How is Tibetan thangka painted?

1. GENERATING A PURE MOTIVE 
In old Tibet, a thangka was the fruit of a sacred human trio: a lama, a religious practitioner and a thangka artist. The practitioner, having sought the counsel of a qualified Buddhist lama, learned which deity image of the Tibetan pantheon was most beneficial for his or her spiritual practice. He or she then invited a thangka painter to his or her home and hosted the artist with the best possible hospitality for the duration of the painting process. If the requested deity was especially difficult or unusual, the artist consulted with the lama to clarify aspects of the image. 

In order that the finished thangka be worthy of the practitioner's heartfelt devotion, offering and meditation practice, the thangka painter generated a pure intention free of all selfish motives and undertook the task with a joyful mind. There was no discussion of price when the order was placed, and the thangka was not considered a mere commodity bus as a living expression of enlightened energy. 

The practitioner must be willing to be patient and refrain from rushing the artist. The combined energy generated by the realized lama, the devout practitioner and the concentrated artist renders the finished thangka particularly sacred. In modern times, it has become necessary to set prices for thangkas, but in old Tibet an artist was paid whatever the practitioner could afford or felt was appropriate. The artist felt grateful and happy regardless of the size or quality of payment.

2. CANVAS PREPARATION 
The cloth to be painted undergoes a complex process of preparation which takes between 14 to 20 days depending on local climatic conditions. In India's foggy Himalayan foothills, canvasses for the whole year must be made in the dry months of March, April, October and November. If a canvas is improperly prepared, the entire thangka will be a failure.

First, the cloth is carefully sewn onto four lengths of bamboo which are tightly strung to a large wooden frame. The artist then spreads a cost of glue over the whole canvas and leaves it to dry. He stirs up a mixture of white clay, water and glue in a clean pot to the consistency of thick cream. Blessed medicines or other sacred substances are added if available. The mixture is then strained through fine gauze to remove any impurities and applied evenly to the dry canvas. 

When this second coat has dried, the canvas is held up to the light and the areas which have not been evenly coated are patched up with more of the clay mixture and again left to dry. This process is repeated 8-10 times until the entire canvas is evenly coated.  

The canvas is then laid upon a smooth wooden board and a small area is moistened with water using a soft white cloth. Section by section, the artist vigorously rubs the canvas smooth with a piece of white marble, moistening it with water as he works. This takes about an hour. The entire canvas is then slowly are carefully stretched by tightening the strings tied to the frame and left to dry in indirect sun. 

Once dry, the entire procedure is repeated for the other side of the canvas, stretching it after each moistening and leaving it to dry. When it has been thoroughly treated and dried, the canvas should be so tightly stretched that it makes a nice drum sound when tapped. This is the sign it is ready to be painted. The front of the canvas is then polished with a conch shell.

5. PAINTBRUSH MAKING 
Traditional paintbrushes were made out of several different materials. For painting on rough surfaces, brushes were made out of Nama grass, a tough grass growing along riverbanks. For medium soft brushes, the hair of horses' tails was uses. For soft brushes of any size, the tufts of hair growing above goats' hooves, the fine hair inside cows' ears, the fur of otters, the very soft feathers of mountain songbirds, and the fur of brown and black cats (especially in India where the other hair and fur is not available) are perfect for painting.

It takes 3 to 4 days to make about 20 high quality brushes. The handle of the brush is a slender piece of upward growing bamboo cut just above the joint. One inch long hair clipped from the animal has to be carefully mixed with powder and sorted to find the hairs that resemble a needle in shape. These are carefully extracted and laid side by side perfectly evenly.  

Then they are very carefully inserted into the bamboo in such a way that all the hairs lie together in a cone shaped point. They are seized in between the fingertips and dunked into glue. The bamboo is also dunked in the glue, and the hair is then inserted into the bamboo. Each hair must be perfectly in place. Then a string is carefully tied around the bamboo, not too tight and not too loose. The brushes are then left to dry.

8.  DETAILS 
Painting the intricate details of the back and foreground landscape and brocade clothing designs follows the same sequence of color application as above. This takes 18 to 20 days to complete.

11.  OPENING THE EYES 
This is the most important moment of a thangka artist's work. Before painting the figure's eyes, the artist bathes and makes offerings to the Buddha's body, speech and mind. When the eyes have been painted, seed syllables and prayers are inscribed on the back of the thangka to awaken the image's energy.