Page 124 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

artists began by laying down a base coat of ochre, and coloured lotuses usually consisted of alternating pairs
then shading the area from the ceI).ter out. For the of inner and outer petals; the outer petals were blue and
smooth shading of the interior of the skin they used green while the inner petals were red and orange. The
either dry or wet shading methods, and then finished the blue and green petals were almost always shaded with
skin with textured brush strokes that represented tufts indigo, from the outer edges inward. The red and orange
of hair, spots or stripes. The painters also used white and inner petals could also be shaded, but often they were
black paint in a variety of ways for depicting such not. After being shaded such lotuses were given a final
finishing touches as stripes and spots. outline of dye and gold.
Monochromatic lotuses were usually pink (or less
frequently pale blue) and they most commonly
Lotuses and Flowers
consisted of a series of single petals all shaded with lac
For painting lotuses and flowers the artist could dye in the same way. The undercoat was white, and
use either detailed or simplified shading techniques, therefore the colour gradation of pink, lotuses was
Where a depiction of a lotus or peony flower was large, from dark pink to white. The artists built up the darker
however, the drawing usually had greater detail and tints on the inner parts of the petals, gradually fading
consequently its shading would be more intricate. out to the white petal edges. Painters used this technique
regardless of whether the lotus. was just a series of
Lotuses
simple petals or whether it had compound and elaborate
The lotus usually appeared in thangka paintings in the petals. Where specifically called for, monochromatic
form of a lotus seat, the support for a sun or moon disc blue lotuses could be produced in the same way by
upon which the deity sat or stood. Small lotuses were substituting indigo for the usual lac dye. Lotuses shaded
also painted as the identifying hand-held attributes in this way (using either dye) did not require any final
(phyag mtshan) of certain deities. outlining of the petals, since the white outer edges gave
In terms of their colour there were two main enough contrast against the background colour.
types of lotus seats: those with varicoloured petals Painters often employed a simplified method for
and those of basically monochromatic hues. Multi- shading the small lotus seats beneath minor figures

The shading of lotus thrones.

120 SHADING AND COLOUR GRADATION