<DIV><p><I>To earn more money, we worked in people's houses, washing their dishes.<BR>When we were done, I liked arranging the pots and pans in rows.<BR>When I grew up, I still did the same work. I had never gone to school, so I was not trained to do any other job.<BR>Sometimes I wished I could do something else. Everyday was the same, as it had been from the time I was a small girl.<BR>Then one day, when I was passing the village pond, a strange thing happened. As I stood and looked, the scene turned into a picture in my mind. It came alive, bright and lively, telling stories. I was happy the whole day, thinking of my picture.</I></p><p><I>Following My Paint Brush</I> is the story of Dulari Devi, a domestic helper who went on to become an artist in the Mithila style of folk painting from Bihar, eastern India. Dulari is from a community of fisherfolk whose occupation is river-fishing. Used to a life of hard and relentless labor, she discovered painting while working as a domestic helper in an artist's house.</p><p>Dulari learned by doing, and very soon came to adapt artistic rules and conventions to her own expressive needs. <I>Following My Paint Brush</I> narrates Dulari's momentous journey from a worker who knew no rest to an artist who is willing to go where her imagination leads her. This is Dulari's first book.</p></DIV>