Friday, December 30, 2011

Anthesis - Oil on Canvas

 35 x 45 cms


Chrysanthemums at their fullest bloom look lovely. I had a friend send in pictures of these flowers from her garden and mixed colours exactly like the flowers she sent me. I had fun creating the values for each colour. The challenge was in creating a bouquet from my imagination. Tried to keep the warm/ cool combos to a certain extent. I used a small palette knife as the works had to be fine to keep the petals thin and used a bigger one for the leaves and flower- pot.

My blog is 3 years old today. This year has been very progressive for me as far as art is concerened. I have learned and grown by leaps and bounds. 

Wishing all my readers a Happy New Year 2012 !      

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Myrrh- Oil on Canvas


A4 Size

A red bouquet of Roses to complement the Christmas ambience. Christmas to me has always been full of fun and parties and lots of carol singing. As kids, we used to practice carols for about two weeks and then finally belt them out in front of Santa! Santa would of course be one of our friends' fathers, who would get dressed in the gear and bring us gifts and chocolates. Then would follow a Christmas themed cultural show, ended by tea! The best part was the decoration..I still feel good whenever this time of the year comes. So let me not waste much time here as I need to head out and experience the Christmas flavour in Mumbai!

Here's.. 'We three kings'
  http://youtu.be/k8mjRxkMBkE

Friday, December 16, 2011

Amorphy- Oil on canvas A4 size


It's the characteristic of nature to present itself in different hues and shapes that unnerves us! It's a mystery that man hasn't been able to solve and will never be!

A pallete knife work , executed with a single knife.  

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Allotropy- oil on canvas

                                                           
 Done with palette knife , multitasked with daughter's Chemistry revision for a test tomorrow.

What better name than allotropy, as this is what she was studying?

Table composition- Oil on canvas


Marigolds, a bottle of water and a decorative arrangement with small flowers. Symbolises a typical table/ mantle piece arrangement.

This detailing , using the palette knife was a little daunting but I pulled through! 

I haven't signed the latest works , as the work is impasto and the paint layers are very thick and wet. Will wait for the paint to dry and then sign!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Flamboyant- Oil on Canvas

This small palette knife painting of dahlias takes me back once again to my days in Assam
( India), where I had a garden full of bleeding dahlias. They used to be like torchlights, with huge faces, almost drooping with their weight and splendour. They would reign the garden  , somehow standing apart boldly from the Chrysanthemums and Marigolds.

I can smell them now, though they don't have any fragrance and are best left in the garden, unlike the other flowers which are more apt for bouquets. Dahlias are regal and flamboyanrt!

Value Proposition- Oil on canvas

A small oil painting done for some landscape practice . It'sa copy, only for practice as where I liv,e there aren't too many pretty spots to do an original plein air 'pure' landscape, without getting some concrete jungle in the picture. This painting is not for sale . It's been almost two years or so since I did an actual landscape and this is one of the reasons, apart from my pre-occupation with figure studies and flowers.

I think a landscape painting can be looked upon as more of a value proposition, than a painting in itself. There is more than just a pretty picture to a landscape. it always is positive, it gives joy to everyone and it is always close to nature. I would position a landscape as not a landscape but a 'thing of joy'.

The Raaga I am doing riyaaz on today is Bageshree. It is a late night raaga.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Plumage- Acrylic on Canvas

This was a quick morning painting done in less than an hour, on A4 size. I gifted this to one of my friends, who I have become quite close to, in the past year. I want her to put it in her cabin, as I believe flowers are always mood lifters! I had to steal my daughter's acrylic paints as I was in a hurry to gift it and wanted to finish it immediately. This is a copy however, and it is definately not for sale.
The reward I got for this was the smile on her face!

Here's the latest song that I'm hooked on to from my daughter's collection:
http://youtu.be/T3E9Wjbq44E

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Tulip fillip- oil on canvas sheet

Got inspired to do this for two reasons. One, I recently bought a few tubes of paint from a brand called Pebeo and was dying to use those colours.These colours are different from the usual Camel brand I use.

Secondly, my daughter came back from her art class very excited with a half done acrylic of tulips and was begging me to let her do some oils. So we had some mother- daughter painting session on oils. I made this with my knives , taking an idea from her tulip painting and I let her paint a landscape from a card with oils.

