I was tagged by my artist friend Crystal Cook on something called as the 7-links project, whereby I am supposed to decide and talk about the following and also tag 5 other friends.

Your most beautiful post
Your most popular post
Your most controversial post
Your most helpful post
A post whose success surprised you
A post you feel didn't get the attention it deserved
The post you are most proud of

First of all thank you Crystal for tagging me. This post was very tough one. I had to look at all my posts and then decide on each one out of so many posts. But here they are finally.

My most beautiful post
My mom's portrait...


My most popular post
This was a tough one. I mean I really did not know how to pick. Based on the number of comments I received or the content of the comments probably. I finally picked this..

My most controversial post
This one was the toughest. I think this should qualify..


My most helpful post
It has got to be the first post I made. It got started me on a journey that has been more than fulfilling.

A post whose success surprised me
I was painting after a gap. I was not confident. A block kind of thing you know. My hands were not moving properly. And this painting resulted. Though unsure of posting it I still did post it as I had nothing else to post. And of course I was surprised. In fact that is the painting I later started to like and was the first painting to be sold in my recent exhibition.



A post I didn't get the attention it deserved
This was a painting which had gone according to the plan. The washes were just as I wanted it to be. The feel, just as I wanted it to be. And moreover I thought I had been able to capture the essence of tribal living, which was closer to nature. Here it is..



The post I am most proud of
This one was probably the easiest of all. I have been an ardent follower of Indian Ocean and I wanted to make a painting of them after Aseem Da passed away in 2009. But I did not know how to capture the essence of each of them. For this I kept watching their videos, kept sketching from it and took a long time on this process before the final composition came through with each of their personalities coming across. So here it is again....Indian Ocean...


And now its time to tag five friends who have not yet been tagged (hopefully). And they are
1. Ramesh Jhawar
2. Kathy
3. Liz
4. Kathryn Ragan
5. Pat

Thank you

Opening of the show by artist Mr J S M Mani

I also lighted one of the lamps. :)

Some visitors

My best visitor

A lot of clicking happened during the show

Friends from my workplace also visited

I made some new friends too

An article in a local newspaper

My first solo exhibition has come to an end and I want to start this post by thanking you all for your wishes, for coming down to the show, your appreciation and critiques, for filling up my visitor's book, for .... well for everything actually.

The show was great. I had visitors almost at all times during all five days and most of them enjoyed my works and some of them did stop by to say hello and leave a comment for me. I got to meet many seniors, super seniors and contemporaries in art field and it was a pleasure interacting with them. There were some interviews with newspaper and TV channels too. I hated the TV channel part though. I was just so uncomfortable in front of the camera. LOL. There were some inquiries from some other galleries too. And yes I did manage to sell a few paintings too. So over all it was an amazing 5 days and I can only be thankful to everyone for everything.

I have not been in touch with my fellow bloggers during this time. And with a little follow ups to do after the show I think I'll be out of touch for a few more days. So I apologize for that. Here are some pics for you all.

Invitation

Hi friends. I hope you are all doing well. Here is the formal invitation to all of you for my first solo exhibition. It is a big moment for me and I hope that you will make it special by dropping by. Here are the details of the show.

Title : Explorations of the watercolor kind
Date: 22nd July - 26th July 2011
Time: 11 AM to 7 PM daily
Venue: Gallery 2, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat, Kumarkrupa Road, Bangalore
Preview: Please click here to see the preview

In case you need more information please drop me a mail or just give me a call. Have a great day..

A painting and the poster

Title - Arrived or Moving??
Size - 14 x 22 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper
Photo by - Satyesh

Last Sunday I did this painting and was using Indian handmade paper after a long time. The paper has a good texture and can take any amount of punishment. It has a few drawbacks too. But anyway I was painting very freely and confidently on this one and finished this painting in about an hours time. Really enjoyed doing this.

Unfortunately I'll not be taking this one for my exhibition as I may not be able to get it framed in time. But anyway I am also sharing with you the poster for my upcoming show. Hope you like it.

Sold..

Diputacion Street

Begona Basilica

Tug Boats

I just wanted to share some good news with you all. I have sold 4 paintings in Bilbao, Spain for a future gallery project called BETA PICTORIS. These paintings were made for the project and are actual places in the city of Bilbao. I also sold one painting that I had done earlier this year. You can see that one here.

I hope you all are having a great week.

Here is the painting

Title - At Pune university
Size - 15 x 11 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper

Cropped image

Here is the painting, the sketch for which was posted in my previous post. What do you think?? The sketch was done in about 5 mins without much planning. Only the tonal values were planned and warm/cool areas were being tried out. In the painting almost everything was planned. May be around 80% of the painting was planned while in the sketch only 20% was planned. And the painting took about 1.5 to 2 hours. I would like to know your opinion on how the painting compares with the sketch...

And I cropped the image to get the motorcyclist in focus and I kinda liked it. So posting that too. :)

By the way, preparations for the show is going according to plan as of now. Keeping my fingers crossed. I shall be getting the invitees and posters etc printed this week. I think I have decided on my final 30 paintings, which I'll be displaying, unless of course I end up doing a masterpiece in the next few days. LOL.

Happy painting to all.

Some Sketches and a Video

Watercolor sketch of a painting to be

Contour drawing (without lifting the pencil from paper) - Anthony Martin getting wicket of Suresh Raina in recently concluded one-day series in West Indies.

Another Contour drawing - My sister having a really nice nap.

I have not painted much since last week. So nothing really worthwhile to post. In such situations generally my sketchbook comes to my rescue. So here are some sketches from my sketchbook.

And yes a video. I made a small video as a trailer for my upcoming show. Have a look. Share it with your friends if you like it.

Click here to watch the video.