I Paint On Peepal Leaves To Keep The Ancient Art Alive

I’m Sandesh S. Rangnekar learnt art from my father Sadashiv G. Rangnekar who was acclaimed artist. I see art and beauty in every aspect of life and nature. I find the Peepal Leaf medium very different and interesting. This art form is from ancient India and very few artists practice it and hence want to keep this art alive.
To create the skeleton of leaf itself takes 30-45 days and that needs lots of patient. Especially I find it challenging to do portraits on leaves. The detailing has to be very accurate to get the likeness of the person. It takes a day to complete one painting.
Doing painting of Mona Lisa was indeed a very tough task as the size of the leaf is 6-7 inch and to capture her smile and expression was not at all easy. But this gave me confidence to do portraits.

Lord Ganesh

Monalisa

Marilyn Monroe