Page 144 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

Eye-Painting Techniques each stroke. He was taught by his teacher that detailed
outlining should be done on an empty stomach if
Although the techniques of our main informants for possible, and never immediately after a full meal. A full
painting eyes were basically similar, they were different stomach was thought to impede one's ability to hold
enough to prevent us from describing them in a single, one's breath. Similarly outlining should not be under-
unified account. Instead we can make the general taken after strenuous physical work, for at such times
technique clear by comparing the methods of two one's hand tended to become shaky.
artists, Wangdrak and Legdrup Gyatsho. Here we will
describe in particular the techniques they used for·
painting the eyes of peaceful deities and gurus. ~ ~
For both artists the painting of an eye pre-
supposed a finished sketch and a coat of white paint on ~ b§O-
the white of the eye (such white paint had the technical
name spyan dkar). Wangdrak then began by applying a
line of lac dye to the bottom eyelid. Then he painted the
corners of the eye with a dilute orange, succeeded by a ~ ~
light shading with dilute lac dye. Next he painted in the
eyelid base colour by applying a line of light blue to the ~ ~
upper lid. (In his painting style this light blue was also
one of the main colours for other facial hairs such as
eyebrows, mustaches and the goatees of peaceful ~ ~
figures). With the same light blue he also painted the iris.
Next, he underlined the light blue eyelid edges with
some dark blue indigo, thus indicating the eyelashes. <F(t1r~ ~
Finally with the same colour he also outlined the outer
edge of the iris and provided it with a small dot in the
middle for the pupil. ~ ~
The technique of Legdrup Gyatsho was similar.
Starting with the drawing of the eye and painting the
white, he then applied a line of light blue (or for some
other figures, light brown) to the upper eyelid. With
the same colour he also painted the iris. Next, he out-
lined the upper eyelid and iris and painted the pupil as
above, except that he used black ink instead of indigo.
If the figure was sufficiently large, he liked to create a
gradual transition fr~m the black eyelash into the light
blue eyelid by means of shading. Then he filled in the
corners of the eye with faint orange. Finally, he com-
pleted the eye by shading the corners with dilute lac
dye, and outlined the bottom lid of the eye with the
same colour.
Some other artists did not apply an undercoat of
light blue or light brown to the eyelid, and some
preferred a brown or yellow colour for the irises of the
eyes of both peaceful and fierce figures. For wrathful Sequence of painting Sequence of painting
deities a number of artists painted the whole iris black, eyes according to eyes according to
and then indicated a pupil with a thin circle of yellow Wangdrak. Legdrup Gyatsho.
or gold.
When painting smaller figures the artists could not ~ ORANGE SHADING _ LIGHT BLUE or BROWN
follow in every detail the techniques described above. o LAC DYE _ INDIGO or BLACK
Instead, they depicted rudimentary eyes by laying down
a line of lac dye for the bottom edge or eyelash, a dark
blue or black line for the top eyelash, and a black dot in Burnishing the Gold
the middle of the white for the iris and pupil. Once
again, the artists here speeded up their work by painting The final step for many areas painted with gold was
at one time all areas requiring the same colour. burnishing. In an ordinary -full-colour (rdzags tshan)
Outlining the eyes and other facial features painting the artist did not burnish every area of gold.
required the greatest care and control. Dorje Gyaltshen One master painter from Central Tibet'stated that in
stated that to steady their hands the artists of his general the main places needing burnishing were
tradition used to hold their breath for the duration of depictions of objects that were made of shiny gold in

140 FINISHING DETAILS