No. 58. — 1907.] notes on ceylon painting, &c. 107 



turpentine and dries quickly. The yellow golcatu (gamboge) 

 paint is said to be itself a walichchiya and not to require any 

 other varnish. A superior method of varnishing small 

 wooden articles is to cover the painting with a thin coating 

 of carefully cleaned and strained keppettiya lalcada. Old 

 book covers will always be found to have been so 

 treated. 



The brushes teli Jcura used are made of cats' or squirrels' 

 hair, and are very small and delicate. Long, fine, stiff brushes 

 for drawing delicate lines are prepared from teli tana awns 

 (Aristida adscensionis) . Larger brushes are made from the 

 aerial roots of wetakiya, a species of Pandanus. 



One great merit of the old Sinhalese painter is the thorough- 

 ness of his knowledge of the preparation and properties of the 

 pigments and tools at his disposal ; their natural limitations 

 moreover tended to restraint and gravity. The old methods 

 are still well understood and sometimes followed by the best 

 workmen ; unfortunately, however, those responsible for mod- 

 em vihara decoration rarely take the trouble to secure their 

 services ; and the majority of inferior painters run riot with 

 Aspinall's enamel and Rickett's blue, with which they depict 

 designs more like those to be looked for on second-rate Christ- 

 mas cards than suitable for temple walls. Even the best men 

 are rarely proof against the temptation to make use of new and 

 gaudy colours, which destroy the beauty even of the best 

 design ; and even if they desire to adhere to old ways, those 

 responsible prefer to buy cheap colours and so save something 

 for themselves, for it must be admitted that the use of good 

 colours, as of most things worth using, involves the expendi- 

 ture of time and money. It is to be hoped that Sinhalese , and 

 especially lay incumbents of temples, will in the future feel a 

 growing sense of their responsibility in these matters, both as 

 regards the preservation of good old work, and in seeing that 

 they do not continue to hand down to posterity productions 

 vastly inferior to those which they themselves received from 

 the past. , 



