Flora of Mughal India: Some Progress
Some progress has been made. The illustrations have all been printed with the base layer. And the miniature painter has painted over 4 of the 9 flowers. The harsringar (above) ended up being a bit different than my original print. An elegant solution presented itself, offering a chance to create overlaps with the image and the base sheet.
The Jasmine was painted atop a silver printed base, so the white seems to glow slightly.
One of the challenges that the. miniaturist faced while creating these pieces was that the paint was beading on the surface of the paper, which did not happen during the initial tests and trials. In order to overcome that, he needed to first paint a thin layer of reetha and shampoo, and then the paint on top of it. As a result, a lot of the illustrations lost their translucency. But I think this is what comes of collaboration and trying something new–learning about creative process, technique and outcome and how much they can differ. The paper I used for printing worked perfectly, but not for painting. The back of the paper was slightly rougher and didn't print as well, but it worked perfectly with the paint. This pushed the miniaturist to think differently about how he could possibly make the paint attach to the slippery paper. I think we both learned a great deal.