I was a bit distracted during this , as we shared the same palette , though she did brushwork ( and me-Palette- knives), but ultimately finished it.

Pebeo colours are bright and they have a wide trange, but I have actually started using more of a limited palette which is getting smaller in range by the day and all these colours actually do not make sense at the end of the day!

So at the end of this session what I had was this painting and what my daughter had was an evening where did what she loved (painting) and thus avoided what she disliked ( studying :- )).  !!!

P. S. I am editing this post by posting this latest sensation in music. It's a Tamil ( I think so) song that has gone viral over the net and it is really catchy. i do not understand the meaning, but it has caught on into my head!!
 http://youtu.be/YR12Z8f1Dh8

Monday, November 21, 2011

Alla Prima- Learnings from a Workshop

I recently attended a portraiture & figurative workshop conducted by an International artist.

Some notes:

Objective of the workshop: To learn how to make portraits and figurative paintings from live models.

Technique: Alla Prima.

Methodology: Live Demo by artist followed by experiential learning sessions by students (painting from a live model, using same technique as taught by the artist).

Definition: Alla Prima is a technique which means 'at once ' in Italian . In this method, instead of  painting in layers, paint is applied wet-on-wet , and the painting is finished within hours , instead of days.

Some things I learnt :

1) Reduce the subject of painting to shapes and planes. ( Don't think of a nose as a nose, but as a breakdown of planes)

2) Squint your eyes and look at the subject.

3) Look for shapes, value, colour and edges, in a chronological manner, while squinting.

4) Draw lines with brush to suggest sharp cntours and demarcating lines and tangents (e. g.upturn of a face, defining line of a garment, tilt of the postrure, eyebrow level, nose level etc. ).


Pre - painting:

5)  Very important part of this technique is the value gradation of colors.

 Create a value chart for the basic colours that you would be using for a subject.

 There should be 3 values in light and 2 values in shade for a particular range. For. e.g. for flesh colour, we  could have a very dark with burnt sienna and cobalt blue and a bit of ivory black and progress through the next 4 values by adding more of white and less of darker colours. Once you have your value scales , on your palette, you are ready to attack the canvas. Make sure your brushes are spiky clean and your palette is wiped clean of all previous colours. This is a very important stepto retain freshness of the painting in Alla Prima.

When mixing, try one dominant colour and mix other colours in little bits to go up and down the value scale.

During painting:

6) Squint and  look for shapes and values. Block the shapes that you see with corresponding values in relation to each other. Block the darkest shapes that you see with the darkest value on your palette. As you move from shape to shape, ask yourself, cooler or warmer? Lighter or darker? Accordingly block the basic shapes that you see. Break down the whole face into shapes and planes.

7) Be careful while moving from value to value. Do not jump values, as the work will look patchy and there won't be transition between values.

8) Use bristles to block the initial shapes and then use sable brushes as you apply lighter values, or work between the shapes.

9) Have an alert on warm/ cool combinations throughout the work, as you paint.

10) Remember cool light- warm shadow and vice versa and accordingly apply the colours and the values thereof.

11) Try to focus on some parts where you want to sharpen and converge more definitively. e. g. eye.

12) Keep your shadows transparent and lights opaque.

13) Keep defining lines impasto, so as to indicate direction and shape.

14) Clean brushes and palette on and off. Try using different brushes for different colours and values, so there is no confounding of colours and values.

15) Look at cooler or warmer in respect to each other.Comparative notes.

16) Squint only for value and shapes, never for colour.

17) If you feel you have jumped values or have confounded shapes, or angles, take a palette knife and scrape out the paint. You can re-paint that part.


 Post painting:

1) Be careful with the painting as it is fresh and wet and is done within the span of a few hours or a day. Any accident which causes you toredo later may take away from the freshness of the painting, which will negate from the benefits of this technique.

Points to remember:

1) keep a clean palette. If there is dried paint, scrape it away with a palette knife and apply some spirit to rub it off.

2) Your brushes MUST be absolutely residue free and washed properly.

3) Do not jump values

4) You can soften edges with a smooth brush once you are done with the whole face ( or other subject0 to retain transition and avoid patchiness.

5) Use the lightest values for highlighting.

6) Let yourself go. fear will not let you express yourself on your canvas. This method requires a lot of patience and concentration. Any oil painter used to the classical approach of layer on layer will take a while to not see a face as a face but as shapes and planes instead!

