Watercolor Painting ( part I)

Watercolor is a painting method and its traditional and most common support for watercolor painting is paper. There are other supports too , we can use. The paintings we see above are painted by a young Malagasy man, not well known by people. His nickname as seen  in the paintings,  is JIIN. There are some people who paints as a living. But for JIIN , it’s his passion and talent. The greatest pleasure for him is just seeing people admiring his art , and not really for the money. He prefers showing the Malagasy life in his work of art. We’re going to comment each paintings:

* In the first painting, we can see people happily watching the ” Mpihira gasy” ( group of people who sing and dance the Malagasy traditional music). Usually, we can find the Mpihira gasy during the ” Famadihana” ( which is the turning of the bones of the dead. ) It’s a very special moment for a family gathering and giving respect to the ancestors.

* This is the ” Moraingy” , when two strong and young men wrestle each other. They want to prove to the spectators which of them is the best and strongest.

* A woman in the countryside, who had just fetched a pail of water in the river. She carries it on her head while she piggybacks her child.

* The weather is burning hot , the man is struggling to pull his rickshaw loaded with sacks of rice and other goods, up the hill.

* The woman is at the river , trying to catch some  fishes to eat with their rice for the family meal.

* The Malagasy people’s famous artist Philibert RABEZONA well known as” RAKOTOFRAH” who was born between 1920 and 1925 at Ankadinandriana – Antananarivo. He was very talented in playing the “sodina” , which is a flute made from bamboo.

* An empty Wagon near a traditonal Malagasy home. These are zebus – drawn vehicles.

* Rice is the principal food for us Malagasy people. When the rice  is still covered by the brown hull is known as paddy. The rice is threshed to loosen the hulls—mainly by flailing, treading, or working in a mortar—and winnowed free of chaff by tossing it in the air above a sheet or mat. That’s what the man is doing up above.

* The man is taking a rest near his rickshaw after a hard long day of work, after bringing goods or people.

* The zebus are being very stubborn , so the owner has to hit them with a stick to make them go.