Glass painting

Glass painting is an ancient art that rises and falls in popularity as techniques and materials change. In the early 1300s, large glass projects were often funded by wealthy families or through church organizations as stained, colored and painted glass were prohibitively expensive. The revival of modern glass painting is no longer associated with iconic religious windows or detailed Victorian panels. Today, glass painting has been brought into the everyday kitchen, allowing any artist, from beginner to expert, to play with the translucent effects of painting on glass.

 Types

• There are two basic types of glass painting: high fire glass painting and low fire glass painting. High fire painting requires the paint or stain to be fired at up to 1,200 degrees, and low fire painting allows the paint to be fired at 325 degrees.
  
  

Traditional Glass Painting

• High fire glass painting is considered traditional. This is the stain and paint work that has developed over hundreds of years in union with glass panels primarily used as church windows. According to M. Bradley Walker's 1999 article in Warm Glass, this type of glass painting uses four basic paint mixtures: vinegar trace, matte, silver stain and oil-based paints. Vinegar trace paints are used for line work. The color is often quite dark and opaque. This paint is applied with both the surface of the glass being wet and the paint being wet. Once the paint dries it cannot be painted over if an area is thin. The paint can be scraped away allowing for detail, shading and textural effects. This paint is fired at 1,100 degrees to a smooth finish.
  

High Fire Painting

• After trace paint is fired, matte paint is applied. This paint fills in backgrounds and shadows, and its color range is somewhat limited to blacks, blues, browns and greens. It also fires to 1,100 degrees. For red, orange and yellow colors, silver stain, or silver nitrate, is used. This stain changes color during firing. This stain is generally applied on the other side of the glass from trace and matte paints. Oil-based paints for stained glass can also be used. These fire at a lesser temperature.
  
  

Low Fire Glass Painting

• Low fire glass painting is relatively new. Products like glass paint markers are just entering the marketplace. There are a number of manufacturers who produce lines of paints and stains that range in features, colors and uses. Acrylic lines of glass paints offer opaque colors. Resin-based paints are transparent and offer opportunities to create frosted and glossy effects. Some products are more durable and intended for the regular use of the finished product. These glass stains can be applied to most glass surfaces. The paints are hardened or fixed by baking in the kitchen oven. Generally, bake time will be something like 40 minutes at 325 degrees. This may vary depending on the manufacturer and exact type of product. Some glass paints are designed to air dry and to be more decorative than functional.

Considerations

• In addition to glass painting, new products are available to mimic leading. These include adhesive lead, outline pastes and a variety of foil tapes. These products can be applied over the stain/paint work to further the illusion of authenticity. In addition, the foil tapes can be used to join pieces of glass together allowing for even more options. Rubber stamps can be used for design with the enamel glass paints, and stencils will also allow for easy design transfer. One of the attributes of glass painting is that a drawing, design or image can be attached to the back of the glass allowing for a direct transfer to glass painting.

About Warli Art

The tribal (warli, malharkoli, kokani, katkari) of Thane district in Maharashtra make Warli paintings. They do not consist of the myriad primary colours, so intimately associated with folk painting in India. Instead they are painted on an austere brown surface with the use of only one colour-white The only exception are red and yellow auspicious dots which are used to decorate the painting. The first impression of sobriety, however, is countered by the ebullience of the thems depicted. Men, animals and trees from a loose, rhythmic pattern across the entire sheet. This results in a light swinging and swirling movement, describing the day to day activities of the Warlis. Warli art was first discovered in early seventies. In many important respects, it was different from the folk and tribal idiom known to urban India till then. It did not narrate mythological stories in vibrant as did the Madhubani paintings of Mithila, nor did it contain the robust sensuality of the pata paintings found in the districts of Bengal, Orissa or Rajasthan.

Warli painting though essentially the same, depicting the marriage ceremony with the vegetation goddess in the center, her guardian in a side cauk and a surrounding landscape in which the preparations for the wedding are taking place, are far from repetitive for there are considerable differences in form and content between one area and another.

The Warli are short in stature with dark, burnt complexions and broad physical features. They share a connon religious awe of the Tiger God and roughly carved wooden statues of him can be found installed in all parts of the district.

Agriculture is their main occupation and provides bare sustenance to the Warlis. With paddy as their main crop, harvested once a year, there is little or no surplus for the coming year. An average of two to three acres for a family of five is barely sufficient for the year and the summer months find the Warlis looking for part-time jobs.The men of the family work during summer on other farm, constructing bunds, in bricks factories, repairing road for the Government or with the forest department.

The women lend a helping hand by cutting grass to be sold in the market.

The rough and rugged foothiils of the Sahyadri range, which comprise the main part of Thane, afford easy refuge to those who shun contact with the outside world.The undulating landscape, leading to higher and more invincible hills in the east which forms a natural boundary between thane and the rest of the state. The Warlis live in the rugged part of the country and keep much to themselves and have their own social organisation.The is no caste differentiation among them.

Warli Painting

Tanjore paintings

Thanjavur paintings basically signify paintings created using a style and technique, which originated in Thanjavur during the Maratha period in the 16th century.  A typical Thanjavur painting would consist of one main figure, a deity, with a well-rounded body & almond shaped eyes. This figure would be housed in an enclosure created by means of an arch, curtains etc. The painting would be made by the gilded and gem-set technique - a technique where gold leaves & sparkling stones are used to highlight certain aspects of the painting like ornaments, dresses etc. 

The painting would be bright and colourful and breathtakingly beautiful. The impact in a darken room is that of a glowing presence. While most of the paintings would depict the Child Krishna and his various pranks, paintings of other deities were also created. Over a period of time changes have occurred in the stylization - for example, the figures are no longer round. Presiding deities of various famous temples are also being depicted in the paintings. The technique is now more in use than the style.  

Tanjore Painting is a peculiar, ancient, miniature type of painting named after the place Thanjavur (called Tanjore in English) in Tamil Nadu, a Southern state of INDIA. Thanjavur district is famous for various arts and crafts in which paintings are ranked high among the other arts like Thanjavur Toys, Thanjavur Plates, etc. Its origin dates back to the Nayak & the Maratha period in the 16th century. 

The Maratha rule of Thanjavur lasted for about 2 centuries from the late 16th century. The Thanjavur school of painting evolved in a period full of political chaos in South India. Thanjavur Paintings flourished under the patronage of the Nayak & Maratha princes in the 16th to the 18th centuries. The art was practiced by two main communities namely - the Rajus in Tanjore and Trichy(a city near Tanjore) and Naidus in Madurai(a city ruled by Pandiyas) The artists (Rajus & Naidus) who are originally Telugu speaking people from "Rayalseema" region, moved to Tamil Nadu in the wake of the Nayaks rule of Madurai & Tanjore. The paintings were rooted in tradition and innovation was limited. The art was sacred to those master craftsmen who choose to be anonymous and humble. 

Paintings were done on materials like wood, glass, mica, exotic media such as ivory, murals and manuscripts. Most of the paintings were of Hindu deities & saints. Other courtly and secular portraits were also created. 

The early paintings were embedded with real Diamonds, Rubies and other precious stones. Later, use of semi-precious and artificial stones gained popularity. There are some examples of this art in the "Saraswathi Mahal Library", in Tanjore, set up & developed by King - Serfoji II This monarch, who reigned from 1798 to 1832, to whom we owe the "Ganesha shrine" in the "Tanjore Big Temple", played an important part in the history of the art of his times.