Thanjavur Painting

This painting method seems to have originated during Chola times around 17th century in Tanjore.

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Having grown up in and around of Tanjore area, I have always wanted to learn this art form like many more on my list. Glad to have inched forward in making this dream come true.

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Tanjore painting is a long process, involving almost 10 different steps to finish. A typical learning process takes a good month.

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And I didn’t have a month in my hand to spare. I convinced my instructor that I will put in hours and will complete it in a week.

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Had absolutely no idea what I was committing to until the work started. It was a 10-12 hour days on stone cleaning after muck work, foil pasting and stone cleaning after foil.

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And I had no idea that I had that much patience in me 🙂 I have to say that it was truly meditative. I would just go hours without realizing whats going on around me.

Well, any form of painting brings this experience for that matter.

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Truly an awesome form of art and I hope to make few more paintings in 2016.

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Material Used:

  1. Platform: Cotton cloth pasted with glue on Wooden board
  2. Medium: Poster colors and Indian inks (Acrylic and Oil are also commonly used)
  3. 24-carat gold foil
  4. Jaipur stones