'Red and White'

Oil on Canvas with palette knives

34x45cms

When you want a pretty picture and some bright colours, just paint a landscape!I used a myriad of colours here. Though my palette is getting limited these days, I let my hand lead me here. I reached inside my bag of tubes and blindly spread colour.It was almost like a random sampling method!!!:) I dipped into my bag, looked at the colour and decided where it should go...I decided to use some blues and mauves here on the grass! If we squint hard at landscape scenarios, we can see these colours reflected and that's what I have tried to do here. However, I have been squinting a lot these days while driving or when travelling in public transport, just to absorb and record the colours I would use in my paintings later! This is great for the art but am not too sure what's the impact on fellow travelers and passengers! But then who cares!

Littoral

Oil on Canvas with palette knives A4 Size.

There is more to this than meets the eye.We set out on a Sunday morning to paint some grand Hiranandani buildings, in Powai ( Mumbai, India). Just as we were setting up our easels, came security guards, who demanded some permission. Having no time to waste, and the sun coming up steadily, we decided to move base to the already much explored Powai lake garden. Well, I'd already painted the reflections of Renaissance, IIT and the boats. Also the Hiranandani Silhouette and insides of the park. Only thing left for me to paint was this building which I think may be the Ramada. Well, I couldn't complete the entire painting on the spot and did a skeleton. I had to do it back home, from memory. For those who are new to Powai, It's worth a visit, this garden. The lake shores look pretty with the Gulmohur trees bleeding here and there, contrasting with the fresh green of the trees!

Anisotropy

Oil on canvas. A4 size.

Just when I'd declared the chemical series over ( Allotropy, Amorphy and Entropy), a friend of mine wanted something similar, but with the colours of fall. Well, there I was again... recreating the scene! I have exploited this scenery to the maximum possible extent. With this I declare this series officially closed. Sealed!

My camera is with my friend , who has gone on a trip. I waited for some days to upload this, but she's still travelling and  couldn't test my patience anymore! this is clicked with my cell phone and a better photo will follow later of course!:)

The Chemical Series, put together :

 Allotropy

 

 Amorphy

 Entropy

Anisotropy

The first two are with a friend and the second two are with another. Both wanted a couple to be hung together on the wall!Declared over. Case shut.!!!!

Morning Glory - Oil on Canvas

A4 with palette knives

A palette knife composition done on the spot from Powai Jogger's park, near the lake. I tried to capture an impressionist work of the reflections of IIT Powai, on the lake. These buildings look beautiful , casting long reflections on the pristine lake.

It was an early morning exercise. There were interesting things happening in the park.

There were kids learning some dance classes ( looked like some modern moves), in the garden house there. There were serious walkers and joggers there.
There was a group of chattering ladies, who seemed to have taken a sunday morning off from their husbands, kids and cooking. They looked excited.

Of course after a while, most people stopped whatever they were doing and started joining the group of curious watchers , interested in our painting progress. We painted near an open air ampitheatre today, so there was ample space for them to watch my work in progress.

For all those who came in late to Powai, this park is beautiful, clean, serene and very well maintained. It's worth a morning walk and worth taking some time off for one-self. There were interesting subjects to sketch. One guy was sitting with a bunch of papers and a bottle of water and struck a very sketching friendly pose. But, i stuck on to my oils and knives and finished this work Oil painting en plein air is messy, or I havent Iearnt the right tricks. because I was covered with oils and paints by the time I was done.

Some snaps of WIP:

Afloat

Acrylic on Canvas- A4 size

This is an output of a Sunday morning Plein Air session. However, the painting (verb) behind this painting wasn't as tranquil as this painting looks here on this post! I ventured out with some regular plein air water colourists this morning. As oils could be cumbersome for plein air if you didn't have the right equipment, I decided to carry my acrylics with my palette knives. I had carried two brushes for priming the canvas before starting the painting.

The staggering beauty of the lake hit us when we reached the spot from the back end of the lake from near Renaissance Hotel ( from Ambedkar garden). The lake always holds me in awe and I had been wanting to paint these boats with reflection for over a year and was over-excited that I was finally going to do it.

I was mentally brandishing my knives and feeling them sliding over the canvas. But, as I was to discover, the palette knives did not agree with acrylic paints at all. The paints wouldn't get mixed properly, the colours were different and they dried into lumps the minute I put them out on my palette. For the first half an hour, I struggled to find a hold over the paints and then finally decided to resort to the only two brushes I carried, of which I could use only one, as the other was too big for any kind of detailing. So I actually worked out this whole painting with a single brush and finally have this!

