Workshop and Exhibition of Miniatures by Ajay and Vinita Sharma

Master miniature painter Ajay Sharma and his wife Vinita will be having another show of their exquisite work at the Square Peg Studios, Marrackville, Sydney, opening Friday 1st Sept.
Not to be missed.

The exhibition will coincide with painting workshops taught by Ajay.

Workshops with Ajay Sharma

Great news! The master miniature painter Ajay Sharma is coming to Sydney again to teach two five day workshops.

I thoroughly recommend the classes. The first workshop is now full but there is space in the second one. It will fill up quickly though.

Ajay will also be having an exhibition of his wonderful work. Don't miss it! Will advise date of show soon.

To book or to find out more: http://squarepegstudios.com.au/courses/indian-miniature-painting/

Ajay Sharma Workshops in 2015

Great news! Master Indian miniature painter, Ajay Sharma, is returning to Sydney next year to give two week-long workshops.

The workshops will be in May 2015. I took one of the workshops earlier in the year and highly recommend registering if you are interested in learning traditional Indian miniature painting techniques. There were students who were completely new to miniature painting, and others who were very accomplished painters, yet everyone got a lot out of it.

For more information please contact Brenda Factor:

Phone: 0411 370361
Email : mail@squarepegstudios.com.au

One of Ajay's paintings

Painting Workshop With Ajay Sharma

I finally have a chance to post about the wonderful enjoyable week I spent recently learning traditional Indian miniature painting techniques from Jaipur master Ajay Sharma. I picked up a lot of valuable knowledge, and drank a lot of delicious chai. Ajay is an incredibly skilled painter and a very encouraging teacher. Hopefully he will visit Sydney again next year and run another course. I can thoroughly recommend it.

Ajay showed us how to mix traditional paints using chalk powder and pigment bound with gum arabic. It's crucial and difficult to get the right proportions of chalk and gum in the mix. Ajay showed us some tricks to get it right. Too little gum arabic and the paint will powder off; too much and it will be brittle and tend to flake off.

Below: kariya (chalk and gum arabic) mixed with pigments in shells.

We also learned how to prepare traditional wasli paper for painting, how to burnish the paper, and how to apply even washes and base colours. Also various brush techniques. Finishing up by learning how to apply gold leaf.


The standard of the paintings produced, even by those students new to this art form, was truly remarkable.