Tanjore Painting on Silk Fabric – Peacock Design for a Designer Saree Blouse
The Trending Art of Tanjore Painting on Silk:
Tanjore painting on silk fabric has become quite popular nowadays. Traditionally known for its rich colors, intricate details, and decorative work, this beautiful art is now being used to create unique designer blouses. Since Tanjore painting requires a lot of time, skill, and special materials, these hand-painted blouses can be quite expensive.
Those who are willing to invest more in this art are also getting Tanjore paintings done directly on sarees. The detailed painting adds a rich, traditional, and heritage look to the outfit, making it especially suitable for weddings and festive occasions. Tanjore-painted blouses look particularly beautiful when paired with Mysore silk sarees, adding an artistic and luxurious touch to the simple elegance of the silk
Story behind this Tanjore painting:
I learned Tanjore painting on silk fabric only a few days ago. After seeing one of my earlier works, one of my clients liked the idea and asked me to design a blouse for her saree. She has a beautiful pure Kanjeevaram silk saree, featuring traditional peacock and paisley buttas along the border.
The saree
Since the saree itself has such beautiful traditional motifs, I wanted the blouse design to complement them rather than look unrelated. The peacock motif on the saree became the inspiration for choosing a Tanjore-style peacock painting for the blouse.
Choosing the Silk Fabric and Blouse Colour
Since the blouse was meant to be paired with a pure Kanjeevaram silk saree, I preferred to use pure silk fabric for the blouse as well. The richness and intricate detailing of Tanjore painting look especially beautiful on silk and complement the grandeur of a Kanjeevaram saree.
The saree has a beautiful dark pink or magenta border, so I chose a matching magenta pure silk fabric for the blouse. The rich colour also provides a striking background for the gold work and vibrant colours used in the Tanjore painting.
Selecting the Peacock Designs
I have a collection of peacock designs suitable for Tanjore painting, and my client selected one of them for her blouse. We decided to use the large peacock design on the back of the blouse, where the intricate details could be displayed beautifully.
For the sleeves, I chose two smaller, similar peacock designs that complement the main design. This keeps the entire blouse coordinated without making the sleeves look too heavy.
The peacock design on the back
The Color Selection for the Tanjore Painting on Silk Fabric
The peacock motifs on the saree border have beautiful green details, so I chose green as the main colour for the peacock on the blouse. Gold is an essential part of Tanjore painting, and I used it generously to bring the traditional richness and elegance of this art form into the design.
Since the saree has a pink-magenta border, I added touches of pink to the peacock’s body to coordinate the blouse with the saree. For the smaller peacock designs on the sleeves, I continued with the same green, gold and pink colour combination, so that all the motifs look beautifully connected.
The sleeves
Closer view of the small peacock:
The closer view
Colorful stones are an important element of traditional Tanjore painting. Green, red, and yellow stones are commonly used to enhance the intricate designs and give the artwork its distinctive appearance. Nowadays, however, artists experiment with a wider variety of stones, colours, shapes, and finishes to suit different designs.
The addition of these decorative stones not only enhances the richness of the painting but also gives it the traditional and heritage look that makes Tanjore art so special.
The Finished Look of the Blouse
My client was very happy with the completed Tanjore painting and will now be giving the fabric for stitching. I was also very eager to see how the blouse would look once it was stitched.
Since the blouse is yet to be stitched, I used AI to visualize the finished look. It gave me an idea of how the large peacock design on the back and the smaller peacock motifs on the sleeves would come together on the finished blouse.
The finished look of the blouse
The painting should be ironed from the back and this should be dry cleaned always.
