With a shaved head and an empty stomach, artist Ujay Bajracharya dips his brush to line the eyes of the deity Tara, as a Buddhist hymn plays in the background. The 40-year-old is applying the final strokes to his Paubha painting, a devotional art form known for its minute detail, intense colours and the strict purification rituals traditionally required of its practitioners. Paubha remains a common painting method in Nepal but the austere religious observances once followed by its artists have fallen out of practice. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES