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How to make a Tanjore Painting 

Tanjore Painting is an art-form that was developed in a South Indian town called Tanjore the capital city of the Chola dynasty, encouraged by it’s Maratha rulers of the 17^th century. The same art form was patronized in Mysore by King Krishnarajendra Wodeyar. This is a unique art-form where precious stones and gold foils were used. Tanjore paintings were initially used to depict Hindu Gods and Goddesses in grandeur. Mostly the figures in these paintings are large and the faces are round and divine. Though the art has undergone changes in the raw materials used and in the use as innovative decorative art, the style of painting is within limits.

Experts have categorized the process of making Tanjore paintings into seven steps

• Preparing the board for painting.

• Sketching the figure and fixing the stones.

• Filling around the stone work with a thin mixture of gum and chalk powder. 

• Inlay and relief work around the stone setting with a thicker mix.

• Cleaning the work and fixing the gold foil over the stones and relief work.

• Cutting the gold foil to expose the stone work.

• Painting the figures and the background

• Checking for flaws, correcting and fixing the glass and frame.

Here are the materials we require to make a Tanjore Painting.

1. Plywood above 6 mm thickness.

2. Soft white cloth preferably mal-mal cloth, 2 inches wider and longer than your board.

3. Chalk power.

4. Tamarind seed powder

5. Fevicol.

6. Flat Brush (above 3" width).

7. Sand Paper (emery sheet).

8. Arabic Gum.

9. Coloured Jaipur Stones.

10. Gold foil (paster on papar)

11. Poster Colors.

12. Rounded Brushes (000, 0, 2, 4, 6,8)

13. Black Pilot Pen / Indian ink.

14. Multi coloured transparent ink (photo color).

15. Cutter, Ruler, Yellow carbon paper, pencil.

16. Reference art to trace

And now I give you the method to prepare the board for painting.

a)Soften the edges of the plywood board.

b)Mix the tamarind seed powder with enough water to make a loose paste; sieve it into a vessel and boil this mixture, stirring continuously until a thick glassy consistency is formed. Add water if the necessary; Allow this to cool.

c)If you are using a 6”*6” board, cut two pieces of the mal-mal cloth of 8”*8”.

d)After the mixture has cooled, coat the board evenly with the mixture using your fingers; then lay the first piece of cloth on the board, stretching it neatly. Even it out so that it sticks to the board with the gum.

e)Next apply more of the paste to the board, on the first cloth in the same manner and lay the second piece of cloth also as the first one.

f) Turn it around and apply the glue paste to the edges and stick the remaining cloth (both pieces together) tightly.

g)      Coat the top with more gum and smoothen it out; Keep it out in the sun to dry for about an hour.

h)      To the remaining tamarind seed glue, add chalk powder little by little and make a paste, just thick enough to coat on the dried board with a big flat brush, without lumps.

i)        When the board is dried, bring it in and coat it with the gum + chalk powder mixture evenly, starting from the middle and working towards the edges, first horizontally and then vertically.

j)        Leave this out by the sun to dry for about an hour. If the coating has cracked, your mixture was too thick. If it isn’t, then polish the board with emery / sand paper in a circular motion starting form the centre. Dust it with a dry soft brush and voila your board is ready.

The next step is sketching the figure and fixing the stones.

Start by choosing a design and then trace the design using yellow carbon paper onto your canvas. In this stage do not trace the image in detail. I.e. while tracing the ornaments just trace the outlines only and not the details of the shapes. This trace is to judge the area to be decorative and shapes of the figure. At this stage remember to provide a margin recess on all the four sides of the board to accommodate the final frame, after the painting is completed.

Next apply a smooth layer of embossing gum in the decorative areas as lines or dots or whatever shapes you require, using a round/flat brush. The ratio of embossing layer should be Arabic Gum: Chalk powder: fevicol - 1:2:1. Now place the stones and pearls on the wet gum at points where you have decided to place them, using tweezers. The canvas should then be left for a day or two to dry.

The next step is filling around the stone work with a thin mixture of gum and chalk powder. Then, for inlay and relief work around the stone setting, fill with a thicker mix. This is to get a higher embossment in certain areas. Then allow it to dry for an hour or so.

Now for cleaning the work and fixing the gold foil over the stones and relief work, use a wet ear-bud, rub in circles around the stones and pearls to clean any traces of gum or paste on them. Also remember to keep the painting area clean during this process.

For fixing the gold foil, first 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 sides of the required shape. Apply normal glue to the back side of the gold foil using your brush numbered 2 or 4 and place over the required area and press it with a folded cloth without moving (to avoid tearing the foil).

Then cut the gold foil to expose the stone work in your painting. A few minutes after sticking the gold foil, remove the foil covering the stones. To do this you can groove the shape with a safety-pin gently and apply wet brush in the centre of stone. Finally use the safety-pin to remove the softened wet piece of gold foil. A wet ear bud can be used instead of a brush. You can adjust the shape being exposed, of the stone using the safety-pin.

And now for my favorite part, painting the figures and the background.

Poster colours can be used for this.

Normally figures in a Tanjore painting are static and do not reflect movement or action. In paintings of human figures, the key figure is normally done using white and then slightly shading it using body colour. For depicting Krishna shading with blue on white is done. Authentic Tanjore paintings have their background to be dark blue, red or green and are also characterized by pillars and curtains in the side and a smaller compartmentalization at the top or bottom with small figures.

Finally you have to check for flaws, correct them and get the painting framed. Double framing with an off-white surrounding around the picture will give a beautiful effect.

People not wanting to paint Gods can make beautiful motifs or pictures of birds. Some painters use acrylic paint which is water proof, instead of poster colours.

Most raw materials needed for Tanjore painting can be procured from Raja Market, Avenue Road in Bangalore.