7) Finally- practice maketh perfect. I plan to use still life to practice this approach. So that means even a tomato wouldnt be a round object but would have to be broken down into shapes and planes and finally dealt with values!  Squint, paint, squint is the mantra!

I learnt a lot from this workshop and finally, after 3 years of active blogging , physical networking and emailing, met oil painters who could share valuable tips with me.

The artist was great and a very patient and focused person. A great mentor , apart from being a great painter and teacher! i did two portraits but got daunted halfway and also exhausted , squinting and painting, squinting and painting!

Best of luck to me.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

The Task Mask - Oil on Canvas sheet

The face is so fascinating.  It is a mask to our feelings and emotions. We hide some and reveal some.
I am trying to do my own ' Daily painting' project, by making these small paintings. But I am not going to make any more lofty announcements because in the past, whenever I have done so, I have promptly not adhered to my pompous  statements. So let it go with the flow. 

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Beacon - Oil on Canvas sheet

At times when one feels abandoned, what does one do? It's a black night, everything seems bleak.There is no one and there is no place to go.... but is there some light there? At the far distance, or is it a mirage?
Whatever it is, it seems to be showing some direction. That's the crutch, the destination and the goal.. Keep trudging, keep swimmimg in the dark till you find some light.

This is the plight of many a woman,especially in our country (India). Indian women have to ultimately be their own fortresses, or they wallow till they are swallowed by the gallows of society. When a woman raises her voice, she has to find her own light or face the wrath of society.
Will she find her beacon?

This night painting hardly matches with a morning raaga, but then I want to keep my word from my last post and then, opposites always make for good semantic differentials.
So here is Albela sajan, a song from a movie based on raag Ahir Bhairav.

http://youtu.be/ZA5nR-HtotE

Monday, November 14, 2011

Revival-oil on canvas sheet 20x25 cms.

An oil painting after ages! It felt so good to be back to the familiar smell of turpentine!Oh! The gloss and grandeur of oils... How could I abandon you for acrylic for such a long time? I had been longing to get back to oils after my fling with acrylic. Acrylic was just a fling..it was short, sweet and gave instant pleasure but the depth and happiness as well as the gravity of oils were missing. This morning was so lovely, spent on this bouquet of roses done with my knives! So it was a double revival... of oils and knives.. Back to the pavilion. It often happens that the wanderer experiments but comes back home to familiar grounds. Because I know how the colour flows, how to slide my knife, how much medium will exactly do the trick and what will blend with what and how!

The raaga which goes with this is Ahir Bhairav, a morning raaga. I will upload a song based on this raaga in a later post, as I have to rush now. 

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

A Poem and a Song

Since I do not have any artwork to upload, I am cheating with a small poem which I composed on my painting :)

Paint your pain and make a gain,
Paint till you faint,canvas you may taint,
With colours of life, and palettes of strife.


With homage to the late maestro Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, I am uploading one more of his powerful, revolutionary songs in Assamese, which has also been translated into Hindi and Bengali.
This song addresses the mighty Bramhaputra river which flows through the state of Assam, accusing the river of ignoring the fall of integrity in mankind and society and of not doing it's bit for contributing to the upliftment of
society and  quietly flowing through, absorbing all the evils and ills of human civilization.

http://youtu.be/gABBkvGVJXg

Monday, November 7, 2011

Of Bags, Biscuits and Bards


 
This lady was trying to open a biscuit tin on the flight, but she was so busy trying to see who was eyeing her biscuits, that she kept on looking steadily across the aisle. I didn't want to lose this opportunity of sketching her. Of course she regarded me as one of the biscuit watchers!



This guy was sleeping right next to my seat, clutching a camera in a bag, which he had fished out some time during the flight to check out some pix, which I couldn't help prying into! He was a young executive, who had gone to his home town for a break and was flying back to his place of work! 

As I upload this, I also pay tribute to a great maestro of Indian music, Dr. Bhupen Hazarika,who departed for his heavenly abode yesterday . He hailed from the Indian state of Assam and was a writer, composer and singer all rolled into one. We grew up listening to Assamese songs sung by him and I had the great fortune of seeing his live concerts many a times. He also largely contributed to the overall Indian music scene and directed movies and composed music and sang for Hindi films. He was popularly known as the Bard of the Bramhaputra (mighty river from Assam, India).

