In spite of the many similarities the pattachitra has many distinctive features of its own.
The base materials is called hand made canvas is prepared by pasting layers of old and used cloth with the help of tamarind glue, khadi (chalk powder)coats and after the coats are applied and polished the patis are trimmed on the sides and are cut in to required sizes with the help of scissors.
All earth, stone and mineral colors are used to paint the patas. Now a days powder colors are being introduced which give a very destructive result .Basically primary colure are used in patta painting like sankha(white), Hingula(yellow), Deepa kala(black), Dhau(brown), Neela(indigo)the other mixed colors are being prepared from the above pigments the gum is used with colors which obtained From Kapitha tree (wood apple) and mixed with a coconut shell.
STAGES OF PAINTING
The chitrakars of Puri and other areas follow a different procedure which is based and several color applications following one after the other such as:-
1. Tipana 2. Hingula banaka 3. Ranga banaka 4. Alankar lagi 5.Motakala 6. Sarukala 7.Ranga lekha 8.Sankhapatqa 9.Bageiba & Dhadikama 10.Jausala (lacquering)
The other tools are ghasa pathar (pebble stone) grinding stone, pestal stone etc.
Having originated in the seva of the Jagannath temple as the patta of Odisha can be referred to has naturally always had the triad as its main subject. Besides the veshas later however Jagannath was treated not as Krishna or the Buddha. The another popular subject dasavtar is painted with Sri Krishna leela ,stories from the Bhagabat, Ramayana and Mahabharata are generally included in the vaishnav themes .Patta paintings are absolutely traditional in the thematic content and have essentially religious overtones .The themes may be classified into following categories