Page 100 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

Testing the Strength of the Paint
As the final step before applying the colours to the
painting surface, it was a good idea to test the paint one
last time to make sure that it contained the right amount
of binder. For this purpose the artist generally applied a
small amount of each paint with his brush to unused
portions of the painting surface. In thangkas these
testing spots were usually the strips of prepared canvas
on each side of the rectangular painting area. Having
applied a little paint, the artist could first judge its
characteristics by noting how long it took to dry. At
normal temperature and humidity, if the paint dried
very quickly there was not enough size; if a very long
time elapsed there was too much. After it had dried, the
artist could judge its strength by rubbing it with his
finger or scratching it with his fingernail. If it rubbed off
or was easily chipped by the fingernail, more glue was
necessary. A brittle, rough texture often indicated an
excess of glue. Finally, the surface appearance of the
dried paint could also tell the artist something: a slick or
glossy surface meant that there was too much binder,
while paint mixed to the right proportions was usually
matte in appearance.

Principles Governing Paint Application

The application of the first coats of paint generally
followed a fixed progression of colours. That progression
itself can best be understood in terms of four main
principles that governed the order of painting. To begin
with, there was the principle that the distant planes of
colour within the composition should be painted before
those in front. Most thangkas had at least three planes
in their composition. The most distant was the sky.
Also distant, but less remote than the sky, was the
landscape. The closest plane was that occupied by the
deities. By proceeding from distant to near the painter
could impart sharper edges to the foreward areas by
slightly overlapping each underlying area with the edge
of the subsequent colour. Painting in such a progression
was not always crucial, since in many areas the painter
would later sharply define the edges by dark outlining.
However, when painting certain objects that tradition-
ally received no outlining, such as clouds and some types
of flowers, our main informants always applied the base
coats to those areas after the surroundings had been
painted.
The second main principle could be called
"economy of effort in paint mixing". Having mixed a
certain colour, Tibetan artists tried to apply it to as
many areas as possible, so that they would not have to
mix the same colour several times in the course of one
painting. The desire for efficiency was carried to an
extreme by painters who sometimes adopted an
assembly-line approach, when they would paint many
copies of the same thangka at the same time. Such
painters would begin by preparing several canvases (or
a single large canvas) and establishing on them six or Wangdrak applying paint at an earlier and later stage.

96 TECHNIQUES OF PAINT PREPARAnON AND APPLICATION