All in all a literateur , singer, composer, and revolutionary, a rare personna. May his soul rest in peace!

Below is the link to one of his songs in assamese, which was later also converted into Hindi and sung in the film Rudaali.

 http://youtu.be/iu4BR6fUVlU

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Bhut Jolokia- Acrylic Sketch

 
Tried a quick sketch of the 'Bhut Jolokia', juxtaposed with an olive, both fruits growing in Assam, India. Bhut Jolokia, is the hottest chilli in the world.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhut_Jolokia_chili_pepper.

I love the smell , which wafts from at least a meter and makes your tongue water. The beauty of this chilli is that it's a good appetizer and is supposed to aid in the therapy of gastric ulcers . The olive, on the other hand , is a green winter fruit (bigger than the international variety) and the olive trees, which are fast disappearing at least from  the urban areas in Assam, get laden with this fruit in the winter. I remember childhood afternoons when we used to pick them and eat them with salt. My daughter does the same now,  when we visit Assam in the winters. It also goes well with Dal and Rice as a boiled and mashed delicacy. Of course olive pickle is a big delicacy in Assam.
This was a quick sketch, meant to finish the very last bit of those acrylic paints.
I couldn't really capture all the crinkles, but I needed to hurry as I have a flight to catch. Let's see if I can do an oil painting of this bright chilli! Till then...

Oh yes, the raaga I'm humming today is Bhimpalasi.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Paintyoga!


Acrylic on canvas sheet
I had some left over acrylic paints. Some of the colour was drying up and others were almost over. I decided to use the last bit of colours to make these flowers. I started this as a casual painting to relieve stress... My Yoga substitute , so Paintyoga!
I was happy doing this, though this work suffers from constricted colours, drying colours and asymmetry!
Think I'll hang it in a dark aisle to brighten it up!:)

I was listening to Raaga Jayant Malhar when I was uploading this. I don't know this raaga but I will learn it now! Am excited! 

Friday, October 28, 2011

'Right flight'


This guy was fast asleep on a long flight , which I boarded at Delhi ( Capital city of India). He slept throughout the journey and was good sketching model for me.



This woman was just across the aisle and was fast asleep. But her next seat owner was very suspicious of my sketching her and I had to rush through this, as I didn't want to land in trouble.

                                                                                                                                                                                                    
I was in Delhi after a long time and was amazed at the way the airport had developed. It's now huge and impressive with scores of terminals . I sketched this at one of the terminals . t was early morning and there wasn't too much of a crowd.  

My people watching told me the following facts about people in airports and flights:

1) Most people in airports are either checking their mobiles, talking on the phone, are working on their laptops or sitting and staring. Very few of them read.

2) Most people on a flight sleep and few of them read or play games on their mobiles etc.

3) People in airports and flights are very suspicious of sketchers:). I bore the curiousity of everyone and   got disdainful but interested looks! 
 

Air- Flair

I caught this man reading on a flight.This was exactly thesight I saw from across the aisle. I couldn't draw the seat with a right perspective, as I had to really strain my neck to capture the pose  successfully. I drew a lot of attention from the person sitting next to me and also got some disdainful glances from  few others. But well who cares? Am a sketchoholic and I ain't gonna let such a golden opportunity pass by! Meanwhile, the subject never got to know what I was upto!  

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Wait

This is a quick sketch done about a month back, in the Doc's waiting room, where I had gone to seek advice for some minor a allergy. This lady in the Burqa looked bored and tired, as if she had been waiting for a long time.
The most interesting aspect of this experience was trying to sketch her unawares. Once or twice she did look at me as I was furiously sketching, as two kids who were there were intrigued by what I was drawing and hovered around me as I sketched. Nevertheless, I managed to stealthily catch her posture successfully . I must say that this sketch resembles the woman to a considerable extent. I was tempted to show her my sketch once it was done. However I resisted, not knowing how she would react. Would she understand an art lover's inherent desire to catch a pose? I'd used a ball point pen on one of the rough paper bills lying in my bag. By the time my turn had come, I'd sketched her, the sofa in the room, the ac and one door! Also managed to entertain some curious onlookers !  

