Patachitra - the painting on cloth which originated and flourished in Orissa. Brilliant and charming these cloth paintings or the patta exclusively form an exotic home / interior decoration item. This religious folk art has crossed the national boundaries and succeeded in reaching the international arena.
The paintings illustrate mythological characters in their full magnificence with the colorful conventional art. The patachitra artists are known as Chitrakars. The canvas is specially treated cloth made by gluing old cotton cloth in layers using tamarind glue and chalk to produce leather like surface.
The traditional colors generally used in the patachitra art are red, green, ochre, indigo, black and white obtained from natural sources like Ramaraja, Hingula, Haritala, Lamp black and shells. The crude looking brushes are made using the hair of domestic animals. At first the outlines are prepared by the use of red, yellow colors followed by other colors, after which the figures are color filled using the same colors. The background of which is filled with red color prior to application of other colors. The paintings focus on sculpture like simple shaped figures and repetitive posture and expressions. The final step is to give a protective coating for which the cloth is imparted a lacquer coating in order to protect from the harmful effects of nature and giving a varnished glazed finish.
