Monday 30 April 2012

Evolution of a modern day Thangka


 (I'm painting this fella/dipingo lui)

I am currently painting a Thangka of the Medicine Buddha initially using traditional techniques with the intention to mix things up once the blue Buddha is in place and then modernize it thoroughly. I thought it might be nice to post the developmental stages as it requires patience and time to build up the image and the stages of development are so clearly demarcated. It is often said that painting a Thangka is a spiritual practice in itself and I can certainly attest to the fact that is requires intense concentration and presence to successfully utilize the traditional grid favoured by Tibetans, which you can see in the first pic.
Here are the first two pics:

Evoluzione di un Thangka moderna
Attualmente sto dipingendo un Thangka del Buddha della Medicina, inizialmente utilizzando le tecniche tradizionali con l'intento di mescolare le cose una volta che il Buddha blu è a posto. Ho pensato che sarebbe stato bello di ‘postare’ le fasi di sviluppo in quanto richiede pazienza e tempo per costruire l'immagine. Si dice spesso che dipingendo un Thangka in se è una pratica spirituale. Posso certamente attestare che richiede una concentrazione intensa e la presenza per utilizzare con successo il sistema di rete che potete vedere nella prima foto.
Qui ci sono le prime due foto:

 Pencil/Mattita

 Ink pen/penna con inchiostro

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting and it looks serene and powerful already. Is there a prescribed way of going about it, sounds like it from what you've said. If so where did you find the information?

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  2. You can find some templates online that display a grid. I found one of the Buddha I wish to paint and then recreated the grid using expanded measurements. I agree, it has presence already :)It does however clearly represent desirous forms from the Indian period of the time. He is slightly chubby for example. Have you noticed he has a belly!

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