Thursday, October 20, 2011

'Side Over' - Sketch


A quickly captured sketch, done with water colour pencils. This divine scene greets me often, as the buildings on the other side of lake Powai throw beautiful reflections on the serene lake.I have watched this scene longingly for at least two years, always making strokes with my brush and almost smelling the buttery oils as I spread over the buildings, the reflections and the greenery. But, somehow or the other, I haven't been able to come and paint the scene on spot.

Well, the nearest I could do was capture it  on my sketchbook. I finished it within 15 minutes and touched up later.

Let me hope that this is only take one and I do several sketches/ paintings of this so that I come up with a great one, which actually brings forth the beauty of this! 

Friday, October 14, 2011

Urbania- Acrylic sketch on A4 size canvas

The creek, electrical/telecom towers, buildings and boats! Contrasts which complete a beautiful picture along with the sunset. That's the beauty of Mumbai .A city replete with the beauty of its concrete silhouhettes  against the backdrop of nature.   

Horizon - Acrylic on canvas sheet

A sketch done to refresh similar sights I saw very often while going to Shillong ( Hill Station in Meghalaya) in my young days. Upper Shillong has beautiful sights, where the grass from the hill tops melts with the blue sky.
We have had many a stop over to picnic and lay down on the grass strewn with small flowers. Bliss! 

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Pensive Acrylic on paper A2 size

                            
                    Sometimes the face is just a thinking face. Thinking but glazed!

Poignancy- Acrylic on paper A2 size

The face is the most fascinating part of the body. It can emote and express all that the person feels, or can it? isn't it also the part that we use to project feelings which aren't always natural/ sincere/ real?

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Self Portrait- Pain

Acrylic on canvas sheet
18 x 25cms.

A quick draw. Should i call it a sketch?

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Multitasking

Acrylic on A2 size paper
My teenaged daughter caught in a pose, multitasking between laptop and TV!
I worked a wee bit more on this painting after I clicked the photo but am lazy to click another photo! 

Monday, September 26, 2011

Self Portrait- Pretense


Acrylic on Canvas Sheet-A2 size

No I did not go back to my half finished painting . Instead I did this.When you want to paint faces and don't have a model, what's better than painting yourself in one of your moods? 

Who knows your moods better than yourself. I have so many moods that i can paint myself in. It will actually keep me busy for a month at least! Here..so I paintagain!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

'Paintagain'

It's been ages since I last painted!. My painting stuff is wrapped away and put into some bags. I don't know if that can be an excuse, but that is one of the reasons why I hadn't painted.
This evening, I vow to look for the paints, fish out the brushes and work on the long starved oil painting of the woman in the forest!

Sometimes, it so happens that the more you 'don't; do a thing, the more you do not do it, just as the more you do something, the more you want to do it! All my past efforts to paint just because I have to get back into the mode hadn't worked. So now I actually feel the paints beckoning me, and can smell those oils and the turpentine..hey.. I suddenly cant wait to spread the butter like oils!
So let me start the 'paintagain' project.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Connecting the dots- Acrylic on Canvas- 50 x 80 cms

Trees are as much required as connectors as the girl child. Both play a synergistic role in the sum of the parts , which is more than the whole!

This Ganpati festival ( Indian religious festival ) , I have made my contribution to goodness ( Godliness?)  by hopefully spreading this thought through my painting as it hangs in the marquee.  

Some stuff

I was going through my art journey in my mind. 

Two and half years back when I started painting, I'd actually bought a canvas and some paints and brushes out of sheer desperation to take care of my dull evenings at home, when I wanted to go out but couldn't due to family responsibilities. But I somehow envisioned at the back of my mind that I would turn it into a serious thing and saw myself painting restlessly! I actually never realised when my painting activity ballooned into a movement , where I cancelled outings so I could stay at home just to paint or draw!   

I started painting to express anger, boredom, happiness and sorrow. Soon my activities turned into paint-outs which was full of anticipation and and action.

As it grew and number of paintings increased, I came to a stage where I saw only art in everything.

Some things which inspire me to draw/ paint:

1) Lakes, water fronts, sea and all kinds of water bodies.
2) Trees and peculiarities of branches and shadows.
3) Flowers , shrubs with bright flowers
4) Houses, apartments, buildings
5) Skyline with different shades of the sun
6) Slums /!!!!! ( Yes!)
7) Restaurants and people eating/ sitting/ drinking
8) Office people in different postures
9) Expressions..happy, angry, sad
10) Last but not the least..Backs of people

One of the painters who monumentally inspires me is Karin Jurick from Atlanta Georgia. I think she is one of the most thinking painters of modern age art who has a niche in the kind of art she does and who is passionate about painting! 

