Gallery visits spiked her interest in art

The design graduate uses handmade paper and poster colours in her Madhubani artworks.

Thirty-one-year-old Namratha Karanth started doodling at an early age of nine. She says that her interest was fueled by her visits to Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath every year during Chitra Santhe.

Namratha recollects, “We buy a Madhubani painting every year we visit the santhe. It was these visits that developed my interest in Madhubani art developed.”

Practised in the Mithila region, Madhubani is an art form that made using fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchsticks using natural dyes and pigments. Namratha uses postal colours and handmade papers and adds her own flavour to the art form.

Namratha, who is a fashion designing graduate, is an enterprise support specialist at LinkedIn. She comes back from work and spends at least two hours daily on doodling.

She says that she never plans on the design and that it comes to her during the course. She adds, “When it comes to mandalas, it depends on my mood. It starts at the centre of the mandala and just flows as I let loose my creativity. The different shades tell me what to do, “ she adds.

Talking about her colour preferences, she says she likes to work with black and white. “All my mandala art are in black and white combination. Sometimes, even my Madhubani artworks come in black and white combination, although there are supposed to be abundant with colours,” she adds.

Namratha Karanth

Namratha uses handmade papers and poster colours in her Madhubani artworks and for zentangle patterns, she uses thick sheets. All her works are freehand drawings.

“For one of my artworks, I used using protractor, scale, compass and other things. It turned out well, but everything was too symmetric. I like the version which is a little imperfect; it gives a unique texture to the work,” she adds.

She also designed a wedding card for a friend in a way which it can be preserved. She says, “My friend wanted to gift his guests a piece of art which they can later frame, thereby creating a memory of their wedding. I painted Madhubani inspired wedding cards of the same design for 52 guests.”

The time taken to complete each artwork stretches from two hours to eight days depending on the intricacy and the size of the art piece.

She also reveals that her family has been supportive of her from the day she started. “My mother has my first artwork framed. It was a simple peacock which I claimed to be Madhubani art back then,” she adds.

Namratha also wants to try her hand at African folk art, stencil art and gond artwork.

She signs off by giving a piece of advice to those who would like to take up fine arts as a hobby. “Don’t hold back. Be it a post-it or huge canvas, just get it out. Taking to such artworks helps you explore your inner strengths, “ she says.