Paintings : Tanjore Painting Instructions & Links to online videos

this is the best tutorial ever.

nice job maddie but as u said its better to go for a session.

tanjore painting is a traditional art n i believe it takes lot of time n hard work 2 nurture.

Hi all, I have been doing this tanjore style of painting as a profession for many years, and have moved to chennai only a couple of years back.I would like to teach anyone who wants to.I had written a small writeup in 'T.nagar talk' but was not published, don't know why.Interested?

wow this seems to be tidious your step by step info was very useful.Thanks for sharing

HI MADDIE

Thanxs a lot for giving us a detailed update on Tanjore Painting.Since I am very much interested in craft and art work i will also follow your instruction and do a piece.

Also if u gave could you give me instruction on Kamal stitch or any link were i get an update on kamal kadai work

Thank U

Rdgs

Hi All,

Thanks for discussing lots of information regarding Tanjore Painting.Iwould like to share my personal experience here.

Last year when I was in Bangalore.I attended 2 days weekend workshop there.It was very useful to have start up.We had to choose paintings from their collection only.

I selected Ganesh ji Painting.And learnt Tanjore Painting in two days.Its very simple and creative work but usually takes lots of time and efforts.

Thank you so much Maddie! Wonderful tutorial. I always thought tanjore painting to be difficult but after reading your tutorial I think I should try.

thanks
Shaily

hi maddie,

thanx 4 sharing the procedure.

raji.

Originally Posted by maddie

Hi to all....

I have just completed one Tanjore painting. For those who are interested I am posting the procedure. Its a really tedious process and I would recommend one to attend class.Actually I made a note of the material so that I can use to future reference. I haven't yet completed the frame work so once done I will post. The themes are usually Indian God and Goddess.

Materials Required
Plywood above 6 mm thickness.
White cotton cloth.
Chalk power.
Fevicol.
Flat Brush (above 3" width).
Sand Paper (emery sheet).
Arabic Gum.
Coloured Jaipur Stones.
Gold foil (paster on papar)
Poster Colors.
Rounded Brushes (000, 0, 2, 4, 6,8)
Black Pilot Pen.
Multi colours transparent ink (photo color).
Cutter, Ruler, Yellow carbon paper, pencil.
Reference art to trace

Method:

1. Take a clean cotton cloth.(Cloth size should be wider than the plywood at least 1 inch in all the sides. If your plywood size is 14 x 18 inches
then your cloth should be wider than 16 x 20 inches)

2.Take the Plywood and soften the edges with sand paper.

3. Now let us prepare the first paste for pasting the cloth on the Plywood. Ratio – Water:Fevicol - 4:1

4.Filter the paste & Immerse cotton cloth in it for few minutes.

5. Now Lift wet cotton cloth from the first paste, rinse the cloth gently. Hold it for a while so that extra paste to get drained.

6. Now spread, wet cloth on top of the plywood and wipe the cloth gently from centre to edge horizontally & fold extra cloth to the other side.

7. Pull the folded extra cloth for wrinkle free surface in the front side and paste backside cloth strongly with fevicol only.Keep the wet canvas to dry on the newspaper for couple of hours.

8. Lets prepare the second paste for layering the canvas for this Make a paste of ratio Chalk powder: Water: Fevicol - 2: 1: 1

9.Take a clean wide flat brush (preferred size is 2-3 inch brush) Apply the second paste on the canvas horizontally and leave it for 10-15 minutes to dry. Then go for applying vertically. Repeat the same until completion of the layering paste. Leave it to dry in shade for one day.

10. Now take a piece of emery paper, and fold that as a longer stripe. Gently rub the canvas circularly. This is done for smooth even surface.Clean it with a dry flat brush.

Now the canvas is ready for Tajore painting. If you want a glassy look you can add some portion of Arabic gum with the layering gum (step 3) itself.

Next Tracing
Choose a design

Now trace the design using yellow carbon paper on the canvas. Do not trace the image in detail. For example while tracing the ornaments just trace the outlines only. Not in details of the shapes. The trace is for only the judgment of the area of the decorative areas and shapes of the figure. Care should be taken at this stage to provide a margin recess on all the four sides of the board to accommodate the frame, once the painting is completed

Sculptural Stage

By using round/flat brush, apply a smooth layer of embossing gum in thedecorative areas. The ratio of embossing layer is Ratio – Arabic Gum: Chalk powder : fevicol - 1:2:1

Leave the Canvas with Emboss effort to get for more than a day.

If you want more embossment for certain area repeat the above process.

Now mark the correct places using a pencil/pen to paste the stones & pearls.
After the exact confirmation of the location for Stones & pearls, Mix Few dropsof fecivol with some water. Stick the stones starting with bigger stones first.
Leave it to get fix for a day.


To get a smooth effect on the glittering area of the tanjore art. You need to apply one more layer of embossing gum over the stones/pearls.

Wait for one hour. Now pick a bowl of water & cotton. Dip a piece of cotton in the water, and squeeze it to remove extra water.

Now with the wet cotton, gently rub circular manner on the embossed area.

Keep in mind that you need to maintain the neatness on the painting area too.


Mark the design with the help of Ball-point pen over embossed area.

In a cone fill a mixture which contains Arabic Gum : Chalk powder : fevicol in ratio of - 2:2:1/2

Carefully do cone work in filling area (like side corner / pillar) with good traditional design. Also give boundaries to the stones and pearls with the help of the cone. And let it dry.

Now cut a gold foil sheet from the Gold foil booklet. Place the gold foil sheet over the design and mark an edge impression with your thumb for approximate shape.

Cut the require shape of gold foil by leaving 3 to 4 mm extra on all the sizes of the require shape.

Apply glue (fevicol with water mixture) to the back side of the gold foil & place over design area.

Remove gold foil pasted over stones in tanjavur painting. For this Groove the shape with Safety-pin gently. Just apply wet brush in the centre of stone.
Use safety-pin to remove the soften wet gold foil. You can use johnson buds instead of brush. Shape of the stone can be adjust using safety-pin itself

Now paint the figures and background carefully with poster colours . The painting is normally done using white colour for the key figure and slightly shading it with blue or the normal body colour. 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. The paintings are characterized by pillars and curtains in the side, and some smaller compartmentalization at the bottom or top to accommodate small figures.


Regards
Maddie

Thanks maddie for the detailed explanation of doing Tanjore painting. Ihave done these paintings in a simplified form .not strictly tradional.Iwant to know your opinion , but Idon't know how to post them since I am a new member. may be within a few days I may get to post and then I really want to know your opinionand I also want to know where can I get pure gold leaf inBangalore or in Mumbai and what is its real cost per booklet.
thanking you Vidya

thanks for the instructions!!

Hai padma&shanta,
A detailed step by step illustration has been given in 1 of indusladies thread by Maddie.it is really very informative&useful.try that.
bye
bhuvana