Typical Warli painting's background colors are Henna, Indigo, Ochre, Black, Earthy mud, and Brick red. Typically Warlis paintings are simply painted on mud, charcoal, and cow-dung treated surfaces with rice paste for white colour.

Warli paintings take their name from the tribal community on the northern edge of the Sahyadri Range in Maharashtra, primarily in Thane and Palghar districts, with Dahanu and Jawhar at the forefront. The tribal art style dates back to the 10th century AD and has traditionally been used by the tribals to decorate walls of their mud houses on special occasions like harvest and weddings. The most important aspect of the painting is that it doesn’t depict any mythological characters or images of deities but portrays the circle of life and respect for nature, farming and wildlife.

They are usually crooked lines, dots, circles and triangles. Human and animal bodies are represented by two triangles joined at the tip. Their precarious equilibrium symbolises the balance of the universe, Essentially ritualistic, Warli paintings were usually made by married women to celebrate a wedding.