Tanjore painting is a classical South Indian painting style, which was inaugurated from the town of Thanjavur (anglicized as Tanjore) and spread across the adjoining and geographically contiguous Tamil country. The art form draws its immediate resources and inspiration from way back about 1600 AD, a period when the Nayakas of Thanjavur under the suzerainty of the Vijayanagara Rayas encouraged art—chiefly, classical dance and music—as well as literature, both in Telugu and Tamil and painting of chiefly Hindu religious subjects in temples. 

Smt PREMALATHA has been a professional Tanjore Painting Artist for the past 25 years. She has held many Tanjore Painting Exhibitions in India and abroad. Tanjore paintings are created in several stages, the toughest being creating on plywood board. Arabic gum and chalk powder are used to create a muck paste.
              
                                          Preparation of the Board 
 
On the Board apply fevicol and stick muslin cloth on the cloth apply muck and make proper board. 

 During early days, diamonds, rubies etc was used to create these tanjore paintings, now a days semi precious stones like Jaipur gems is used to create these popular paintings. The gods and goddess are adorned with heavy jewellery and background is pasted with 22-carat gold foil and the remaining available space is coloured in bright colours, which makes these paintings unique. 
                                    
                                           History of Tanjore paintings:
 
 Tanjore paintings are also popularly known as Thanjavur paintings named after a place in South India. These tanjore paintings evolved during the 16th century when the Chola emperors ruled southern india. Like we all know, Chola emperors were great lovers of art and built beautiful temples. Even though these paintings have been popular from the 16th century, only a few handful paintings are available from that period. 
                                          Tanjore Painting Techinque:
 
Tanjore paintings are created using semi precious stones, glass pieces and 22 carat gold foli, which is used to fill the surroundings. Tanjore paintings are created on wood and cloth . Tanjore paintings are normally framed, to protect them from pests. To create an embossed effect a mixture with chalk powder and gum is used and the semi precious stones are fixed on top of the paste. Since high quality 22 carat gold foil is used, these thanjavur paintings can last for many generations, and even a medium sized painting will be on the slightly expensive side. Tanjore paintings require a lot of dedication and meticulous work from the artists. To create a medium sized tanjore painting, artists can take anywhere between 1 to 6 months to complete it.