First Tanjore Glass Painting

Here I share my experience, my views about my paintings. At first I was more interested in doing Glass paintings, especially Tanjore paintings in glass. I started searching for classes in Chennai. I found one and started learning that.

I chose Yasoda Kannan picture as my first. My first Tanjore Glass painting came out very well.

• First copy the picture in a tracing sheet and reverse the tracing sheet and sketch the outline of the whole picture using the drawing pen or a marker(thin) on the glass (Clean the glass with soap water soaked cloth).
• Fill the outline border circles with stone colors and after dried fill each square with gold color (mix the gold acrylic color powder with binder).
• Then do all ornaments with stone colors or glass colors and gold mix. Give gold color or 3D outline color to the dots or designs in the saree. Leave it dry for 3 to 4 days until the gold color is touch dry.
• Color the fabric in the picture with acrylic colors. For clothes like veil overlapping the jacket, just paint here and there. You can also give oil colors for the clothes, but acrylic gives more texture and flow to the fabric.
• Then do the skin colors using oil colors. Oil colors give the fine shades of the skin clearly.
• Acrylic colors dry quickly. But oil colors take time, probably 5 or 6 days.
• Finally touch the background color using oil colors.
• In between these steps you have to wipe and clean the paintings which spread out of the outline of the picture. Use thinner for cleaning the extras.
• After the picture is fully dried, paste the silver foil over the whole painted area or over the stone or glass color painted area only.
• Frame with gold color frames. It gives a rich look for the Tanjore Glass Paintings.