What kinds of pigments are used in thangka painting?

The colors needed for thangka are not fixed, a good thangka is usually painted by more than thirty kinds of colors, some even as many as fifty.

The colors in the thangka are spread over a large area, and the color scheme has certain rules and meanings. The colors needed for a thangka are not fixed, and a good thangka is usually painted by more than thirty colors, some even as many as fifty. The colors depicted in thangkas are derived from five basic colors - white, red, green, blue and yellow - and then modulated using different ratios.

Tangka painting is a unique form of painting art in Tibetan culture, and the pigments it uses are also unique. Thangka painters categorize all the pigments needed for thangka painting into nine types: earth, stone, water, fire, wood, grass, flowers, bone and precious stones. These natural raw materials are carefully collected, processed and mixed to make a variety of pigments with different colors and effects in thangka painting.

The Artistic Characteristics of Thangka

1, Unique Art Form

Thangka is the phonetic translation of the Tibetan language, meaning cloth painting. Thangka is a form of traditional Tibetan painting art. Thangka painting core is generally framed with colored satin, the picture more than the same size of silk covered with silk, silk on the upper end of the rod connected to the sky, hanging the thangka will be lifted. Silk cover in the roll up the thangka, can effectively protect the core from wear and tear.

2, wide range of content

Tangkas include a wide range of content, thangkas on the historical events, biographies, religious teachings, Tibetan customs, folklore, myths, etc., related to politics, economy, history, religion, literature and art, all aspects of social life, can be said to be the image of the encyclopedia. These superb works of art are the epics of Tibetan civilization.