Warli painting... a traditional decoration which embellished the village houses of Maharashtra and Gujarat now adorn the walls of a few corporate houses in Bangalore. The person behind this is Shilpi Chauhan, a housewife and the mother of two lively kids, who hails from Jaunpur, Utter Pradesh, now settled in Bangalore.
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"I was always fascinated by ethnic things in life and I started painting this as a hobby. My husband is also very much interested in this art and he was the constant source of inspiration. I used to buy stationery from Gangarams in MG Road and once the owner asked me the reason for buying so much paper. I told him about my interest in Warli painting. He was fascinated by this idea and then I painted 270sq feet wall of Gangarams within 10 days" says Shilpi.

Yes, that was the debut of Shilpi as an exclusive Warli artist!!! Now different corporates in Bangalore like I- Flex Solutions, Broadcom India, Motorola, Centre for American Education have sanctified their walls by this ethereal art . However big the wall is, she painstakingly paints it herself. "I'm creating my own design, whatever comes to my mind, so I cannot explain somebody to do like this or that. Corporates are very much interested in this art because they say that this intricate art breaks the monotony of the work environment and is very much appealing and even this gives an ethnic look to the office," she says. Shilpi also tries to bring out innovative designs like mehendi designs, rather than conventional warli figures and also uses acrylic colours. She also does art works on pots and silk.

The fantastic paintings are originally the very part of the Warli tribe of Maharshtra, a special tribe of people who live in a very traditional manner and do everthing with a significance. They skilfully portray scenes from their life, tribal dances, figures, trees, huts, and so on. They traditionally use Geru (Merun powder) and Chuna (Lime powder) for painting their walls.

Shilpi, a registered artist with Handicrafts Department under Ministry of Textiles, also represented Karnataka at the Taj Mahotsav - the annual festival organised by Uttar Pradesh Tourism at Agra in February this year.

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A - 5 Phoenix Tower, S R Layout,
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Smitha Paulson

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