Traditional paintings have developed over the years into popular products of Nepal. These paintings have created an important industry that employs thousands of people. The earliest scripture paintings from which Nepal's traditional paintings developed were found painted on palm leaves and wood. Now more practical surfaces such as cotton and silk are used. The Newari or Chitrakar paubha and the Tamang thangka form Nepal's two types of traditional paintings. They display the same Buddhist and Hindu deities but include different elements such as facial features, bodily positions and surroundings that place them in specific settings.

The Newars are considered to be the indigenous people of the country and to have practiced religious painting since as early as the eleventh century AD. They take pride in their belief that they were the first to paint the paintings that eventually led to the development of today's paubhas. Newari paubhas are still not fully commercialized. Due to the general higher standard of living of the Newari people, they can afford to sell their products at a more leisurely pace. Some own their shops through which their paubhas are made to traditionally portray Buddhist and Hindu gods in their respective settings of temples or in the heavens. Around the thirteenth century, the art of religious paintings found its way to Tibet. There, the paintings were subjected to the Tibetan influence that led to their version of the paubha, named the thangka. They included a broader scope of the deities' environments and the sole representation of Buddhist icons in them. Today's thangka paintings portray Buddhist deities surrounded by rivers, mountains and wildlife.

The majority of Tamang thangka artists in Nepal today are believed to have originated from Tibet and to have settled into hill communities in the North on poor agricultural, mountainous land. Many of the Tamangs who struggled through life in this region have now found their way to Kathmandu in search of better lives. When possible, these artists return to their villages to give support to their friends and family. In Kathmandu, the shopkeepers who fear that a scene will arise over payment issues keep them in the shadows. Religious worshippers, art collectors, and tourists buy thangkas and paubhas inside Nepal and from abroad. Traditional methods that were strictly enforced by lamas used to dominate the paintings' dimensions, colors, and subjects. Now, they make way for increasing foreign consumer demands to have Nepalese traditional paintings hanging in their homes. Paintings, particularly thangkas, have a good local market and many jobs have been created through this field. In a successful turn of events the printing of traditional paintings on postcards and posters has increased their popularity and the demands for authentic products.

The increased production of these pictures takes away from the paintings' original intentions that led to a powerful provocation of feeling in those that possessed and beheld it. Newars worshipped the paubha's representation of their protector god and the colors used through saunu and continue this practice today. The Tamangs' artistic community is more pressured into the commercialization of their products than that of the Newar. This fuels the diversions from traditional rules that are seen today. This need to boost production is now applied to the many of Nepal's artists and attracts former traditionalists in search of higher sales.

Traditionally, Lamas and Brahmins used meditation in order to achieve inspiration for the creation of religious paintings. Once an image had been formed in their mind, they would abide to strict rules in creating the painting's image while applying mixtures of colors that mirrored their feelings towards the gods. Exact measurements of divine subjects were applied to the painting as well as colors to provoke feelings that would greatly influence the owner's life and all those who looked upon it. Natural dyes were used to generate an earthy realism that is all but lost in major production today. Poster colors and watercolors are the norm for present paintings that may be catchy but leave the colors void of any religious significance. The tools of old have been discarded for those of modern design to speed up the painting's completion and reduce costs.

Cheaper methods of production are being applied by many, abandoning natural dyes that are expensive and hard to find. Workshop owners are also cutting labor expenses making it difficult for laborers to find work. The price of these paintings has fallen in relation to their production costs and can now be bought for about two dollars. Shopkeepers buy the paintings from workers for a portion of what they are sold. The short handing of the working artist forces him or her to increase production further, pushing them to make more cuts. Furthermore, the artist is not allowed in the store while customers are about, making it impossible to establish personal accounts with buyers to earn a greater income. These issues progressed towards the breaking of traditional rules and the increased production of traditional paintings.

Producing a traditional painting without the proper meditative steps and measurements defined by the original creators robs the painting of any religious validity. However far these paintings' present state may be from their past, they are still greatly appreciated as a whole by local people for their significance and for the market they support. The exportation of thangkas rose 32% to $US 176,998 according to HAN from the middle of 2001 to the middle of 2002.

Commercialization of Nepal's traditional arts has had its negative effects but it has also supplied many unskilled laborers with professions. In more recent turn for the worse, recent political instability has spun Nepal's tourist industry into a nosedive. The local market for thangkas and paubhas inside Nepal depends heavily upon tourism. Artistic centers for traditional paintings such as Swayambhu and Boudha are now struggling and jobs are being lost. The more established artists and art stores may have overseas connections but the average painter has no way to acquire these types of contacts. Some artists who used to be able to return to their hill communities to offer financial support there have to make fewer trips or stop going altogether, generating a snowball effect in which further people are being effected other than the artists themselves.

For the religiously inclined and for art collectors, more decidedly those with money, from around the world, there remains a strong international market for traditional paintings. To own and worship the value of a traditional painting is to create a partnership, a marriage of sorts, with the feelings it emits through its subject and colors in order to influence the observer's life. Love, happiness, despair, fear, comfort and confidence are among the major feelings that traditional paintings produce. For the average artist, the loss of many paintings' values to increase production and meet demands is a trade off that provides little assurance that there will be enough profit to support a decent lifestyle. For now, understanding the traditional art form remains the sole reliable preserver of its roots. Given time, it may again grow to form a great canopy of traditional paintings due to the appreciation of this Himalayan art style.