Dulari Devi worked as a cleaning lady for an artist in India. After watching the artist painting, she went home to find “my hands were itching to make something beautiful too.” With no paper or paints, Devi used the mud outside her home to make a bird. She was so thrilled that she found the courage to ask the artist if she could learn to paint. “She said ... yes!” Devi began by learning how to hold a paintbrush and draw a line, and went on to master the “rules of painting” in order to create her own original works. “I couldn’t imagine a single day without painting. It was part of my life.” Devi has gone on to become one of a small number of women artists who have adapted the Mithila style of Indian art, which draws on traditional and Shamanic designs, to depict contemporary themes. Here, an engaging, first-person narrative is accompanied by Devi’s intricate paintings depicting scenes from her life. There is a pleasing sense of color and balance, not to mention a spirited playfulness, in Devi’s distinctive work. “My way of telling stories is through painting, so I’ve painted my story for you here.” (Ages 8–12)

To earn more money, we worked in people's houses, washing their dishes.
When we were done, I liked arranging the pots and pans in rows.
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.
Sometimes I wished I could do something else. Everyday was the same, as it had been from the time I was a small girl.
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.

Following My Paint Brushis 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.

Dulari learned by doing, and very soon came to adapt artistic rules and conventions to her own expressive needs.Following My Paint Brushnarrates 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.