Motifs and Colour Theory
Motifs and Colour Theory questions ask you to classify motifs, choose a traditional or modern palette, and justify it using hue, value and saturation.
Motif families
- Floral: lotus (kamal), rose, paisley (ambi), creeper (vel).
- Fauna: peacock (mor), parrot (muniya), fish, elephant.
- Geometric: ashtakoni eight-pointed star, triangle, chevron, diamond, bangle (bangdi) border.
- Figurative: Warli tarpa-dance figures and chaukat squares.
Colour rules
- Primary (red, yellow, blue) mix to secondary (orange, green, violet); tertiary hues lie between. Hue is the colour name, value is light–dark, saturation is brightness.
- Complementary pairs (red–green, blue–orange, yellow–violet) create contrast; analogous neighbours harmonise; monochromatic uses tints and shades of one hue.
- Warm hues advance and suit festival articles; cool hues recede and suit summer and formal work.
- Thread is glossy, so a skein looks lighter and brighter than the same colour stitched; test on the actual fabric.
- Traditional palettes: Paithani - peacock blue, magenta, emerald, gold zari; Warli - white on terracotta brown.
Worked example
A peacock motif on maroon silk. Maroon is a dark, warm, low-value red. To make the bird read, choose an analogous blue–teal–green group for the body (cool and lighter, so it advances), gold zari for the eye and outlines to echo Paithani, and one small magenta accent in the crest for complementary spark. Value contrast, not a crowd of hues, does the work: three values of one hue family plus gold.
Traps
Using six or more unrelated hues, relying on hue alone with no value contrast (the design disappears in a photograph), choosing thread under shop light without testing, and forgetting that zari tarnishes with rough washing.