Children display their paintings on the final day of the workshop on Wednesday. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, June 8: The fruitful outcome of the eight-day Madhubani painting workshop was on exhibit for all on the premises of Youth Hostel today.

At least 100 paintings and cards made by 37 children associated with Kilkari, an unit of the state human resource development department, were on display on the final day as the workshop came to a close.

The workshop, which was a part of a summer camp organised by Kilkari, had five trainers, including Sunita Jha, Shivani Ranjan, Purnima Rani, Ashutosh, Shweta and Rajkumar Lal. The youngsters not only learnt the traditional style of Mithila paintings, also known as Madhubani painting, but also learnt about the changes in the style over the years. The workshop’s speciality lay in the medium, using both natural and artificial colours. The children were also taught the different styles of the art form, including kor and kachni.

Novelist Usha Kiran Khan said: “This workshop was unique in the sense that not only were the children familiarised with the theory of the art form, they also learnt to put it to use. Kilkari has done a good job in organising such a workshop for the children.”

Khan, who had grown up in Mithila seeing this art form, also said: “I am seeing this art form since the time it used to be carved on the walls of houses or used to furnish the walls to the time it shifted to the medium of paper, wood or clothes. Earlier, Mithila paintings used to be done only in natural colours but now when it is used on media like clothes and paper, artificial colours are being used.”

Lalit Kumud, a novelist and artist, addressed the children and said: “You should try to create new things in your paintings but that should be relevant to the present time. At the same time, you should also not forget to maintain the fundamentals of Mithila painting. Even if you make a mistake, you cannot use an eraser. Though many of you committed mistakes, using erasers is not allowed in Mithila painting.”

Kumud said one could always learn from their mistakes, as one can correct a wrong stroke by just joining it to another stroke, making the use of erasers redundant.