Well, I just handed over one of my paintings that i was working on for a social function. I will take a break and finish the other half done work. Till then...ill dream about art!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

From my sketchbook

Some more pages from my sketchbook. Hiranandani buildings and eastern express highway done from imagination with soft pastels. I actually want to do detailed plein air sketches and have sketched them a million times in my mind..but till then I'll settle for this.

Eastern Express- Sketch


A page off my sketchbook. Sights of Eastern Express highway impressioned in my mind. Done with gel pen and crayons.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Different Strokes


Different strokes left by different folks who had come to see my paintings . This is the end product, a mass of bright colours and expressions left by them!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Moi-Oil on Canvas Board- 45x 75 cms


Done with palette knives. It's a big sized board. The one I am working on is a detailed work with brushes. It will take some time.
I have got used to my loose work with the knives. So took a break with this. Had to go and buy a new box of paints as I ran out of colour in the midst of this painting.I had fun working on this.  

Monday, July 25, 2011

Flight Plight- Sketch, Gel pen

I had done this sketch about a year and a half back when I was flying to some work destination. I was bored in the flight and sketched this with a gel pen, just  to while time.It was done from the photo of a celebrity. 

Floored!- Sketch , carbon pencil

This squatting posture caught my fancy and I made a quick sketch of this maid sitting on the floor.

She was excited at this sudden interest on her and posed wonderfully. She would have given any live art model a complex! Well, I enjoyed this quick live drawing session and so did she! Little does she know that she has occupied pride of place on this blog and is on view for the world!
I do not feel like painting today and so decided to close my drawing with this. Tomorrow is another day.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Me by 'Not Me' - Watercolour

Since I don't have anything of mine to upload, I decided to upload this painting  . I was painted  by  one of my fellow art buddies in one of our painting group meets.  This painting isn't perfect but quite good, as those days we were learning ( which we still are. of course) These meets are very interesting
as we learn through live drawing sessions and the sense of proportions, colours and shadows is assessed and there is direct application of theory to practical aspects. The learning points here were the proportions, fall of fabric, angle of sitting etc.
I had enjoyed posing while I was at it, but remembered suffering from astiff and painful back after the session for about 2 days!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Bookshelf - Sketch


A charcoal sketch of a Bookshelf, made from a photo.

I have been sketching on some great paper of late.. It's called acid free drawing paper. The texture is smooth and great for pastels and pencils both. 

I was listening to 'All of my Love' by Led Zeppelin while doing this sketch...
Link below: Pl do not miss. Especially the saxophone (not too sure whether it's sax or some kinda flute though) bit in the middle of the song!

Fall Vista - Soft Pastel Sketch

Had done this sketch out of imagination with soft pastels. I love those pastels, save for the fact that they generate too much dust and after sometime one starts sneezing. When I was halfway through this sketch, I started sneezing and it made my hand unsteady.

Tips for artists:

Have a rag cloth ready with you if you are using these pastels.
                     
Do not wear light cloured clothes.

Either use a fixative spray if you want to preserve them, or frame them right away, or the colours may 'dust' away. 

This sketch is better than the photo!When will I click pix with my cam or rather, will I ever take the effort to click snaps with my cam?

I have got a half done oil of a girl sitting in a boat in the wilderness on the easel. but i seem to have abandoned it. Till then, expect more sketches!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Pretty Facade - Oil on Canvas Board 14x 18''

A painting done entirely by palette knives. This one is a big sized one and took me more than a month, as I wasn't so much into painting for some time in between.
It is done from a snap of the facade of a house of a friend and I juxtaposed warm and cool colours, while trying to keep the essence of her house.
It was a difficult assignment, self imposed no doubt , but doing geometrical structures with knives was the challenge and it was a good change.
Meanwhile my brushes aren't too happy that i have simply abandoned them and lie in different stages of uncleaned state. Maybe I will pick them up and do something with brushes next. Knives are great but my paints are fast disappearing from my stock!

Garden

Oil on Board 30x 40 cms

I did some more work on this after I clicked this photograph, but am too lazy to click one more photograph.
Done from imagination with palette knives .

