Page 122 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

Technique 2: The painter Legdrup Gyatsho used that the colours became lighter when dry), more of the
a slightly more complex technique of cloud shading. white could be pulled down into the central darker area
As above, the clouds were drawn in balanced designs from the overlying area of wet white paint.
made up of repeating elements. However at the time of In this technique the brush used for diluting with
colouring, instead of applying uniform coats of the same water needed to be only slightly moistened for the
hue, the artist used wet shading to lay down colour optimum result. Therefore, to avoid loading the brush
gradations in the base coat itself. Here too, the basic with too much water, our painter used to dip just the
cloud hues were usually alternating blues and greens. brush handle into water, and then tap the handle end on
Another fav9rite combination was alternating pale the palm of his hand. Two or three droplets were in this
pinks and oranges. But in this technique the outsides way left on his palm, from which he could take exactly
of the clouds were left white, while only the interiors as much water as he wished.
received shading with different colours. Later, during the final dry shading of the clouds,
For applying wet shading in the base colours of he used to begin by drawing a light intermediate sketch
clouds, the artist used a two-brush technique. He first to define the interior shapes of the cloud mass. Then,
laid down a few strokes of the pale blue (or green) in most often using indigo, he finished the shading using
the center of the cloud, and next applied strokes of the dry-shading technique. In this style of painting
white with his second brush above and below the first the artist not only used alternating bluish and greenish
colour. Then, to effect a gradual transition, he used the clouds, but also sometimes painted series of clouds in
brush bearing white paint to blend the borders of the identical colours. In some thangkas we saw him paint
darker colour into the white adjoining areas, leaving the a series of green-tinted clouds over verdant hills, and a
central parts dark. For further contrast this artist often series of gray-shaded clouds clustered over a group of
used undercoats of a darker hue. Whereas Wangdrak snow mountains. Incidentally, when he shaded these
(in Technique I) used to lay down a darker undercoat clouds above the snow pea!<'s, the artist also shaded the
in just one central hole in each cloud, Legdrup Gyatsho white areas of the mountains.
often applied darker undercoats also to any other major
recessed portion of the clouds, including the long trailing
Nimbuses, Back Curtains and Seats
tails at the bottom of the cloud formations. Finally over
the base coats he put down finishing washes of indigo Many head and body nimbuses did not require any
or yellow-green dye, depending on the colour of the shading. Especially if they were small, the base colour
base. The finished clouds had centers of various shades, was enough. On the other hand some painters did apply
but the predominating edges, inside and out, were left shading tints to the body nimbuses and back curtains -
white. even very small ones - by simply building up washes of
Although most Central Tibetan painters did not dilute dye or by applying dye in a band around the
use outlining on ordinary clouds, some artists increased inner or outer edge and diluting it with a water-brush.
the contrast around the white outer edges of the clouds The base colour of many body nimbuses and back
by applying a dilute hazy band of indigo there. This, curtain (rgyab yol) interiors was a deep or medium
however, was not considered to be real outlining (bead). azurite blue. Shading the area just next to a figure with
indigo served to darken that area and to set off the
Technique 3: The last and most involved cloud- figure. Sometimes it was also desirable to shade in the
shading method was similar to Technique 2, except that reverse fashion, i.e. dark on the outside of the nimbus
it entailed a wet-shading undercoat applied with three fading to light on the inside areas just next to the figure.
brushes, and included the use of water dilution. We The painter Wangdrak exemplified this second method
observed this method being employed by the Ladakhi when he shaded the blue body nimbus of a red <;lakil)l.
artist Wangchuk, who had trained under a master painter He applied the indigo darkly on the outer edges and then
from Shigatse. lightened the application so that by midway the dye was
The artist began to apply a wet-shaded undercoat faint and near the <;lakil)l's body only the medium-blue
by first loading the initial brush with white, wiping off undercoat showed. The painters followed whichever
the excess paint onto the edge of the paint bowl and method most heightened the appearance of depth in the
further adjusting the load on the back of his hand. nimbus by its greater contrast.
When the paintbrush was charged to his satisfaction, he For some figures the blue-coloured nimbuses did
applied the white to the tops and outsides of the clouds. not work at all. With dark blue deities not enough
Next, depending on the type of cloud, in the middle he contrast was produced, and hence their backgrounds
applied a band of pale green, blue or gray, using a second were painted red, pale reddish brown or pale maroon
brush, slightly merging the colour with the white where instead. In the case of tantric deities such backgrounds
they met. Then he took a third brush from behind his usually were meant to represent the center of a stylized
ear, and moistened it with water. Using this diluting mass of flames, and were later filled with emanating
brush (chu pir) he further blended and smoothed the golden rays. Alternatively, such deities (particularly the
gradation of the two paints. No part of this wet-shaded fierce ones) were painted as standing in the midst of
undercoat could be very dark, so if it appeared as if more realistic and less stylized masses of flames.
too much dark paint had been used (keeping in mind The head nimbuses (dbu'i 'ad 'khor) could also

118 SHADING AND COLOUR