium and technique in which the prepared walls are painted only after it gets completely dry.

Colours

Five basic colours are used in mural painting — white, yellow, red, green, and black. 

Preparing the colours

For yellow and red, stones such as laterite are ground and the powder is cleaned to remove impurities. The pigment residue is collected and dried. 

For green, the leaves of neela amari(Indigofera) are dried and powdered. This powder is bluish in colour. Eruvikkara is a herb whose leaves are crushed to get yellow powder. The blue neela amari powder is mixed with the yellow Eruvikkara to get green, the proportion of the two powders being varied to get different shades. 

For black colour wicks are immersed in sesame oil, and then lit. The smoke is collected on the inside of a mud pot. The soot is then carefully scraped out and used where black colour is needed.

The outline is drawn in yellow, and then again in red. The colours are then filled in. Once the painting is finished, the outline is done again in black.

Brushes

Brushes for painting on the wall are made of the blades of certain types of grass and the roots of some trees. Sharpened bamboo pieces are used to draw the outlines of the murals.

Making of Krishna and Gopis

Sketches are made and yellow is been filledNext comes red

Characters emerge layer by layer,most painstaking process

After yellow is the turn of green,characters come to the forground with green

Then comes blue
The gopis begin to take their places,charming and coequittish and full of life
Finally in life like glory

Making of Ananthasayanam,Lord Vishnu 

Making of Yellow

Yellow central character

Vishnu Emerges

Lakshmi emerges in yellow

Still it is Yellow,All characters in yellow

Supporting characters emerges

Red emerges

Central characters becomes red
Supporting characters gets their share of red

Green is the other colour which emerges
After green comes blue
The outlines are filled with black

Outlines almost done,image done almost

Lord Vishnu in all its glory,a piece of adoration

Image courtesy and Informationcourtesy:aptclasses.com

Image courtesy:keralmurals.in,Artist Naveen,Text:A.Menon

Kerala Murals

Art is in the blood of man from the beginning stages of civilization. It began as a medium to communicate and preserve the events. It has no language but expressions. Every piece of art in Kerala tells us a story. Vibrant colours and dramatic details bring to life stories you have perhaps heard from your grandma or read in your favourite Amar Chitra Katha series.

Kerala murals are known for their emphasis on beauty, clarity and symmetry.

Accentuating dramatic elaborate costumes and rich ornamentation, these murals are somewhat similar to dance forms like Kathakali.

Murals were used to depict religious and mythological stories, and predominantly in temples.

Artists have to follow strict codes that govern the depiction of figurines and expressions, something that is followed even today.

Lets read some "History"

The history of Murals in Kerala can be traced to the seventh or eighth century AD. Indian Mural in its primitive form was done and can still be seen on the walls of the Ajanta and Ellora caves. They were done by the early Buddhist monks. Later the style of art spread towards the southern part of India especially to Tanjore, and from there to Kerala. One could say that the tradition of painting on walls began in Kerala with the pre-historic rock paintings found in the Anjanad Valley of Idukki district. Archaeologists presume that these paintings belong to different periods from the upper Paleolithic period to the Early historic period.

In Kerala, this form obtained a very distinctive and classical form that is unrivalled and unique compared to any other form of Mural around the world.Though the art form developed as a temple art, it soon spread its wings and became universal. The Murals of Kerala bear the stamp of uniqueness in aesthetic composition and technique. Kerala has the second largest collection of archaeologically important mural sites.

Originally, Kerala murals were a pure form of devotion, eulogizing Hindu gods and events and scenes from their domains. It is noticed that most of them were done in those places in palaces and temples where the common man couldn’t easily see the picture.Hindu God-Guruvayoorapppan(incarnation of Krishna)Artist:A. menon

Hindu God:Durga Artist:A.Menon

It is perhaps to create a genuflecting atmosphere that temples, palaces and churches in Kerala decorated their walls with intricate chumarchitrangal (murals) that told stories from the Mahabaratha, Ramayana, Puranas and the Bible.

Ancient places like Padmanabhapuram, Krishnapuram and Mattancherry are enriched with murals. One of the most fascinating works of mural art is on the walls of the Mattancherry Palace at Kochi which was probably executed in the late sixteenth century. It’s the Ramayana epic that seamlessly unfolds in the palliyara (royal bed chamber) on the upper half of the walls while the border is covered with simple textile designs that mural artists call "veeralli pattu".