'Come as you are'

Oil on Board 20x 20 cms
A teeny weeny knife painting done straight out of the mind. No drawing, no planning, no scheme. I blobbed whatever colour was there on the palette from the last work and some others that I just picked . Colours came on the canvas, as they were, as I wanted them to be!This painting  reminds me of the song 'Come as you are ' of Kurt Cobain. Link below:



Sunday, July 10, 2011

Unmindful - Oil on Canvas Board-20x22cms

Sometimes you paint just because you have to. This is a tiny knife painting that I did just to convince myself that I can still paint  (Its bin ages since I last did). But my mind and heart weren't on it and it shows in the result!

I have meanwhile gotten more mastery over the pallete knives and am wondering if I can get back to the brush, now that I have been piling paint directly on to the canvas. Just wipe it clean and that's it! Over! No turpentine, no kerosene..wow! Only thing is, it is going to wipe my bank account also clean as this method requires more than double the amount of paint that would be used with brushes!!!

This is one instance where I cannot say that the painting looks better than the photo, because it's the reverse...The photo looks better than the painting!:)

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Jammed! Sketch- Soft pastels

I came early from work yesterday as I had to reach someplace for some work but couldn't reach because of this in Hiranandani, Powai (Mumbai, india)!

Well, the first showers that we were so waiting for are gonna also bring these jams..that means long hours in traffic, clutch- brake- escalator syndrome, petrol bills hike and exhaustion! Phew!

This is a tiny sketch I did to try out some soft pastels that i bought the other day. They are amazing and blend very well on plain paper.

They are Artists' Soft Pastels by brand Gallery ( munovo) . They come for INR 300 ( in India).

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Signs of a Maverick Artist :)

You know you have become a maverick artist when:
  1. You start losing interest in the way the clothes are scattered in your house and instead look at their folds thinking how to draw the shadows to show the folds in the garments.
  2. Your living room has various artworks in various stages of completion!
  3. You have oil paints on your nails and elbows and don't bother much to remove them.
  4. You aren't interested in the way the food is cooked but wonder how you will paint the kitchen/ fruits/ vegetebles , so that they look real!
  5. You want to go to a mall not to shop but to draw people shopping and sitting around.
  6. You stare at members from the opposite sex not because they belong to the opposite sex but because you want to study the way the clothes have folded and the way the posture can be captured in a drawing!
  7. You go to a cafe with a special friend and stare hard at the people around, imagining how will will re-draw the scene once you get back home!
  8. Your house smells of linseed oil and turpentine!
  9. YOU smell of linseed oil and turpentine instead of Dior or Elizabeth Arden and you just love it!
  10. Your sunday beauty parlour/hair massage trips have been completely taken over by paintouts!
  11. You look at the car in front of your car, when driving in traffic, wondering how you will fit it in ina cityscape!
  12.  You stare at trees and leaves and think 'wow! sap green mixed with lemon yellow! ' or you look at the sky and think 'Hey a little veridian mixed with cobalt blue, highlighted with prussian blue and slight touches of crimson red!'
  13. You aren't bored at the traffic signal, because you are busy clicking snaps of the sky with your cell phone, thinking how you're gonna paint this!
  14. You are ready to make a trip out of the city when you are dead tired just because there is the promise of an artistic meet out there.
  15. You wake up at 3 A .M and walk to your easel and make changes to your current work after looking at it from 2, 3 angles.
  16. You get into sms marathons with artistic people like painters , photographers analysing art/ drawing perspectives and techniqniques!
  17. Sunday mornings are exciting not because you can sleep late but because you will rise early and go on a paintout!
  18. Movies are time consuming because they take 3 hours away from drawing!
  19. You arent bothered about the artist as much for his/ her work of art.
  20. Finally , when you dip your brush into your cup of tea instead of your cup of linseed oil and hell , God forbid (which I almost did once)... even worse...drink linseed oil while dipping the brush into the cup of tea!  
P.S.:More comments added on comments section by C. B. Prasad by email to me :
Posted link to his website
http://meylah.com/prasad

      

Who will cry when we die! (Prize Winner)

Acrylic on A4 canvas -Sketch
                        A sketch submitted as an entry in a competition for World Environment Day Celebrations.( it won a prize).

