Maharashtrian Lady

I have been wanting to draw a figure wearing traditional Indian dress, here it is a sari, for a long time. I came upon the reference image for this drawing from a blog on vintage Indian photos a few years back. Since I wasn’t doing much figure drawing then and lacked confidence, I filed it away in my folder. Now that I am doing the figure studies, I finally got the courage to do this drawing. I am so glad I am able to finish it. This was an excellent exercise on fabric folds and draping. Reading Barbara Bradley’s book gave me the extra nudge and inspiration to attempt this.

11 by 14 inches on Strathmore Bristol Smooth

It seems there are 108 ways to drape a sari and this particular style is called nuvari and is usually worn by women in Maharashtra, a state east of India.