Mattancherry Palace

Temples and churches in Kerala have walls decorated with murals. Earlier the intention was not a public display of art for appreciation. Later on, when these palaces and temples were opened up for public appreciation that these paintings saw the light as far as the rest of the world was concerned.

A group of adventurous artists decided to go a step further and use this grand style on canvas, this magnificent style of painting moved form palaces to museums to homes and hotels winning accolades for the grandeur and breathtaking beauty of the rotund figures and blatant colors.

Colors and Expressions
A typical Kerala Mural Painting is done using five colours namely, red, green, yellow, white and black. Blue too has made its presence felt in later murals.
Obtained from natural dyes from the saps of leaves.
Each painting is painstakingly done in five steps.
1.On a white background, first comes the sketching where the deft lines of the artist bring out the contours and curves of the motifs.
2.Outlines are filled with yellow colour leaving the white spaces.
3.Red or green(as they are darker compared to yellow and white) are filled into the spaces where required.
4.The detailing with darker shades of the same colors and finally outlining with black.

The Detailing of the mural painting makes all the difference, for every square inch of the painting, the painstaking work of the artist can seen, the blinding of colors, the transition of shades, the play of light and dark and the intricate lines and curves are distinctive to this style. The shading itself is the hallmark of Kerala Mural Painting and even for the novice; it is easy to identify a genuine Kerala Mural Painting by a casual inspection of the shading and detailing.

The colour schemes in the murals represent certain symbolic characteristics.

The colour scheme is based on the psychological aspects of the characters portrayed.

"It mainly depends on the basic gunas laid down by Hindu scriptures

— Satva, Rajas and Tamas.

Green or blue is usually used for Satvik (pure or divine);

red and yellow for Rajasik (valour, passion, etc);

and black for Tamasik (impure, sinful behaviour, etc),"

Deities depicted in the murals are given colours on the basis of their triple attributes - Sathwikam, Rajasam and Thamasam i.e. Virtuous (the quality of SATHWA)

Krishna with gopis,Blue for Satvik(Pure or Divine),Artist:Naveen
Siva in dancing form ,Natraja,The green represents Pure or Divine,Artist:Naveen

Apsara,Red and Yellow for Passion and valour (Rajasik) ,Artist:Naveen
Ashtalakshmi with Ganapthi,Artist:Naveen

Durga,White and Black - IGNORANCE (Thamasik)Artist:Naveen

The ability of Keralities to restrain emotions is latent in their culture. This outstanding feature is very clearly expressed on the faces of characters depicted in the murals.

Themes

The themes of murals are mostly taken from the epics and the subjects related to religions.

The murals on the outer side of the walls of sanctums and towers represent Gods and Godesses. They embody the qualities characteristics of epic poetry or legends

Credit: Artist Sadanandan ,Church in Thrissur

However this highly stylized art went out of fashion for most part of the twentieth century and it is only in the last decade and half that there has been a renewed interest and revival. Today it is the new age royals- industrialists like Rajshree Pathy, the Chairman and MD of Rajshree Group of Companies, who can enjoy this art in the same manner as the Maharajas of yore. The entrance of Pathy’s home in Coimbatore flow with the paintings of the Dasavataaram (ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu) done by Sadaanandan, Krishnan Mallissery and Ajithan Puthumana.

Wall Mural, Credit: Rajasreepathy Farm House, Home - India Today
Wall Mural,Credit:Rajashreepathy,Farmhouse,Coimbatore,Tamilnadu,2000
Entrance to the Pathy home ,wall murals
Artist:SadanandanWall Mural, Credit: Rajasreepathy Farm House, Coimbatore, TamilNadu 2000
Wall Mural, Credit: Rajasreepathy Farm House, Coimbatore, TamilNadu, 2000
Medium Canvas, Credit: Private Collection of Mr Guru Ramakrishnan, New York

Artist:SadanandanCredit: Artist, Sadanandan


Canvas Medium, Credit: AbhuJani Sandeep Khosle Designers, Mumbai 2002


Medium Canvas, Credit: Abhujani Sandeep Khosle Designers, Mumbai 2002

The Kerala murals if done in the traditional method of treating the walls with the mixture of lime, sand and herbal water and then coating it several times with tender coconut water and lime mixture, then finally painting the mural with the five natural colours can last over a thousand years. But the modern concrete buildings with a lifespan of just hundred years make poor material to house this ancient art. Hence the rapid migration of this art from the walls to other surfaces like canvas and wood.

Image Courtesy:Artist:Sadanandan,Naveen
Literature courtesy:www.keralamurals.in,Panchavarna.in,Home-India today,Home Rejuvenation.