Just got to know from an artist who viewed this work that this may be called an anthropomorphic tree.

Anthropomorphism is a term coined in the mid 1700s, to refer to any attribution of human characteristics (or characteristics assumed to belong only to humans) to non-human animals or non-living things, phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts, such as god(s). Examples include animals and plants and forces of nature such as winds, rain or the sun depicted as creatures with human motivations, and/or the abilities to reason and converse. The term derives from the combination of the Greek ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos), "human" and μορφή (morphē), "shape" or "form". Characters from the story of Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story are great examples of anthropomorphism.

As a literary device, anthropomorphism is strongly associated with art and storytelling where it has ancient roots. Most cultures possess a long-standing fable tradition with anthropomorphised animals as characters that can stand as commonly recognised types of human behavior. In contrast to this, such religious doctrines as the Christian Great Chain of Being propound the opposite, anthropocentric belief that animals, plants and non-living things, unlike humans, lack spiritual and mental attributes, immortal souls, and anything other than relatively limited awareness

.Sourced from Wikipedia.



Friday, June 3, 2011

Quite White - Oil on A4 size Canvas Sheet



This is a  pallete knife painting done without any brushes, except for the background.

I am trying out some pallete knives that I bought recently. I find the knives too fragile either to scoop or paste the paints. Will have to buy some sturdier ones, so I don't have to think of them breaking when I am pasting!

Palette knife is excellent for oil painters who prefer the impasto kind of technique. It requires a little maouevering and understanding of shadows and impressions that could be created with different colours.
You require a few rags to wiipe the paint clean thats all.

Merits of this technique:

1) It is quick.

2) It makes the colours " come out strong'' , as there is usually no solvent mixed. Paint is directly blobbed onto the canvas.

3) Its initially great for still life and sceneries, where you want to show impressionist layers (e.g. seascapes). Once you have manoeuvered the technique, you can take it forward to cityscapes and figures as well!

4) No solvents, medium required. Just wipe the paint clean!

Demerits:

1) It's messy! You end up having oil paint all over!

2) If you can't plan out shapes and shadows in your head, you may end up 'not really being there'!

3) Its expensive!! You use double the amount of paints in this technique, vis - a -vis the usualy brush technique.!

All in all, I'm all for palette knife technique. It suits my style and I love the finish.

I hope to do more on my larger canvases!




  

Thursday, June 2, 2011

'Lalit'.. Acrylic on Canvas Sheet A4

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A quick painting I made to gift to a young friend who is still a student, an IIM graduate. She is leaving the city tomorrow and I made this as a gift for her.

Due to shortage of time I used acrylic paints, so that it dries fast.

Hope she likes it.

I was humming raag Lalit when i was painting this and I associate this evening (though its an early morning raaga) and this painting with Lalit raaga.

For those who are interested :

Lalit is a raga in Hindustani classical music. It is commonly described as serene and devotional and is performed at dawn.

The swara (notes of the Indian musical scale) of Lalit put emphasis on the minor second (Re) and minor sixth (Dha), and include natural and sharp fourth (Ma), but omit the commonly used perfect fifth (Pa).(Wikipedia).
Link for song Badi dheere Jali from Hindi movie " ishquiya" in lalit..Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2deEik7kEcs




Sunday, May 29, 2011

Lotus Pond - Oil on Canvas Board12x 20 coms

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Output of a Plein Air session in Borivali National Park, Mumbai, India. It was very difficult to choose what to draw, as we were out in the open in nature and two of us zeroed down on these flowers in the pond.

This one took more effort than I thought it would take. There was too much foliage in the pond and to do an oil painting was a little daunting.

However, I got my moment of truth when two talented photographers  requested me to allow to take a pic of my work in progress.

This is a snap of the work in progress clicked by Kapil Pandya : (Well the clarity in his photo can be easily contrasted with mine!!!)


Snippets:

Borivali national park is an interesting place , teeming with hobbyists.

Photographers with impressive cameras, freaking out on the wildlife there.

Painters ( especially watercolourists) painting beautiful, fresh sceneries.

I saw two cyclists with two very impressive looking cycles, who had some snazzy gear to strap the cycles on to the car!

Some people with hockey sticks in bags..(hockey???).

My most enjoyable moment was the gorging I did on leaffuls of raw cut mangoes, cucumber, Starfruit, sold by locals there!!