Thanka painting is a traditional buddhist traditon. While painting the painter enters a meditative state. It takes years to learn and perfect the art of thanka painting. For most of the highly sofisticated paintings it takes month to complete. If a master's painting is finished it will be taken to the monastry. There the monks will consecrate the painting and the artist will sign it.

There are various motifs for the painting. For example "The circle of life", "Buddah's life", mandalas and many more. The master paintings are done with a lot of gold paint drawn in hair lines. You will really need a magnifier to see the perfection.

There are a lot of thanka painting schools and of course it is a big income for the Nepalis. While going sightseeing a lot of people will approach you and try to get you to visit their painting school. It is worth taking a look at these paintings. If you find some good student paintings you can get some good pieces for a better price.