Wooden painting is usually being done on a piece of wood or on a number of pieces of wood. Wood painting is followed for ages and is an old form of art in India. Wood painters who are very creative, experiment with various wood surfaces and they even use a plain wood surface as that can make a good canvas. The most popular form of wooden painting which is popular is panel painting which can be traced to Rome and Greece during the Byzantine era. In 12th century, it resurfaced and had become popular in Western Europe.

Wood panel paintings are mostly used in churches anQWd are known for the depiction of mostly Christ, Virgin Mary and other saints. A carpenter makes a solid wood piece which is of the size of a panel. A radial cut piece would be across the length of the tree with the outer sapwood being excluded. It would be then planned and sanded, if required and is being joined with other pieces to get the desired and expected shape and size.

The wood piece is also combined or coated with a mixture of animal skin glue and resin and then being covered with linen. The mixture with linen is called as 'size'.

Once the size is being dried, layers of gesso would be applied and each layer would be sanded down upon the next layer until a smooth and hard surface is formed quite like ivory. The next step according to the procedure would be to lay the design usually in charcoal.

The wood panel which is used for painting is then coated, generally hot wax is used as the medium for the pigments. This method was later changed by the method called tempera, which uses the egg yolk. A small brush is used for creating the pigment and egg yolk mixture, in small strokes.

The strokes had to be so perfect and clean that it could shape the nature and style of art. The later method in the fashion of oil painting had come into vogue which is a multi-layered technique where the painting is dried for a couple of days before the layer next could be applied. Indian wooden paintings imbibe in it several techniques such as sponging, graining, and stenciling which enhance the art more unique than others.

There is an opportunity for a creative artist even to invent newer techniques to render variations to this kind of art form. There are wooden paintings which usually make use of three or more colors on pieces of wooden blocks.

Many themes which are being made out of wooden paintings are Dancing dame, the meditating sage, folk dance, dhaki tribal dance, Ganesha, hanuman and others. The Manipuri dance is a very much famous and popular among wooden paintings.

Today these wooden paintings are catching the eye of many households and making good business all over the world. Wooden paintings are being used in contemporary art and is an emerging art form in India. Wood painters have taken this art to other parts of the world by beautifying it with Indian sensibilities.