Patachitras or painting on the cloth, a
hereditary folk-art of Orissa carries the
themes from Ramayana, Mahabharata. Bhagvata
Gita, anecdotes of Krishna and Radha and
pictures of Jagannath, Balabhadra, and Subhadra.
The predominant gem like colors, which
are used, are vermilion red derived from
cinnabar, brick red from red ochre, yellow
from orpiment, blue from indigo, white from
conch shell and black from lamp black. Once,
the colors are extracted they are combined
with gum resin and then used in painting.
The brilliant play of these colors produce
stunning compositions on the cloth. |