Happy Women’s Day!
Why 8th March? It seems that in 1914, 8th March, a Sunday, was the day that women in Germany demanded their right to vote. In 1977, the United Nations asked members to observe 8th March as as International Women’s Day, and this has been done in many countries of the world ever since. (Source: Wikipedia)
With 8th March falling on a Sunday this year, a few of us jumped at the opportunity to try our hand at knife painting at Pradnya’s Art World.
It was very thoughful of Pradnya to give her time and resources, with absolutely no strings attached. She’s been doing art from the age of 14, and she is 58 now. So that’s a really long time. She wanted to do something different and memorable on Women’s Day. She chose knife painting because it is a relatively simple technique, needing no special artistic skills, and hoped it would make women come and try out something they probably had not done before.
The group of eleven ladies was a motley mix of working professionals and homemakers, many of whom (like me) had no experience with painting. And as far as knives go, only in the kitchen.
Think a little and just do what is in your mind, is what she said. When she found many of the ladies looking for ideas on their mobiles, she ordered them to be kept away and dissuaded us from copying.
We received many tips about art materials, wielding the art knife, colour mixing, colouring principles, and other things that would make us feel happy with our art. Correx board, acrylic colours, wiping cloths and the knives were provided.
I decided to use just three colours and finished rather quickly, which gave me time to go around and look at what the others were up to.
Pradnya and her team were there to guide and assist as necessary. And also incorporate elements that we novices had in our minds but couldn’t execute.
In the couple of hours we spent at the art school, we realised how relaxing it can be to spread colour around (literally).
And we all returned home with our masterpieces!
Sincere thanks to Pradnya for a great Women’s Day treat. I thoroughly enjoyed the painting and the company, and coming to think of it, I may actually do some knife art in the years to come.
arathimy 