Making of thangka paintings

Most of the thangkas are painted on a canvas. Some are painted on paper or leather. Other are embroidered, appliquéd, woven and patchwork thangkas, but theSketching else forms are not discussed here. Technically making a painted thangka occurs in four stages.

Preparing the foundation:

The kind of thangka under discussion here, the canvas you buy, is made of a woven material: cotton, linen, and sometimes silk. A finely woven structure, made of a single piece of fabric, is best, because paint easily chips off of thicker to rougher fabrics when the thangka is rolled up. The painted canvas is rectangular in shape, taller than it is wide, ideally measuring on the average 30inches tall by 20 inches wide (75 by 50centimeters). The same 3:2 ratio f height to width can also be found in other formats: 12 by 8 inches (30by 20cm); 48 by 32 inches (120 by 80 cm); 120 by 80 inches (300 by 200 cm) for exceptionally large specimens. These proportions generally also apply to the huge thangkas – measuring up to 180 by 130 feet (55 by 40 meters) that are hung out side the wall of the monasteries during festivals. There are also elongated thangkas that are wider than they are tall, with a size ratio of 2:3.The edges of the canvas are folded over twice, rather than hemmed, to prevent them from unraveling. Then the canvas is fastened with thread to four laths that are firmly attached with twine to a wooden frame, and strung tightly, so that it looks like an upright trampoline.The front and the back of the cloth are swabbed with a sizing of anima; glue consisting of boiled bones and skins, often of a water buffalo. After this layer has been applied, it is polished with a smooth stone or shell. This produces a smooth, even layer on rough or uneven cloth that will function well for sketching and painting and will keep the paint from seeping into the cloth.

Sketching

For orientation, the painter will often first lay down a grid of coordinates in the form of eight lines: two diagonal lines with a horizontal and a vertical axis drawn through their intersection, and four lines drawn parallel to the frame. Sometimes the painter will do this on the back so that the lines show through when the canvas is held up to the light the next step is a charcoal sketch. When the painter is satisfied with the result, the lines will be accentuated with ink.There are separate drawings, of templates, available for many of the figures that are to be painted. They can be transferred to the canvas by pricking holes through them along the contours and on the most important lines and components. Powder is blown through these holes, resulting in a dotted outline on the canvas. Another technique for transferring figures uses block prints. The wood or metal blocks are painted black; the figures are colored in at later stages.

Painting

                                When the sketch is finished, it is time for the coloring stage. Large color area areas are often applied by brushing or writing numbers or syllables into the area in question. Black, for instant, is indicated with the number two or with the syllable Na, yellow with five or SA. When applying the colors, a particular sequence is commonly followed. First, the area furthest away in perspective, the sky, is colored. Then the closer landscape is done, followed by trees, rocks, and water. After this come the deities and other figures. The throne, clothing, and nimbus are painted first. Light colors are applied before dark colors, and then details in gold are added.

Framing

                Once the painting is finished, the canvas is loosened from it’s stretchers and framed with textile edging. The silk or brocade trim is of an established width, so that the depth of the bottom trim is half the length of the painting, the top one fourth, and the sides are one-eighth of the length. Still, the framed thangka is not completely rectangular but splays out a little toward the bottom, and metal caps are usually slipped over the ends. If a thangka is not in use, but not rolled up either, a thin piece it from soot and smoky lamps, and to avoid the image being visually touched bye uninitiated eyes. Often the curtain will be yellow silk, with red or blue dots, or sometimes it has a flower motion on it. Over this lowered curtain two bands of red silk hang down to the very bottom. At the top between these two strips hangs a lightweight read cord with which the veil can be tied up. At the very top there is a cord by which the thangka can be hung or with it can be tied together when it is rolled up.

2) Creating an original painting – artist Martina Shapiro

View or buy my paintings here: members.shaw.ca Here I continue working on the painting of an abstract female nude in acrylic on canvas that I started in my first video, I am inventing the image as I create it, completely from my imagination – I don’t use models. Join my fan page on Facebook: www.facebook.com . . .

Watercolor: History Of Watercolor Paintings

The popularity of watercolor remains to this day. It is the most widely used medium as far as users are concerned and it is the subject of so many studies, development, and enhancements. During the renaissance though, more popular mediums like oils and its derivatives eclipsed the use of watercolor in more exacting art renditions. This is so because watercolor mixes are less stable than its coloring counterparts are. Watercolor tends to fade very fast with time. To top this, pigments especially in the blue hues easily flakes and become powdery and cannot hold its color for very long. The brilliance that are the main beauty of watercolor painting pales easily when exposed to light over a period of time unlike oils and acrylics.

No matter the shortcomings, watercolor was experimented and in fact used by masters too many to mention here. For commercial viability though, watercolor fails and so oils and acrylics were preferred as it commands a higher price. Even in today’s art auctions, seldom are watercolor prints sold except maybe when works of Wassily Kandisky, Pol Ledent, and their contemporaries are placed on the block and these are 20th century artists. Nonetheless, watercolor held its own. It did not become passé. It stayed in the background neither relegated to the forgotten category and neither very popular.

When book printing started on a grander scale, watercolor as a tool of illustration was the main, medium used. It is inexpensive, portable, light maintenance and the most practical. In the middle of the 18th century, watercolor use saw its initial revival, a rebirth people say. Its use became popular in the nobility and the bourgeois. Nonetheless, artists and illustrators late into this period still buy and mix their own pigments and the pigments come mostly in primary colors. This was the time that manufacturers and inventors started taking a second notice of its potential and market appeal.

Indeed watercolor pigments were developed. It still retained its basic pigments but a different binder, moist retainer, and plasticizer were included and modified. Today, watercolor has four levels of light fastness to choose from where it has very minimal durability to light compared to before. Paper was also developed. Were an ordinary white paper will suffice previously, there are now papers that are manufactured solely for watercolor purposes from the inexpensive watercolor specialty papers to the lint free papers of different grades. The quality is further enhanced when done on top quality archival paper. Today also, watercolor art can outlast oil and acrylic because of these recent technological developments adopted in its manufacture.

Until recent developments, the history of watercolor paintings has taken a long nap if you will. No matter, it is and remains a very wonderful medium to work on. Different challenges maybe but so are the rewards.