Page 102 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

lapping the first. He continued with a series of such make each succeeding stroke lighter but to produce an
strokes - stopping at the edge of any obstruction and unbroken, smooth field of colour. At some point - say
picking up again at the other side - all the while at about half the way from zenith to horizon - the
applying increasingly less pressure to the brush tip, thus artist applied a few last thin paint strokes and, having
achieving a thinner coat and therefore a lighter value of put aside his first paint brush, began quickly laying
the blue. At some point, depending on the vertical down strokes of the lighter blue, beginnIng where the
depth of the sky, the painter had to reload his brush, but darker blue ended, or just above where it ended. He then
here instead of using the paint full strength as before, continued to work down in a series of several brush
he slightly diluted it. If the sky was short or if the strokes. Next, to make a smooth gradation where the
painting was small he had to begin diluting the paint two paints merged, he took up his dark blue brush again,
after just a few strokes. He continued this process of and from above the juncture of dark and light he laid
applying steadily thinner and more dilute strokes of down another series of dark blue strokes to blend with
paint until he reached the horizon or just llbove the the lighter wet paint beneath. Since the borders of both
horizon, where the very dilute blue gave way completely hues were still wet, the artist could continue to improve
to the underlying colour of the canvas. the gradation until he was satisfied, by brushing back
Such gradations achieved through steady dilutions and forth while moving up and down the area where
of the mineral paint were more common in thangka they merged.
painting than in murals, and for the painting of the sky When this blending of the two values had been
they seem to have been used on a wider scale by painters completed, the artist went back to his light blue brush
from eastern parts of Tibet. The technique was and, continuing down from the bottom of the light blue
particularly effective when the sky transition was area, he applied a smooth coat until he reached the
executed over a ground that was slightly tinged with horizon. Alternatively, he could continue a gradual
yellow or ochre. transition using an even lighter blue. Or, as he neared
This one-brush technique demanded relatively the horizon, he could also gradually dilute the paint as
quick work; the series of strokes had to be laid down in the first technqiue, causing it to become almost
fast enough so that the subsequent strokes would blend transparent and then finally to give way just above the
smoothly when overlapping the previous ones. Often a horizon.
little unevenness in the gradation could not be avoided.
Dry Shading
When the painter had gone over the area once, he
usually had to go back to touch up any streaky spots The third and last major technique for tinting
that appeared as the paint dried. A practiced painter the sky consisted of the application of thin washes of
could lay down a sky in this way very quickly. A blue dye over the ground or over some other base
beginner, on the other hand, would spend a great deal colour. Tibetan artists called this "dry shading" (skam
more time and still end up with a rather streaky and mdangs) because the dye washes were applied to a dry
uneven gradation. surface. Most painters of Dbus and Gtsang used this
technique when painting the skies of fine thangkas, and
Two-Brush Wet Shading it was also used by a number of painters from other
regions.
The second main technique for shading the sky To shade the sky using the dry-shading method,
used uniformly opaque colours to affect the gradual the artist first prepared a blue tinting wash, usually from
transitions, and did not necessarily depend on the the dye of a light indigo (rams, described in Chapter 10).
dilution of the paint to get more transparency, as in the The surface to which the dye was applied could be a
method just described. This second techillque was plain white ground. But more commonly it was either a
termed "wet shading" (rlon mdangs) since it entailed preliminary blue gradation applied by one-brush dilution
the gradual blending of two adjoining areas of wet shading, or a uniform light blue undercoat.
paint. Because this technique usually required two The actual dry-shading technique, as practiced by
brushes (one for the colour at either end of the the artist Wangdrak, proceeded as follows. He began
gradation) it can also be called "two-brush shading".2 applying the indigo wash in a series of long thin strokes
For painting the sky in this technique the painter across the top of the sky. He gradually built up a deep
began by preparing two values of blue paint, one deeper blue through the successive accumulation of many thin
and one lighter. With azurite pigments the more finely washes, and never applied the dye in strong concen-
ground powder would yield the lighter value, whereas trations. As he proceeded down the sky he began to
with other blues it was necessary to mix the base blue space his strokes further and further apart. In addition,
with some white. The actual painting began with the he was careful not to overload his brush with dye, and
painter laying down a full-length stroke of the darker when applying it he exerted gradually less pressure on
sky colour across the top of the sky area. To avoid the brush tip. In large tharrgkas he used to apply the
unwanted thickness and granularity he would use the indigo shading to one side of the sky at a time if this
surface layer of paint in the pot. He then followed with was permitted by the composition. When one side of the
a quick succession of strokes, one beneath the other as sky appeared to be well shaded he went on to the other
described above. Here, however, the goal was not to side. Later he went back to the first area and examined

98 TECHNIQUES OF PAINT PREPARATION AND APPLICATION