Bye bye 2010

I guess this will be my last post for this year. Both these paintings are done from the photos I took in Goa. First one is on a normal watercolor sheet while the second one is on the sheet I have been using for last two of my posts.

The biggest achievement for me this year has been getting the experience of more than 100 paintings. And I would like to thank all of you once again for everything.

Wish you all a very happy Christmas and a great 2011.

Title - On the way to Arpora
Size - 14 x 10 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper

Title - Staying home today (too/two)
Size - 22 x 28 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper

CKP morning

This one is also done on the same paper as the last painting. I used very thin washes for this except for the dark parts. It was done in about 45 minutes and I enjoyed this one a lot as there were not much difficult shapes to take care of and I could just paint freely.

Anyway as the year is coming to a close I just thought I would like to thank you all for all your love, support, encouragement, critiques, comments, appreciation and stuff like that. All that has helped me a lot and kept me motivated too. I just wish I continue to get all of this in the future.

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU.

Title - CKP morning
Size - 14 x 20 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper

Staying home today

Title - 'Staying home today'

Size - 20 x 28 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper

The paper I used for this one is not a watercolor paper. It is a regular drawing sheet and has no texture at all. It is rather slippery. I am just experimenting on this paper right now as it comes very cheap. Rs 10 (less than a quarter of a $) per sheet. Most of the techniques either do not work or work only partially on this. But it is worth experimenting on this. I am posting WIP pictures of the painting so that you can get an idea how did I go about this one.

Pleasant surprises

The other day I accidentally came across some pleasant surprises and then PC too found out one for me.

I was covered in watercolor gallery blog. Click here to go to the site.

My blog was listed in top 50 inspiring art blogs in guide to art school site. Click here to go to the site.

My blog was also listed in top 50 watercolor blogs of 2010 at online graphics design degree site. Click here to go to the site.

Now wouldn't I be happy!! :)

Anyways leaving you here with memories of Goa.

Title - Really bad food shack at Arambol beach
Size - 11 x 14 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper

En Plein Air in Goa

Well I am back from my trip and thanks for all your wishes that I had got before going for the trip. I had a really great time. The beaches, sand, sea, beer, food,bike rides and the crowd was all great. But the best part was I met with many of my college and some of my school friends after a really really long time and that made the trip special. And I did manage to do some paintings in between all these.

All these paintings were done en plein air. Sitting in the cool shade of a beach umbrella surrounded by friends, sipping chilled beer and painting. Can I complain? :)

Actually it was very hot and hence the paper was drying up too fast. That posed a good challenge. All I could do was paint fast. So all these paintings were completed in about 45 minutes to an hour. And they are all around 14 x 11 inches in size.

Painting outdoors keeps throwing up a new challenge every time and that is why probably it is so exciting.

Day 1 - Rock on cafe on Vagator beach in north Goa.

Day 2 - Cheap seaside hotels at Arambol beach in north Goa

Day 3 - Soaking up some sun at Baga beach, north Goa. The couple went to take a dip in the sea as soon as I had started painting. I had to complete this from the instant memory I had created of the couple.

Day 4 - Beach, beer and a friend for company at Benaulim beach, south Goa

Takmachik

The place in this painting is Takmachik village in Ladakh. Alleys are always very nice to paint. And this one also had the perfect lighting along with very beautiful houses and those flower vases on the windows.

I'll be on a break for a week and hence will be absent from blogsphere. See you all after a week. Till then enjoy this one.

Title - Takmachik
Size - 22 x 16 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper
Photo - Sudakshmina Mandal

Apricots and Doodles

I did some experimentation once again. The paper I used for the first painting is normal cheap drawing sheets which are quiet smooth and have no texture. I did not use any pencil because I thought it was unnecessary as I was just doing a trial on the paper. It took about 30 minutes to complete. Though this paper does not reflect as much light as a proper watercolor paper, I did quiet like the end result.

The photo for this came from a friend which she clicked at Ladakh.

I have also posted some doodles from my sketch book.

Title - Fresh Apricots
Size - 14 x 10 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper
Photo - Sudakshmina Mandal

Painting vertical

For this painting I kept my board almost vertical on the easel and tried to paint. The idea was to see how it would be.

