(TIBETAN BUDDHIST PAINTING)
I had a friend who studied thanka painting in Kathmandu and he let me copy his templates. Here is Green Tara, the protector of Tibet:
My friend also took me to visit a studio, a long room where the master sat on a dais at one end with his first apprentice below him and down through the room the lesser apprentices according to their level. Two or three persons worked on each thanka: a beginner filled out the basic colors, a more experienced did the shading and the master or one of the most accomplished finished by drawing outlines with a brush and laying on the gold.
With the help of the templates and examples of thankas I taught myself, and later, when I lived in a Buddhist center in France, I taught others:
This poster shows the template for the Buddha’s head.
To illustrate how a thanka is built up I have the following sequence of Yamantaka and Vajrayogini:
Finally one of my favorite thankas, the Sakyamuni Buddha, painted for the center Kagyu Ling in France:
Click on pics to enlarge.
1 comment:
how fascinating to see how a thanka is built up.
and what a rich life you've led, my friend. :)
i was once commissioned by my teacher to paint the 8 auspicious symbols on 7 foot high sky blue satin in honour of a visit
from a very high master. how shameful that i forget the name/spelling but phonetically-speaking he was 'ty-koo' rinpoche. i had a mere 2 1/2 weeks to complete all 8 works and was entirely alone for most of it. it was such a wonderful experience. at times, i would paint for 16 - 18 hours straight and then look up at the clock in astonishment as it may only have seemed like 30 minutes. i was completely absorbed in the task, forgetting to eat, utterly fueled and energized by the symbols and what they meant and what they were for. that was about 10 years ago and remains one of the highlights of my life.
:)
be well..
katia
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