Page 139 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

Gold Details on Seats thick. The one that Dorje Gyaltshen used was about
three-quarters of an inch thick.
The paintings of thick, padded seats ('hoI gdan)
were usually very simple affairs. Their frontal depiction Gold Jewelry and Ornaments
consisted only of one or two flat rectangles, usually
painted blue or green. The finishing of these seats with Gold ornaments, like the bone ornaments
gold outline and detail, however, could be either simple described above, were rendered in both simple and
or elaborate. The simplest finishing of such seats con- detailed manners. In large paintings or depictions of
sisted of single gold outlines along the top and bottom large figures, the artists drew the ornaments as part of
of the form. The same rectangular areas could also be the original charcoal and ink sketch. Like all sizable
filled with gold brocade border designs, since the front areas painted with gold, large ornaments were first
covers of the seats were meant to be made of strips of painted with ochre as an undercoat. Then, having coated
cloth. If the painter was Iinclined to do something more each area with an application or two of gold, the artists
elaborate,. there were also some special brocade designs gave each ornament an outlining with lac dye (or with a
that he might employ here. The painter Wangdrak, for thin orange paint, in the case of Legdrup Gyatsho).
example, drew large and intricate brocade designs on the Finally, as the finishing touch, the artists depicted the
front of double seats in his thangkas of the Sixteen small jewels set in the gold ornaments, painting them as
"Arhats". For this he first divided up the two rectangles small circles of pink or pale blue with a dot of white in
that framed the front of the seats. On one strip he their centers.
determined three segments of equal length, and then In small paintings or for small figures, however,
established three interior areas by drawing an oval in it was not practicable to sketch each tiny ornament or
each area. On the second strip he divided up the space to give each an undercoat of ochre. Instead the artists
in a similar manner, but with the ovals staggered so that merely painted freehand the various necklaces, bangles,
they were centered at the gaps between the ovals of the anklets, and so forth, applying gold paint in thin line
first strip. In the second strip, two full ovals were placed drawings over the already painted areas.
in the interior of the strip, while only half ovals would
fit at either end. Finally, all the ovals were filled with
large brocade motifs, usually ornate flowers or Minor Colours Used for Outlining and Linear
auspicious objects. Details
For the painting of the long straight lines at the
top and bottom of the rectangular seats (as well as In addition to the. above colours, a number of other
elsewhere in the painting) some artists guided their paints were employed for minor finishing details. Many
brushes with a wooden straightedge (thig shing). Dorje artists used, for example, black ink and pale blue paint
Gyaltshen was one artist who used this method. He first for linear details of the eyes and face. Some (for instance
placed the straightedge a fraction of an inch away from Wangdrak) applied yellow linear details to the interior
where the line was to be drawn. Then he put the brush of flames while others (such as Legdrup Gyatsho)
in place at the starting point, leaning the side of the substituted a thin minium paint for lac dye when out-
brush handle against the top edge of the straightedge. lining gold ornaments. A few painters used vermilion
Finally he painted the desired line by moving the brush for line drawing and outlining over gold. Special types of
along the edge of the straight piece of wood. The brush paintings such as black and vermilion thangkas
hairs themselves were not to touch the straightedge, sometimes also required line drawings done in yellow or
and for this reason the straightedge had to be fairly vermilion. But among the colours most common in
multicolour thangkas, just one more deserves special
mention: the green dye used for depicting various details
of grass and vegetation (rtswa ris).
Many artists put a finishing trim of tufts of dark
green grass or bush-like clumps along the top edges of
the green hills in the landscape. To paint these they used
a green dye called zhu rams, a mixture of indigo and
yellow dye.! For painting linear details with this dye an
ordinary outlining brush was used, whereas for a more
clumpy effect the dye was dabbed on with the tip of a
larger, nearly dry brush. When depicting a border of
grass or brush on hillsides Wangdrak built up a clumpy
effect by applying successive series of six or seven nearly
overlapping dabs along the edges of each sloping hill.
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Dorje Gyaltshen outlining with the aid of a straightedge. ------ ------
MINOR COLOURS 135