Pink

A portrait from a live model in Art Society of India. I forgot to carry my palette and hence had to make a hack with a tiny wrapper of a chewing gum box. Looking forward to the next session.

Sudden

A demo done on a sudden request , I enjoyed this session and learnt lots from it.
I have decided to call this "Sudden" since that was what it was!

A Demo

A social call to meet another artist buddy ended up in an impromptu demo and a musical fiesta. I had not expected that I would be felicitated with honour and asked to do a demo. I had not carried any painting tools or paints and as it happened all the artists and the students were water colourists. Luckily I got some oil paints and a piece of oil paper from one of the students .Managed to find a palette knife and ah! I knew I could do something! Truth be told, I was a little apprehensive but I guess the result was not so bad! Thanks once again to Gnyaneshwar Jagdale and Shailesh Verma, both stalwarts in their area of work for giving me the opportunity. I landed up singing 3 songs and a special one on request. All in all, it was a great day!The demo was in artist Jnyaneshwar Jagdale's Art classes in a  plush studio in Mumbai, India.

The lessons of 2016

2016 has been a very interesting year! One of the biggest breakthroughs in my painting journey came through this year with the nude sessions of Art Society of India.

It happened on two hot, humid months, on Sundays from May through to June in the office of the Art Society of India in South Mumbai.  

The sessions would start at 9:30 am and so you had to be there sharp at 9. There was no late entry allowed. The most challenging part was that there were no ceiling fans in the room where 12 artists along with the model were huddling and jostling for space with their easels and paint tools. Once the pose and lighting were discussed the model would take the pose and we would paint.

Very soon, I would be lost and not know whether the trickle down my hand is paint or sweat!!! A headache pill was a sure shot! 

The best part was that of the model. I was bowled over by the professional stance of these models! They would sit in the pose without battng an eyelid and retain the posture for about 20 minutes or so ! There would be long poses too, where they would take breaks only to come back to the same pose!

I learnt many lessons. Few were:

1) Perseverence

2) Concentration

3) Focus 

4) Glory

The most beautiful moment came when two of them were exhibited in India Art Festival and sold consequently!   

Can't wait to do this again! 

My Column on Gplus Feb 04 Issue

Gardens of heaven!

A photo of my painting 'Mahogany' had the honour of being adorned on an invite for a garden competition for schools in Delhi. What more could I want! It gives me a great feeling to be able to inspire nature with the very colours that were inspired by nature!

Mystery

Oil on canvas 

3 by 2 feet

Size does matter and how! I have been working on bigger canvases of late and it's been quite liberating. At the same time it requires a whole lot of paint and a fair deal of energy. My pebeo paints are over. Have squeezed the last blobs out literally and if I do not make a trip to town the next weekend, I will have to resort to sketches. I do have a few sketches promised to friends and maybe that's not too bad an idea. I have been working on floral abstracts and haven't been to the florist for quite a while! Let me know how you like this!!!