Painting is a very complicated art. But in comparison with murals

Painting is a very complicated art. But in comparison with murals the technique of manuscript painting is simple. Usually a background colour was laid before the preliminary drawings, but in some examples the drawings were done directly on the leaf. The figures were then filled up with intended colours. For achieving modelling of forms shades and highlights were applied. Then, and in accordance with the tradition of Indian painting, an outline was given in a shade close to the colour of the figure with a medium brush. Finally, fine outlines were drawn in black or red following the previous lines for modelling.
The colours generally used were yellow, chalk white, indigo blue, black of the lamp-shoot, cinnabar red (sindura) and a green prepared by mixing blue and yellow. Most of the colours were tempered by adding a little white. Since the subjects treated were mainly Buddhist gods and goddesses, the painter had to follow the iconographical injunctions of the Sadhanamala and other texts. However, they left glimpses of their aesthetic preferences in spaces where trees, architectural, and other forms were painted around the deities as background. Most of the deities have been done in yellow or deep red colour. The backgrounds are also mostly in yellow or red.
In determining the stylistic character of Pala painting, a reference to the account left by the Tibetan historian Taranath is of relevance. To be continue (04 of 06)