SchoolArts - April 2011

Left: Heather, grade four. Right: Lindsay, grade five.

Stacy Sturgell

Mehndi are temporary works of art created by painting with henna plant extract. Mehndi is
a traditional art form that dates back to
before the twelfth century AD. Henna
stain found on the fingers and toes of
mummified pharaohs has led some
people to believe that mehndi can be
traced back to ancient Egypt.
Indian weddings are not complete
without a mehndi ceremony where the
bride’s hands and feet are adorned with
henna ink. While the bride is being
inked, women enjoy food, drinks, and
performances of traditional Indian
dances.

Introduction

I introduced mehndi art to my fifth grade students and compared it to tattoo art and to some of my own permanent marker drawings. We talked about the similarities and differences between them. I also showed a video of a modern mehndi wedding ceremony.

Drawing Designs

I asked students to place their hands (and arms)

on;12;x;18";( 30;x;46;cm);watercolor paper and have a partner trace them using pencil. I reminded students to trace lightly so that the pencil marks could be erased. I required students to trace each hand at least once and overlap at least once, but I encouraged them to add more hands and arms for a more complete piece. After they erased the lines that were not necessary, students traced over their pencil lines using an ultra-fine-point permanent marker.

I made sure to show several examples of completed mehndi designs along with images of traditional mehndi patterns including paisley, straight lines, scallops, leaves, and dots. We discussed how the shapes flow from one to the other, and how the designs are symmetrical from one hand to the other.

I showed how combining shapes and lines and filling in the spaces could create a mehndi design, and modeled radial design and building the whole design from a central starting point. I

encouraged students to work from their central starting point and finish that hand and arm before going on to the next one. After discussing symmetry, students were able re-create the same design on the opposite hand.

Adding Color

After all of the hands and arms were completely filled in with designs, I had students use a wet-on-dry watercolor technique around the outside of their mehndi drawings. They chose one color and outlined their hands ( making sure not to forget the small spaces between overlapping fingers), and I encouraged them to keep the paint on the outside of the line.

After the outline of color was complete, students rinsed their brushes and added water to the paper, causing the outline of color to bleed out and “wash over” the paper to the edges. I encouraged students to have a heavy concentration of color closest to the lines.