The Lady Enjoying Swing

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In the Baramasa illustrations also swing defines the month of Shravana. After there developed the cult of Vaishnava bhakti – the deity’s devotional service, the swing entered into its domain; and, in the twenty-four hours’ cycle of the service rendered to the deity, especially the child Krishna, the swing was attributed a regular session : a practice still followed. A swing riding young Krishna, by himself or with Radha, usually on the branch of a Kadamba tree in an isolated forest corner, is now for centuries one of his most loved visual manifestations.

The swing-vocabulary travelled farther into other domains. The metaphysicians, theologists and even the modern psycho-analysts, have been long using it – the imagery of swing, for defining the wanderings of self and a vacillating, wavering or indecisive mind, and aestheticians, poets and painters, for revealing bodily charms for when swinging with her arms raised, legs stretched and hair blowing with the wind the figure of a woman revealed its utmost beauty and grace. The entire medieval feudatory had across centuries in its gardens and palace parts provisions for a swing, and not only the modern elite, a bureaucrat, or a rich trader but even a middle class household takes pride in having a swing in its lawn, veranda or courtyard. A timeless theme of Indian art as also life, the swing did not fail in attracting the fancy even of the modern painters like Raja Ravi Varma, despite working under the influence of European art styles. Portrait painting was more often their choice but the swing-theme which gave them ample scope for combining with the portrait of a young person engaged in an exercise which exposed her to her most bewitching charms and figural grace the magic of a natural surrounding, also gained from them as much favour.

Exactly in the style of late nineteenth century modern art sharing European technique, as it manifested in one of the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma on the theme, in all likeliness the artistic model of this art-piece, the artist has wondrously defined his canvas with a receding perspective and a merging centre for the portrayal of his figure of the lady, the painting’s primary concern. He has drawn his background with a high sky but not without a horizontal line and without binding it on all sides : on two sides by the huge tree holding the swing, the side opposite it, by a set of diffused forms of a hill range, and the bottom, by grass and marshy plants growing around. This yields the centre – merging, point of the canvas against which the portrayed figure gains utmost focus. All forms : the tree, hill-range, horizontal line and plants towards the bottom, are widely diffused – a most characteristic feature of the modern art lest they diverted viewing eye from the main theme. It is only a rose creeper with flowers on it rising along the tree, just close to the lady figure, that has not been diffused like other forms. It alternates the floral rings that adorned the European portraits of those days, a feature also shared by Indian modern painters.

This large size canvas portrays a young damsel, clad just in a sari and minimum ornaments, a chain on her feet, a pair of green and white bangles on each of her wrists, a lace of black beads around her neck, a ring on one of her fingers, and canopied pendants on ears, enjoying a swing : a piece of a wooden sleeper suspending along a rope from the branch of a huge tree. Though twisted with cords of two or more colours, the rope and the wood-piece are quite simple. Except its deep waving folds creating variegating colour-effects and a broad saffron border – shining but plain, her sari, rendered in opaque yellow, light and dark, is a simple length of textile. Most luxuriously floats her hair to her left affording pleasant contrast to her effulgent figure, her gold-like glowing arms, and rose-like radiating face. True to the concept of the lotus feet, as it prevailed in early aesthetics, the figure is endowed with gently conceived feet revealing silken softness of lotus petals. Her dreamy eyes, sharp features, oval face, cute lips and a well defined neck, all reveal exceptional beauty and grace.

This description by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr. Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes on the aesthetics of literature and is the author of numerous books on Indian art and culture. Dr. Daljeet is the curator of the Miniature Painting Gallery, National Museum, New Delhi. They have both collaborated together on a number of books.

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Oil painting technique – India centric

Oil painting is the most interesting technique in art. Unlike other paintings or art forms, oil painting is a process in which colored pigments are painted on the canvas with a drying oil medium as a binder. This medium helps colors blend beautifully to create layers and also makes them appear rich and dense. Several varieties of oil are used in this painting such as sunflower oil, linseed oil, etc., and depending on the quality of the oil, a particular consistency of the paint is developed. With the use of an oil medium, the painting gets a natural sheen on the surface which appears extremely attractive. India is famous for its old tradition of making oil paintings. This art form was brought by Europeans in the 18th century and is now practiced by almost all well-known artists. Nirmal, a small tribal town in the state of Telangana is the center of traditional oil paintings in India where the local people practice it with dedication. Most Indian artists still use the traditional technique of oil painting.

Canvas of the required size is prepared

The artists use either a wood panel or canvas made from linen or cotton. Sometimes the canvas is stretched onto the wooden frame to form a solid base, or cardboard may be used. The canvas is coated with a layer of white paint or chalk mixed with animal glue. This mixture is then smoothed and dried to form a uniform, textured surface. The wooden panel is more expensive and heavier but its solidity is an advantage in making detailed paintings with ease.

Sketch is drawn on the canvas

Now the artist starts to draw the subject of the painting on the canvas using the actual charcoal or a charcoal pencil. Sometimes, he may sketch with thinned paint as well.

Oil paint is applied using paint brushes or palette knives

Now that the rough sketch is prepared, the artist is now ready to paint. Oil paint, a special paint that contains particles of pigments suspended in a drying oil (usually linseed oil), is again mixed with oil to make it thinner for applying it on the canvas. Proper consistency of the paint is maintained to avoid its breakage. The most important rule for the application of oil paint is “Fat over lean” in which the first layer of paint is thin and later, thicker layers are applied. This means that each additional layer of paint contains more oil. This results in getting a stable paint film. Traditionally, paint was applied using paint brushes but now the artists also use palette knives to create crisp strokes. To paint using this technique, the edge of the palette knife is used to create textured strokes that appear different from that of a paintbrush. Sometimes, oil paints are blended simply using fingers for getting the desired gradation.

Smaller oil paintings, with very fine detail, are relatively easier to paint than larger ones. The most attractive feature of these paintings is the natural shiny appearance that is obtained on the surface because of the use of oil paint. The blending of colors looks extremely realistic and this is the reason why oil paintings are loved by everyone throughout the world.