The Open Studio / Prem Shriwas
Prem Shriwas
“Swapn Desh”
Every colour here began as a stone, ground by hand
The paper's edge is torn soft like bread.
A blue mist rises from it and never quite clears.
A man in a checked shirt lifts his hand toward a small yellow bird.
A woman leans out of her gold frame and offers a lotus bud.
Above them a god sits on a cloud under a hood of snakes.
Below, white lines curl and curl, the slow breath of water.
Everything here was once stone.
The work
Prem Shriwas studies at the Government Institute of Fine Arts in Indore. For this miniature he makes his own colours. He grinds natural stones by hand and mixes the powder with gum arabic. The process takes hours of trial and patience. Shriwas then paints small figures on a pale blue ground: a young man beside a peacock, a woman leaning from a gold frame, elephants, a cobra, a tiger and a deer. White lines curl like water and cloud around them.
In the artist’s words
“This piece is meaningful because I prepared my own pigments from natural stones, grinding them by hand and mixing them with gum arabic. This traditional process required dedication, patience and hours of experimentation. Preparing my own pigments helped me appreciate traditional painting techniques and the value of craftsmanship.”
- Theme
- Dream, myth and nature
- Material
- Natural stone colour on paper
- Size
- 30 × 20 cm
- Year
- 2025
- Edition
- 1
- Framed
- No
- About the artist
- Govt institute of fine arts
- From
- Indore
- Code
- RC-591
