Synergy

Oil on Canvas with palette knives -A4 Size

(Sorry Pic clicked with mobile phone!!!)

Colours of life! The sum of the parts is always greater than the whole! This whole didn't seem as easy as it looks. As I mentioned in my last post, my camera is with my friend, and till the time she returns from her trip, I am at the mercy of the cell phone!!!:) 

It needed  a planned approach and at the end of the exercise, my palette looked like this:

It's the only mess I love to clean by the way! Scrape, clean and wipe!

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.!!!!

Nicholas Pegu- A feature

If you think this is just another innocent looking teenager, think again! Behind this simple exterior lies a brilliant artist, who has shown his artistic prowess and maturity beyond his years.

             







                 Nicholas Pegu

Nicholas Pegu,all of 17, who hails from Jonai in Assam, has just appeared for his 10^th Board exams from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Bishnupur, Assam and is the son of Apurba and Rina Pegu.His work comprises mainly brilliant watercolours and sketches, which take your breath away!

Nicholas says he drew right since kindergarten, but started drawing more seriously when he reached the eighth grade. In 2009 he came across painter Milind Mulick's book 'methods and techniques- opaque colour'. The journey started from there. He was a second 'guru' for him as, even though it was not a personal coaching, his book did the job. His mentor , however,to whom he is indebted forever, is Jyoti Prasad Borah, who encouraged him from then onwards and has been forever ready to help and guide him .      

         

Nicholas draws inspiration from nature and mostly paints landscapes. He mostly paints from imagination and rarely uses references. Most of his work has been in A3 size due to time and resource availability constraints. Another fact is that art material is not readily available in his home town, but Nicholas has learnt to work around these constraints and do his best with whatever is available.

Artwork by Nicholas - Water Colour:

                                              

He says he has found immense support and encouragement from his parents and his  school and teachers have also been very supportive. He was involved in a Mural painting project from school, which was pretty challenging!

When most students struggle to find time for studies, how does Nicholas manage his time between his studies and a serious hobby? The answer , he says is simple. He does art in his free time, meaning he has found a working balance between his study time and art time. One does not have to interfere with the other!

Once, while browsing water colour websites on the net, Nicholas came across the works of International Water Colourist Nicholas Simmons ( Namesake… irony!) and he was awestruck by his work. Consequent networking with the artist through facebook helped him associate with the artist. Simmons helps him out with suggestions and guidance whenever required and Nicholas says he has learnt a lot from him. Each and every suggestion he gives is an invaluable resource. As I am writing this, I recall Nicholas calling me excitedly one day to inform me that Simmons sent him an autographed promo photo !!!!! It was a day of achievement ! Nicholas (Pegu) hopes that  someday at  some point in life, both the Nicholases can meet in person!!!

Nicholas has won a second prize in the International Painting Competition held by Charu Castle Foundation and a few other prizes in other painting competitions . Over and above this, he has also designed some book covers.

Book cover done by Nicholas Pegu

Nicholas hopes to have a career in fine arts eventually and right now he is focused on his drawing and painting practice.

Apart from Art, he also has a hobby in singing and likes to play cricket. 

Nicholas is an inspiration to the youth of today. Sheer dedication and passion for art has made him achieve a lot at a  very young age. I wish him the very best for a successful career in Art and hope to see his name among the big artists.  

Pomeceous

Oil on Canvas

10inch x 10inch

This painting was back breaking. I had painted a similar apple two years back. A friend of mine wanted that painting but I didn't have it anymore with me. So I had to make another one.

The challenges were in motivating  myself to re-paint a similar still and trying to make the arrangement different so that there is no clash with the older one. I juxtaposed the apple with some small grapes and focused on perspective here, as I wanted the apple to dominate the still-life. This white plate and the knife belong to my kitchen. 

I had got so used to palette knife, painting with a brush was a challenge after a long time. This one called for very neat finishings and accuracy. I had to move on and off from my easel to the floor and back to get it right and finally I am done!

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.