Characteristics of Tibetan Color Painting Art and Its Application in the Design of Street Furniture

First, this paper sorts out the theme types and patterns of Tibetan architectural colored paintings, and analyzes the artistic characteristics of Tibetan color paintings. On this basis, it focuses on studying the artistic ways to enhance the scope of Tibetan color painting art, and elaborates on the application of traditional color painting art in the design of street furniture in ac-cordance with the current situation of urban and environmental development in Tibetan areas, so as to help to promote the regional style of urban environment in Tibetan areas. Characteristics


Current Research
At present, most of the research on Tibetan color painting art has deeper basic research on its religious connotation, or it is applied to Tibetan architectural design and interior design research of Tibetan dwellings. At the same time, most of the foreign academic research on urban furniture is in cities with better public infrastructure, and it does not involve areas with underdeveloped public facilities, such as Tibetan cities. Therefore, the following will explore a variety of artistic approaches to enhance the development of Tibetan painting art, and explore the application of traditional painting art in the design of "street furniture" in light of the current development of urban environment in Tibetan areas.

Forms of Tibetan Architectural Colored Paintings
Architectural colored paintings are decorative patterns drawn on the timber components of buildings. It is not only an effective way to protect building components, but also an important reflection of people's world outlook and values. Tibetan people mainly live in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its surrounding areas, and have bred a unique Tibetan culture in a unique natural environment.
As one of the carriers of Tibetan culture, Tibetan architecture embodies the unique artistic characteristics of the Tibetan nationality. Tibetan architectural decoration has a long history of development, and one of the most important decorative techniques is color painting. Tibetan color paintings can be classified into the following types.

Geometric Pattern
Since the Neolithic Age, Tibetan people have decorated objects with geometric patterns, which seem simple but actually contain and convey rich information.
Common geometric figures include stripe (Figure 1), T-shaped pattern ( Figure   2), fret, and chequered pattern and so on. There are two structures of single drawing and continuous drawing [1]. It is often drawn on doors, windows, beams and curtains. In addition, there are also geometric animal patterns like dog-nose pattern (Figure 3), and geometric auspicious patterns like Ruyi pattern ( Figure 4), which are often drawn on the column cap, beams, brackets and rafters and other building components.

Animal Patterns
Tibetan culture holds that all things in the world are spiritual, and the concept of

Plant Patterns
The plant patterns in Tibetan color paintings are refined on their image, and are embodied as simplified and non-realistic plane figures in architectural decoration, which describe a picture of abundant products and prosperity, so as to promote believers to yearn for a better spiritual world. The plant patterns include curling grass pattern (Figure 9), lotus pattern ( Figure 10), epiphyllum pattern, pomegranate pattern and peach pattern, which are often drawn on doors, windows, and beams, columns, brackets and rafters and other building components.

Buddha Patterns
Buddha patterns are mainly drawn in temple buildings. In the 7 th century,

Patterns of Buddhist Objects
In

Patterns of Natural Scenery
Patterns of natural scenery include flame pattern (Figure 18

Bright Colors
Tibetan architectural colored paintings are painted with mineral pigments, which high purity of color. Painters directly draw color paintings with raw materials, thus forming rich colors and strong contract on the pictures. The coloring methods are flat coloring ( Figure 20) and gradient rendering (Figure 21).

Unique Form Beauty
The art of Tibetan color paintings presents the beauty in form with strong regularity. This aesthetic feature is summarized and refined by Tibetan people after thousands of years of artistic activities, while painters inherit the art of architectural    colored paintings by pass downing between masters and apprentices. The art of color painting in architecture is based on the function, originally for the purpose of "damp-proof, reinforcement and guidance" to protect the buildings. With the development of technology, the art of architectural colored paintings not only beautifies the appearance of buildings, but also expresses Tibetan humanistic thought, realizing the unity of function and aesthetics, while protecting the wooden components of buildings. Later, it gradually developed to the dominant position of aesthetic significance.
In terms of the pattern image, there are three types of patterns: simplified and abstract patterns, patterns with realistic scenes and legendary and fictional patterns. From the perspective of composition, first, the formal beauty of change and unity is embodied in the changes of the size, complexity and simplicity of patterns, and it is subject to the unified layout of the patterns on the entire component, reflecting the relationship between subject and object, reality and fiction. In coloring, the pattern changes and unifies as a whole, indicating the contrast between cold and warm, light and shade. Second, the formal beauty of orderliness and repetition is embodied in simplifying curling grass patterns of various shapes, showing the characteristics of complexity and orderliness, and establishing the sense of order of shapes. Third, the formal beauty of rhythm is embodied in the patterns through the contrast between loose and solid, bent and straight, sharp and smooth. Fourth, regardless of the size of the carrier, they are covered with various color paintings, reflecting a sense of richness and satiety.

Meaning of Symbols
Symbol refers to a mark or tab that is agreed by all members of a society to express a certain meaning, deriving from regulations or conventions. It has simple forms, a great variety and a wide range of purposes, with a strong artistic charm. Tibetan color painting art has its own special connotation, and different patterns represent different meanings. For example, fish is regarded as the eyes of Buddha in Tibetan culture, so fish means to discover wisdom, distinguish right from wrong, and stay away from ignorance. "Xixuan" (Tibetan "Gaji") is similar to Tai Ji pattern in Han areas, but different from the symbolic meaning represented by Tai Ji pattern, Xixuan is the state of the universe and the law of things' development. Common Xixuan patterns are composed of three colors, representing the promotion of three forces. Every man's evil deeds are made up of "greed, hatred and ignorance", and we need to depend on three forces of "morality, meditation and wisdom" and three treasures of "Buddha, Dharma and Sangha" to free ourselves [5]. The figures created based on these representative symbols by means of abstract methods play a role in leading the people's spiritual world. Tibetan color painting art achieves the perfect combination of decorative and symbolic meanings.

Design Cases of Street Furniture in Tibetan Areas
The Tibetan people mainly live in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the surrounding Open Journal of Social Sciences parts of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan provinces. In the cities inhabited by the Tibetan people, the construction of urban civilization and city image has also been put on the agenda [6] [7]. This paper explores the natural environment of cities in Tibetan areas, has an in-depth understanding of the Tibetan color painting art, and adheres to the people-oriented design concept, proceeds from the perspective of environmental protection, inherits Tibetan culture, and shapes the urban landscape environment with regional culture, so as to enhance the image and temperament of cities in Tibetan areas as the design objective. This scheme is preliminarily designed by applying the Tibetan color painting art to the design of street furniture (Figure 22), thus serving as a modest spur to the design of street furniture in Tibetan areas [8].

Conflicts of Interest
The author declares no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.