My first stint at making Tanjore painting was when I was 5 months pregnant. I attempted it without attending classes. The internet, of course, had a lot to offer, from other blogs to YouTube tutorials. I watched, read, and learned due to the overwhelming fascination towards this art. I made a brave choice and decided to attempt this painting myself.
Tanjore painting, the classical South Indian art form from Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, captivates art lovers with its rich surface textures, vibrant colours and devotional themes. Dating back to 1600 CE, this traditional panel painting technique has become a cherished decorative art and sought-after souvenir.
Step-by-Step Tanjore Painting Process
Canvas Preparation
- Take a clean cotton cloth. (Cloth size should be wider than the plywood by at least 1 inch on all sides. If your plywood size is 14 x 18 inches, then your cloth should be wider than 16 x 20 inches.)
- Soften the edges of the Plywood with sandpaper.
- Immerse cotton cloth in the paste (paste Ratio – Water: Fevicol – 4:1) for a few minutes.
- Spread the wet cloth on top of the plywood and pull the folded extra cloth for a wrinkle-free surface on the front side, and paste the backside cloth strongly with fevicol only.
- Using a flat brush, apply the second paste (paste ratio Chalk powder: Water: Fevicol – 2: 1: 1) on the canvas horizontally and leave it for 10-15 minutes to dry. Then go for applying vertically.
- After it’s dry, smooth the surface using Emery paper/sandpaper.
Design Transfer
- Trace the design using yellow carbon paper on the canvas.
- Care should be taken at this stage to provide a margin recess on all four sides of the board to accommodate the frame.
Stone Setting
The Gems semi-precious stones or Kundan, are fixed using adhesive/ fevicol on the places where jewels and accessories are drawn. A smooth layer of embossing gum (gum Ratio – Arabic Gum: Chalk powder: fevicol – 1:2:1) is applied to the pasted stones and areas where the embossed effect is needed. Once it is dry, use a wet cloth to clean the paste off the stones.
Chalk powder is poured into a cone to make the designs on the painting. Designs are drawn on the borders, jewels, thrown and on other accessories, generally called the cone work.
- (Cone mixture – Arabic Gum: Chalk powder: fevicol in a ratio of – 2:2:1/2)
- Once dried, cut the gold leaf into the required shape, size to paste (fevicol) on the embossed area and design.
Gold Work: Once the leaf is pasted, cut the excess gold leaf and also remove the fit from the areas where stones are fixed to make the stone visible.
Note: To remove the foil
To remove the gold foil pasted over stones, shape the edges with Safety-pin gently. Just apply wet brush in the center of the stone.
Use safety-pin to remove the soften wet gold foil. You can use Johnson buds instead of a brush.
Painting
Now paint the figures, features, and background carefully with poster colours.
The depiction is normally static, and the painting does not reflect any action or movement. The usage of the background colours is mostly striking – it is a dark hue of red, blue or green.
Check out the Tanjore painting materials available on Amazon:
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