Well it was different, but I really cant tell how it was different quantitatively. I think that is because in case of this one it was not so different. But it did feel good.

Title - Sindurg Post
Size - 20 x 12 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper
Photo - Satyesh Naik

RimTaal

Rimtaal 1

Rimtaal 2

Sketchbook time

It has been a long time since I have posted anything from my sketchbook. Finally took a few pictures and here they are. Enjoy.

Color Scapes Gallery

Bangalore now has a new art gallery at Whitefield. Its called 'Color Scapes'. The entire gallery and the space surrounding it is very aesthetically designed. There is a lot of open space and it seems in some days there is going to be a small cafe there. So if someone is planning to spend some arty time there one can do it in leisure with some hot coffee for company. And it is conveniently located about a kilometer off from main Whitefield road opposite Herbs and Spices restaurant.

I am posting some pictures of the gallery.

Wondering why am I telling you all this? Well you'll be able to spot some of my paintings in the gallery. :)

Before I sign off a very very happy, safe and prosperous Deepavali to all of you.

Poolside Party

Tried a lot of different things in this painting. The longish canvas, subject (which I thought was very cute. Thanks again to Satyesh for the picture), a little gouche with watercolor etc. And I liked it and enjoyed it. Hope you like it too. Have a good day.

Title - Poolside Party
Size - 14 x 19 inch
Medium - Watercolor and Gouche on tinted sheet
Photo - Satyesh Naik

With or without you

A bullock cart is supposed to be pulled by bullocks. But bullocks seems to have deserted this man. So now its upto him to move his cart around. This rather peculiar moment was very well captured by Satyesh and you can see the post here. I found it really interesting and tried to focus on the man and his cart in this painting.

Title - WIth or without you

Size - 11 x 15 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper
Photo - Satyesh Naik

Somedays back Crystal cook had posted some of her high school work and dared everybody else to post theirs. Recently I got hold of the photo of one of my paintings from high school. One of my friends from school took this picture and surprised me with it. It was done when I was 13. Its oil on canvas. The canvas is quiet huge. I guess around 3 x 4 ft. I remember when I was doing this painting the canvas was as big as I was. :). This painting still hangs in the ante rooms of my school.

I had done quiet a few paintings while I was in school. I really dont know where they are hung now. I hope to keep getting pleasant surprises like this one. :)

Wish you all....

Hi friends. I wish you all a very happy Durga puja\Dussera. And hope this painting cheers you up too.

I am having a good time this Puja. I had been to Indian Ocean's concert yesterday and today it will be Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia and Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma together. Hope you guys are having fun too.

Title - Konkan Morning
Size - 11 x 15 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper
Photo - Satyesh Naik

Trying different stuff

Today I am posting 2 paintings in which my approach was very different compared to how I normally paint. It was a conscious attempt to break monotony in the first case and the second case the decision was taken on the fly.

This one is the outcome of the Niladri Kumar concert I had been to. I tried to paint quickly with really dark hues in an almost abstract manner. I am not sure how this has come out.

Title - The Zitarist
Size - 15 x 21 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper

I started this as usual. But when I put the first wash the paper behaved very unpredictably. It also dulled the color. It was one of those defective papers that you sometimes have in a pad. So I decided to paint quickly, which is not very natural to me. I am a bit of a lazy painter. It came out better than I expected with a good likeness.

Dad's portrait - II

5 down memories

This post by my wanderer friend talks about his childhood days. But it also brought back many childhood memories of mine. There is something about small nondescript railway stations in India which becomes an integral part of the lives of people around it. To sit and spend some time in such stations is an experience that is addictive.

In this painting I was trying to paint memories. Though it is single person's memory it is no different from the memories of so many of us.

Title - 5 down memories
Size - 11 x 15 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper
Photo - Satyesh Naik

Escape - II

This painting of mine reminded me a little bit of the Lord of the rings. But I thought the water was not as it would be in the Shire. There would be a a gentle breeze causing smooth ripples on the greenish water which would then reflect the golden sunlight to create a magical ambiance. So I thought of redoing the painting.

