Daringbadi Day

Title - Daringbadi Day
Size - 15 x 22 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper
Photo by - Satyesh Naik

Once again my friend posted a nice write up in his blog with some great photographs and I was inspired again. The place is Daringbadi in western Odisha. This is the only place in Odisha that receives some kind of snowfall during winter. The people here live from and with the forest. This is a typical setup for a house whereby it would stand in the middle of a field near a Sal or a mango tree. Pumpkins are generally grown on the roof of the house while papaya is grown just outside the house. Such great eco-friendly living.

By the kitchen window

Title - By the Kitchen window
Size -22 x 15 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper
Photo by - Sudakshmina Mandal

In rural India where life still walks at its own pace kitchen serves as an important social place for women. It is also the place where family gets together for their meals. And hence it is generally a spacious and cosy place unlike the modern kitchens.

This painting was done in quiet a different way than my usual way. It was done in parts. I completed the upper left part first. Then the bottom part and then the upper right part. Those rays of sun made visible by smoke was done in the end. Hope you enjoy this piece.

A bad painting day

Title: SECMOL campus at Phey, Leh

Size: 15 x 22 inch

Medium: Watercolor on paper

Fisrt of all what is a bad painting day??

Sometimes there is something at the back of your mind which keeps troubling you at a sub-conscious level. And in such a situation (not necessarily) when you paint you never get a good feeling of the painting process. Somehow you start to feel that things are not going right in the painting. That puts you off further. And it starts a chain reaction. You start screwing up new things in the painting and your mood keep spiraling down till it hits an abyss. Suddenly from somewhere a voice starts repeating these words in your mind.... "You were never meant to be a painter". This is just one of many ways of having a bad painting day.

I had a bad painting day this Saturday. And why am I talking about it?? That is because such 'bad painting days' are bound to keep occurring in an artist's life. And when it occurs one has to learn to shut that voice and recover from it.

I could not sleep properly on Saturday night. On Sunday morning I called up home and friends and just had a small chat with everyone. Then I listened to my current favorite song for about 10 times in a loop. In the afternoon I watched one of my favorite films, 'School of rock'. Laughed my guts out at Jack Black's histrionics. In the evening I watched another film in a theater. And on Monday morning I was ready to paint again. The bad painting day of Saturday seemed like a distant memory. Then I went back and looked at my painting again. I found some problems with it, But it did not seem that bad anymore.

Sometimes those demons gets created in our head and try to break us down. I think in such a case it is best to take our mind off those demons and their silly voices. When you have ignored them for some time they just go away.

I am sure bad painting days happen to everyone. Some of them are realy really bad painting days too. But that is a part and parcel of the game. Isn't it??

Ideating at Baga

Title - Ideating at Baga
Size - 22 x 15 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper

In December last year when I was in Goa with my friends most of our discussions would have a central theme. And that would be deciding the place to have our next meal. We were having one such discussion on Calangute-Baga road one morning when I saw a small group of people having some discussion on the other side of the road. I wonder what they were talking about, but it surely made a nice shot.

Baba's beauties

Title - Baba's beauties
Size - 11 x 15 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper

This is yet another painting of my home back in Bhubaneswar. My father spends a lot of time taking care of those green beauties. Hence the name. The colors are a little bit too chic for my taste, but I thought the purple and yellows were making a good complimentary pair.

Some kinda test..

Title - Karlapat Bliss
Size - 11 x 15 inch
Medium - Watercolor and gouche on paper
Photo by - Satyesh Naik

Generally I plan my paintings beforehand. Compositional sketch, value sketch, and sometimes may be a watercolor sketch and all that. Its not a 100% plan, but yes there is top level plan and while I am painting the entire process follows the plan loosely. I dont exactly stick to the plan, but in spirit I go by the plan.

But sometimes once in a while I just test myself, whereby I just paint without any plan at all. No sketches at all. Sometimes no pencil also. Just color, brush and water. I dont know what am I supposed to test this way. May be its a spontaneity test. May be. But I dont know. Everything need not have answers. Many times in this process I surprise myself. And in most cases I do like the outcome because in the first place I started with no expectations at all. So this is also a 'make myself happy' kind of exercise. :)

Anyway this painting was also done without any plan. I just started directly with brush and color on paper and I did like the outcome. In my last post I felt that I have not been able to capture the feel of the place. In this I think I have captured it. By the way this place is also Karlapat wildlife sanctuary and the photo was given to me by Satyesh.

In my last post Crystal had motivated me to write what I like about my next painting and so here I go.

I think I managed to get the serene feel of the dense forest with a good overall looseness and lighting. So I am happy. Hopefully this painting cheers you up too.