Miniature painting

In western India from the 16th to 18th century miniature painting developed. These small paintings were part of manuscripts written at the time and illustrate the subjects of the manuscripts. These miniatures are found in some " Jain " manuscripts and are of 2 to 4 inches in size.

The pattern of large scale wall painting which had dominated the scene, witnessed the advent of miniature paintings technique during the 11th & 12th centuries. This new style figured first in the form of illustrations etched on palm-leaf manuscripts. The contents of these manuscripts included literature on the Buddhism & jainism Paintings. In eastern india, the prinicple centres of artistic and intellectual activities of the Buddhist religion were Nalanda, Odantapuri, Vikramshila and Somarpura situated in the Pala kingdom (Bengal & Bihar).

It was in the 14th century A.D. that paper replaced the palm leaf. The jain style of paintings attained a high degree of development by th elate 15th and 16th century. A new trend in manuscript illustration was set by a manuscript of the Nimatnama painted at Mandu, during the reign of Nasir shah (1500 - 1510 AD). This represent a synthesis of the indigenous and the Persion style, thought it was the latter which dominated the Mandu manuscripts. There was another style of painting known as Lodi Khuladar that flourished in the Sultanate's dominion of North India extending from delhi to Jaunpur.

Akbar's reign (1556-1605) ushered a new era in Indian miniature painting. He was the first morarch who established in India an atelier under the supervision of two Persian master artists, Mir Sayyed Ali and Abdul-ul-Sanad Khan. Earlier, both of them had served under the patronage of Humayun in Kabul and accompanied him to India when he ergained his throne in 1555. Later, a number of artists were engaged to work under their guidance to decorate Akbar's imperial studio at fatehpur Sikri. On of the first productions of that school of miniature painting was the HAMZANAMA series, which according to the court historian, Badayuni, was started in 1567 and completed in 1582. It is interesting that most of artists beloned to the Hindu communities hailing from Gujrat, Gwalior and kashmir, who gave a birth to a new school of painting, popularly known as the Mughal School of miniature Paintings.

Wash Painting

A wash is a painting technique in which a paint brush that is very wet with solvent and holds a small paint load is applied to a wet or dry support such as paper or primed or raw canvas. The result is a smooth and uniform area that ideally lacks the appearance of brush strokes and is semi-transparent. The drybrush technique can be considered the opposite of a wash.

A wash is accomplished by using a large amount of solvent with little paint. Paint consists of a pigment and binder which allows the pigment to adhere to its support. Solvents dilute the binder, thus diluting the binding strength of the paint. Washes can be brittle and fragile paint films because of this. However, when gum arabic watercolor washes are applied to a highly absorbant surface, such as paper, the effects are long lasting. This is the reason why watercolor is the medium most often utlizing washes.

The wash technique can be achieved by doing the following:

With water-based media such as inks, acrylic paints, tempera paints or watercolor paints, a wet brush should be dipped into a pool of very wet and diluted paint. This paint pool should be evenly mixed and dispersed to prevent uneven pigment load on the brush. The loaded brush should then be applied to a dry or wet support. Washes are most often applied with large brushes over large areas. The areas in which a wash effects can be controlled with careful application of the wash, and with the use of liquid frisket or rubber cement.

With oil-based media such as oil paint, a similar technique as outlined above may be used, though instead of water the paint pool should be well diluted in solvent, such as turpentine or mineral spirits. The loaded brush should be applied to a dry or solvent soaked support. Because oil paint has a longer drying time than water-based media, brushing over or blending a wash can extend or even out the appearance of the wash.

American artists Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Morris Louis, Sam Francis, Paul Jenkins, Helen Frankenthaler, Jules Olitski, Friedel Dzubas, Ronnie Landfield and several others are famous for creating washy, watercolor-like effects in oil and acrylic paintings in distinctive and radical styles and versions of this method, and which is sometimes called stain painting.