Though this did not come anywhere near what I imagined still it looked good to me. I hope you enjoy it too. By the way I have one last ticket to the Shire left. Anybody game? :)

Title - Escape - II
Size - 21 x 14 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper

Inspiration

About 3-4 months back I had come across this blog which looked very interesting. I did not have time back then to go through it and in due course of time I forgot about it (I am a busy person after all... LOL). Then it was a small coincidence that brought me back to the blog again and this time I started going through it. This is a travelogue which explores that part of India to which I belong. I found it so engaging that within 2 days I had read all the posts. Some of the posts were so well written that it kept taking back to my growing up days. And when you can paint such blogs do serve as inspiration.

The author of the blog Satyesh was kind enough to allow me to use some of his photos. This painting comes from this post of his. I have tried to capture the feel of a lonely little forest stream. Can you hear the water flowing down?? :)

Title - Untitled
Size - 14 x 19 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper

By the way I'll be there in Mysore participating in Mysore's first Chitrasanthe (art market) on 3rd of October. The venue is Najaraja Bahaddur Choultry near Metropole circle. If you are there you can drop by. It will be nice to meet you.

Portrait V - Smruti

Finally the final portrait of my first family portrait series is here. She is my youngest sister Smruti. Though I did overwork it a quiet a bit, but still I am satisfied with it because Smruti liked it a lot.

Portrait Four and More

This is my sister Smita. I kind of screwed up this one. I think I need to concentrate more. Anyways the title of the post says Portrait Four and More. So here is the 'More' stuff.

Have you ever experienced this feeling where nothing seems to exist. Not even yourself. The only thing that exists is pure bliss (using bliss for the lack of better words to describe the experience).

Today I attended a Sitar concert by Maestro Niladri Kumar. Sitar is a beautiful instrument and its beauty was brought to life by the maestro today. It was part Hindustani classical and part fusion concert. I just cant describe the experience of attending the concert. He also played Zitar (an electric version of Sitar which is invented by him). And to give him company there were some other great musicians. There are a lot of videos available on youtube. For starters you can try one fusion one here and a classical one here.

Music is the highest form of all arts and I feel blessed when I get to hear such great music.

Detour

A little detour from portraits that I was trying out. Actually this is a second level of detour so to say. Landscapes -> Portraits -> Landscapes. LOL.

After a very long gap I met up with PC to paint. Enjoyed good food cooked by his parents and wife and painting with him. The reference picture was originally on a calendar. It was great to be painting landscapes again. It gives much more freedom you see.

Title - Escape
Size - 15 x 22 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper

The event

I guess making a self portrait is quiet a event in itself for any artist. It was not so different for me. :). So here is my first official self portrait. I got a little carried away and ended up overdoing it. But perfection is overrated anyway.

What is on my head is called a phete. I had been to one of my friend's wedding at Satara, Maharashtra and everyone got one of these to wear. I was very fascinated by this and kept it on my head for the entire day.

Final cut

p.s. I worked on it a bit to remove some 'excess age' that has come into the portrait. And here is the final one.

Portrait - II

Here is the second portrait. The first one was my father and this one is my mom. I am very happy with this one. I think I'll make another portrait of my father. I am improving and that is exciting.

p.s. My sister says this one has more likeliness, but the previous portrait is better. All my excitement has vanished now. :)

p.p.s. If you do not already know Crystal Cook is giving away a free portrait. You can check out her blog here.

Portrait

I have been thinking of learning portraits for some time now. And what better way to learn than just doing it. So here is my first portrait. Its not a good portrait, but not a bad start.

Parked Free

Everyday as I go to the basement of my apartment I see this kiddie's bike parked (for free of course :) ). It has been raining now a days. And the pool of still water created a lot of interest in the scene. I have been thinking of painting this scene from a long time and finally I did. And I am glad that I did.

Title - Parked Free
Size - 15 x 19 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper.

This painting has sunshine, rain and a cycle and I cant help but write a few lines from a Hindi movie song.

"Give me some sunshine, give me some rain
give me another chance, I wanna grow up once again."

Trying is worth trying

Sometimes when I attempt something new it generally is not a very successful venture. But I find it a really good exercise to keep trying something new. It works as a good feedback mechanism and there is also that chance of stumbling upon something that I am completely unaware of.

So I guess trying is always worth trying. :)

Take II

Well I did try to do do this one again. Thought of doing it differently to keep myself interested. After completing it I think I learnt a lesson. And the lesson was no matter how bad the original piece is, it is still the original.