Born into a family of thangka painters in Xigaze, they followed the steps of their ancestors to carry on the craft.

Thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist scroll painting on cotton or silk with mineral and organic pigments derived from coral, agate, sapphire, pearl, gold, and others so that the color stays for centuries. The paintings date back to the 10th century and typically depict Buddhist deities.

March 25, 2019 -- A thangka painter works during an art collection expo at Gansu international conference and exhibition center in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, April 12, 2018. (Xinhua/Fan Peishen)

Norbu Sidar is a renowned master for the Mensar school in Tibet Autonomous Region. Mensar is one of the four schools of thangka, placing focus on the elaborateness in Buddhist images, landscape, animals and garments.

He is the head of the Tibetan Thangka Academy in downtown Lhasa, offering free classes to interested applicants, particular those poor but talented apprentices from his hometown Xigaze.

Konchoge, a deputy to his uncle, is also a successful painter. He often sits for hours in front of a painter's rack for practice and wants to become a highly-acclaimed master.

"To draw a thangka, one needs to exert the power of the eyes, the hands and the heart, with the utmost purity in your heart and persistent attention to details," Konchoge said.

FAMILY ROOTS

Norbu Sidar and Konchoge are the fourth and fifth generations of painters from the family of Thutop, who lived about 100 years ago in Tashigang Village of Lhaze County in Xigaze. Thutop learned the basics of painting when he worked for a family in Lhasa.

After a few years, Thutop established his own style and began passing down the craft. His son Dawa Dondrup, the second generation painter of the family, was a gifted painter and was invited to repair ancient paintings in the main hall of the Sagya Monastery.

Dawa Dondrup, the grandfather of Sidar, inspired and trained the boy. "When I was young, my grandpa was painting most of the time," Norbu Sidar said.

At the age of 12, Norbu Sidar already knew the sutra on scales by heart. "I thought it was very boring to recite the books, but the elderly in my family kept checking my recitations. I would get scolded if I slacked," he said.

He uses burnt willow branches to draw on a board of white pigment before going on to practice coloring and completing lines for the thangka. He studied with his grandfather for six years.

Thangka paintings are highly geometric and leave little room to be creative, so practice is the only way to make them perfect, Norbu Sidar says.

March 25, 2019 -- A man takes photo of a thangka painting during an art collection expo at Gansu international conference and exhibition center in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, April 12, 2018. (Xinhua/Fan Peishen)