The Tanjore painting, mostly prevalent in Thanjavur dates back to about 1600AD. The exterior richness, treatment of vibrant colors and solid composition has helped Tanjore painting to become one of the renowned arts of painting. Thanks to the Nayak’s who introduces this exceptional and unique art form. The themes of Tanjore painting mainly consist of Hindu Gods and Goddesses and saints drawn out from Hindu mythology. Another name for Tanjore painting is “Palagai padam” as it is mostly drawn on concrete wood board.
The procedure of creating a Tanjore painting engrosses several phases, such as making of opening sketch of the figure on a cloth pasted over a wooden base, mixing of chalk powder or zinc oxide with water soluble adhesive, usage of a mild abrasive decorating the drawing with Jaipur semi precious stones, laces and pasting of gold foils etc. Last but not the least; dyes are used to increase the richness of Tanjore painting. In order to ensure long durability, high quality gold foil is used. Tanjore painting are essentially of three types mainly based on their finish such as Classic, Antique style and Embossed. The usage of bold colors, striking backgrounds and high glitter gold foil makes the Classic finish look different from the antique style, where the gold’s glitter is extra somber with more delicate colors and lucid background. In order to bring more depth to the painting, the classic finish is more super embossed to bring out the embossed finishing touch. The style of drawing of Tanjore painting is unique in that all the figures are static housed in the center of the board and inside beautifully decorated arches or curtains. Tanjore paintings are mostly of Krishna depicting his eyes as broad as almond, with blue outer lines and finally providing with light blue of body color with light shading. One decorating the basic drawings with precious and semi-precious stones and by giving a three dimensional effect with the relief work, Tanjore painting has earned a name of its own when compare with other types of painting works. Tanjore paintings are available at different sizes and as a result find their places in the pooja rooms in residence, arcades in major hotels and lobbies in corporate offices. They are mainly given as gifts during special occasions.
Following are the tanjore painting ebooks and pdf tutorials found on web.