Saturday, January 30, 2010

tarpa player


Tarpa dance which is played to the tune of a wind instrument "Tarpa". This is the dance performed by Warli ( adivasi tribe in Thane district, Maharashtra) during harvest season/diwali. I have tried to use warli painting style painting and design approach to composition.

I really need a critique on this and comments on the areas to improve as I am planning to do a series of some figurative painting (which i am not good at :( ) on Maharashtra folk dances

13 comments:

Prabal said...

Can not give any critique or comment as I myself have not done any figurative paintings. But this one is refreshing and your palette really comes across in this.

V. Deshmukh said...

Your work is outstanding. You have a way with watercolours. It inspires me. Thanks for sharing with us. I look forward to more of ur work.
Best wishes,
Vinayak

V. Deshmukh said...

Thanks Ajay.
I hope ther are more like us. Guess we all find inspiration in the respected Mr. Mulick in more ways than one :)
Someday I hope to paint watercolors like you.
I wish we had something like Sanskarbharati in Hyderabad too.
Best wishes, and thanks for joining my blog.

Anudeepa Kadiresan said...

looks great,
you are good in figure painting,try to do somemore.

Sandeep Khedkar said...

Hi
Very nice concept and composition. One small crit would be the color and tone of the instrument near the face...its too similar to face color..some difference might help
But overall a very nice piece of work.

mosilager said...

I know nothing about painting, but looking at this from a photography perspective, I find the small dancing figures on top distracting. The neck of the main musician looks too big for his body - and so does the distance between the neck and the arm. I might also try to move the linked figures forming the chain to just one side of the main character.

Otherwise I like the painting, looks like a great story behind it, there's multiple ways to interpret it, could be that the main figure is the latest in a long line of musicians, or that he represents this style of music.

Ajay Patil said...

Thanks everyone.
Mosilager, thanks for the inputs . I had noticed few of the body proportion errors . ( even axis of the main instrument is not correct)

In this form of dance these tribal pepole dance around the main intrument player and move backforth to the tune. They typically form this "S" curve line while concluding the dance. hence the composition.

pc said...

Ajay, great attempt again..It's good to try and experiment. You've mastered watercolor landscapes..good to see you graduating.
Compositionally, I see no flaw. But as mosilager pointed out, the figures are a little too bright on top.
I can only see some mistakes in proportions of the human figure (I know it's very difficult) and the tones used for arms and body differ which make them look disconnected..
Overall, great job !

Ajay Patil said...

PC thansk for Crit. As i had mentioned to Mosilager I do agree and notice the proportion problems.
As I am planning series of on this concept I really needed this kind of help and feedback. I am redoing this painting and hopefully avoid certain mistakes done

ANURAG MEHTA said...

Thanks Ajay for your comments.your ``Wai Ghat``is so fantastic.I also like your hand in still photography.

Art with Liz said...

Hi Ajay, I'm a week late but love the colours of this. I do agree with Mosilager about the shoulder and that instrument he is blowing was a bit disturbing at first glance - too much like skin tone! Also check the position of his right hand - I love the way the figures are grouped around the base almost as if he is being led by them. Do you sketch before you paint? I find it essential when I do watercolour, but I tend to draw with my paintbrush with oils. Looking forward to the series!

Ajay Patil said...

Liz,
thanks for all the help. I do basic skecth while painring figures.
The instrument is made from dried bottle gourd hence the color still I think it should look more yellow.
All suggestions should help me to improve this next time.

Arti said...

Agree with Liz on this..a darker tone for the instrument could have helped.Or a different hue,as you have said yourself...second sugestion,I would like his facial features to be more prominent ..the design element is good and those tiny dancers look very good to me. Keep painting:)