CHSE Odisha Vocational Painting flashcards

33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Sight-size measurement

A drawing method in which the artist holds the pencil at arm's length to measure apparent proportions on the subject and transfers the same ratios to the paper, keeping the drawing scale consistent.

Negative space

The area surrounding and between the subject shapes in a composition. Drawing it helps correct proportion because the brain cannot substitute a familiar symbol for an unfamiliar shape.

Two-point perspective

A perspective system using two vanishing points on a horizon line at the viewer's eye level, used for objects seen at an angle so that two sets of parallel edges recede.

Foreshortening

The visual compression of forms that point toward the viewer. It is shown by overlap, reduced apparent length, and placement relative to the horizon line.

Value scale

A graded strip of steps from white to black used to judge tonal relationships in a subject and to keep light, mid-tone, and dark masses distinct while painting.

Simultaneous contrast

The optical effect in which a colour appears shifted toward the complement of its surrounding colour; a neutral grey looks warm against blue and cool against orange.

Tint, shade, tone

Three ways to modify a colour: a tint adds white and raises value, a shade adds black or a dark complement and lowers value, and a tone adds grey.

Complementary colours

Pairs opposite each other on the colour wheel, such as red and green or blue and orange. Placed side by side they intensify; mixed together they neutralise toward grey.

Gouache

An opaque water-based paint made from pigment, gum arabic, and a white or chalk opacifier. It dries matte and can be reworked, but light over dark is limited.

Fat over lean

An oil painting rule in which each successive layer contains more oil and less solvent than the one beneath, so upper layers dry more slowly and do not crack.

Gesso ground

A primer of chalk or whiting in a binder, applied to sized canvas or panel. It seals the surface, provides tooth for paint, and protects fabric from oil.

Rule of thirds

A composition guide that divides the frame into a three-by-three grid and places key elements near the intersections rather than at the centre.

Asymmetrical balance

A composition in which unequal visual masses on either side of the axis are balanced by differences in size, darkness, saturation, or placement rather than by mirroring.

Notan study

A small light-dark pattern study that reduces a subject to two or three value masses, used to test whether a composition reads clearly before colour is introduced.

Focal point

The dominant area of a composition that first attracts the eye, created through contrast of value, colour, size, isolation, or converging lines.

Bhimbetka rock art

Prehistoric paintings in rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh, made with mineral pigments such as haematite red and kaolin white, showing hunts, animals, and human figures.

Ajanta murals

Buddhist wall paintings in Maharashtra caves from roughly the 2nd century BCE to the 6th century CE, executed on lime plaster with shading and foreshortening.

Mughal miniature painting

Court painting from the 16th to 18th century known for fine detail, portraiture, naturalistic animals, and illustrated manuscripts produced in imperial ateliers such as Akbar's.

Bengal School

An early twentieth-century Indian art movement led by Abanindranath Tagore that revived indigenous idiom, wash technique, and mythological themes in reaction to academic European styles.

Chiaroscuro

The strong contrast of light and dark used to model form and create drama, developed in the Renaissance and pushed to tenebrism by Baroque painters such as Caravaggio.

Impressionism

A French movement from the 1870s that painted outdoor light and atmosphere with broken colour and visible brushwork, represented by Monet, Renoir, Degas, and Pissarro.

Analytical Cubism

The early phase of Cubism, around 1907 to 1912, in which Picasso and Braque fragmented forms into faceted, near-monochrome planes showing multiple viewpoints at once.

Fauvism

A short-lived French movement around 1905 in which artists such as Matisse used arbitrary, highly saturated colour and simplified form for expressive effect rather than description.

Pattachitra

An Odisha cloth-based scroll painting tradition, centred on Raghurajpur, using treated cloth, natural pigments, and bold black outlines for Jagannath and Vaishnava themes.

Palm-leaf etching

An Odisha technique in which dried, treated palm leaves are incised with a stylus and filled with black ink so the drawing reads as dark lines on the leaf.

Jhoti and chita

Ritual rice-paste designs drawn on floors and walls in Odisha, especially during festivals, forming geometric and floral motifs regarded as auspicious.

Madhubani painting

A Mithila region tradition from Bihar using double outlines, densely filled patterns, and natural colours, applied to walls and paper with themes from mythology and daily life.

Portfolio documentation

Photographing finished work flat, evenly lit, square to the camera at 300 dpi in sRGB, with no glare, so the images accurately represent the originals for review.

Underpainting

A first layer that establishes the value structure and overall colour bias of a painting, over which subsequent layers build detail and richer colour.

Solvent safety

Turpentine and mineral spirits are flammable, volatile, and neurotoxic. They require local exhaust ventilation, labelled metal safety cans, and separation from ignition sources.

Oily rag hazard

Rags soaked with drying oils can self-heat and ignite through oxidation. They must be spread flat to dry or sealed in a covered metal container for hazardous disposal.

Artist copyright term

Under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, original artistic works are protected for the author's lifetime plus sixty years, and sale of a painting does not transfer copyright unless assigned.

Gallery consignment

A sales arrangement in which the gallery displays the artist's work and takes a commission, often thirty to fifty percent, from the sale price before paying the artist.