I cheated a bit on the colours of the hanging curtains on the sides , as well as the stuff on the boat and the wheels, to bring in colour harmony. This was also to bring in a painterly touch.

Well, I really missed my oils today and my knives of course. "Well", said I to my oils,."Oils, oils! Acrylic was just a practice session, just a short fling, which I used only to understand painting better, so that I can love you more!" I have only come back to my oils with more love, more longing and more gusto! It takes a bit of what is not regular, to understand what is regular!   

Learning:

Oil painters should stick to oil paints.

Acrylics do not have the versatility for plein air. If you want to work with palette knives, it is better to work on flowers or still life if using acrylics. 

Always carry substitute media ( pencils/sketchbooks) when you go on a paint- out.

Powai lake is beautiful, with the back-drop of the Gorgeous Hiranandani skyline!

Titian Trees

18 x 16 inches

Oil on canvas with palette knife

A palette knife composition started on a boring sunday and completed on a happening weekday. I felt dull that day and wanted to brighten my evening. Autumn was something I was dying to paint. Out came all the Titian colours- vermilions, ambers , lemon yellows and the burnt siennas.This is drawn from imagination and this is the result- a mess of  brights and bolds! Just for those who mayjust think Titian is a hair colour, the association originated from Italian Painter Titian, who was known for his paintings of red haired women.

I was first introduced to this word when I started reading Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene, where the chief protagonist Nancy had Titian hair. Not until very late did I know the origin of the word and thought it to be a colour.

Commorancy- Oil on Canvas

A4 Size

I had to live up to my last post, written about an hour or so back. I fished out my paints and canvas and of course my palette knives and did this quick painting. I mean to do a few landscapes now. They have universal appeal and are good as gifts. I just gifted a small painting to a friend of mine who is going away. The look on her face was so motivating for me!

Habitats and dwellings always catch my fancy. Humans live in the real jungle as well the concrete jungle, and beautifully so, bringing a sense of regularity and timeliness to the setting! Looks like I am back, as my palette still has paints and I better use it tomorrow if I don't want to waste it!:)
A personal appeal:


Please take a look  at this video of my family friend Dr. Ashok Kembhavi who runs the Mumbai Marathon every year. His story is no ordinary story. He is an inspiration! This video is made by  Sushi Karnik.
http://youtu.be/C4qw-_niZ40

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.  

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?

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.

Over the top-Oil on Board, 35 x 45 cms

A landscape after a long time. This is done from imagination, with wet-on-wet technique.After observing other artists' works and reading through material, I have understood that wet-on wet is a good technique , provided you know how to manouevre it and bring it to a satisfactory finish. This image is a combination of imprints in my mind about similar sights I saw in Shillong, Meghalaya.

Water Colour- Village scene

A water colour I tried out on hand made paper.

Konkan green-Oil on canvas-18" x 20"

This is painted from a snap of the Konkan, given by a friend of mine.

Kakinada- watercolour

On one my recent work trips to Kakinada, a small town in Andhra Paradesh...the place was looking very beautiful. The air was fresh, and the coconut trees were lush and the paddy fields were green. I cannot do justice to the natural beauty of the place in my painting, but this is a representation of the scenes I saw . Water colours are not my scene...but they at least help me recreate quick paintings of things and places I connect to artistically.The huts are very different, made out of dried coconut and palm leaves .

" Field day "- water colour

My mind is seeking quieter "pastures".I painted this today from memory.I pass these paddy fields on the way to work . I saw something exactly like this today , on the way from my office bus. It was such a stark contrast to the busy traffic on the highway parallel to these fields. I don't know where my painting will lead me but as of now, it has surely become a weapon against stress! My own Yoga substitute!

"Village visions"- water colour practice

Am facing two challenges with water colours..A) Am not not able to get the vibrancy in colours

B) Am not able to blend and make colours "wash" into each other naturally...But try and try till you succeed is my motto!

" Lonely at the top" Water Colour Practice

Water colour painting is Tough!

Reflection

Painted this one for my friend Malti

This was painted almost two years back. I was new in Mumbai and used to visit Malti a lot and my daughter was studying in boarding. She gave me a postcard and told me that this was a house in a village in Sweden that she had visited.She wanted me to paint it. She had seen me sketching on bits of paper here and there and i mentioned that I had done a few oils back home years back.She said I can paint this for her and she would be very glad.The day I gave her the finished painting(which took some time as those days I was travelling a lot at work) , there were tears in her eyes.She was reminded of the days in Swedebn when she had gone sight seeing.This is a picture of my painting on her wall in her guest room.