May you all grow

Wishing you all a great year ahead. I hope it brings you growth. Material, intellectual and emotional. May you all break free from the lure of darkness and take the stairs that leads you towards light. Keep the faith.

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.

And I would also like to thank you all for being the great motivators that you always have been and having more faith in me than what I have in myself.

BIG THANK YOU TO ALL.

Title - See you soon

Size - 24 x 17 inches

Medium - Acrylic on stretched canvas

Inspiration - Devdutt Pattnaik's writings

Khairi

Khairi was a angry, confused and petrified cub when she was handed over to the forest conservator of Similipal Late Dr Saroj Raj Choudhury on October 5, 1974 at Jashipur. She was aggressive and was gnawing her claws at everything. But Dr Choudhry knew exactly what to do. He imitated the sound of a mother tigress and within no time the little cub was feeling at home. Thus startred the legend which were to be told and retold in every household in Odisha. It was a legend about forest conservator who dared to risk his life and went beyond the call of duty for a tigress he considered his very own.

Dr Choudhry would record each and every move made by Khari and all the knowledge that he gathered is used today for the conservation of the king of the jungle. And the pug mark based method he invented is used today for tiger census.

Khairi passed away prematurely at the age of six and half years and Dr Choudhry passed away soon after that in grief. But even today one can hear Khari roar in the forests of Similipal for a legend never dies.

This painting is dedicated to Khari, the princess of Similipal.

p.s. You can watch some rare footage of Khairi with Dr Choudhry and Nihar Nalini Devi (foster mother of Khairi) here.

Title - Khairi - Princess of Similipal

Size - 22 x15 inch

Medium - Watercolor on paper
Photo courtesy - Satyesh Naik

Cityscape

Finally I managed to paint last Sunday and I was feeling on top of the world. This was done en plein air at Ulsoor lake. There was kayaking and canoeing competition going on on the othet side of lake. I could not see it from where I was sitting. Probably I had to buy a ticket for that.  LOL.

A two week gap without my brush in hand seemed like ages. But I am getting back now. :)

En Plein air @ Ulsoor lake 11 Dec 2011

Size : 15 x 11 inch

Medium - Watercolor on paper

p.s. I have started working on my second ever (first ever was done two years back) acrylic work. I'll share it when it is done. I am excited because I dont know how it is going to turn out. Here is the line drawing of this. And it is already titled 'See you soon'.

Sketches

Most of my watercolor sketches end up getting lost as they are done on bits and pieces of paper. So some time back I bought some paper, cut it up and made a watercolor sketchbook so that these sketches, studies do not get lost. And guess what!! It has woked big time.

I thought of just quicky posting some of my watercolor sketches, which have later gone on to become bigger paintings. These are about 7x9 inches in size.  Mostly they were all done within half an hour to get a tonal/color composition going. And painting for each has already been posted in my blog before. I am sure it will be interesting to see the sketch and compare it with the painting. And it will be interesting for me to know what you think.

 Click here to see the painting

 Click here to see the painting

 Click here to see the painting

 Click here to see the painting

 Click here to see the painting

 Click here to see the painting

Outdoor works

I have not been painting since last two weeks and it is starting to get to me now. Firstly I was away and now when I am back there is loads of work piled up and it is getting difficult to manage some painting time. Till I paint my next piece I thought I'll post some of the plein air works I have done recently. Hope you enjoy them.

 At NGMA, Bangalore

 At Museum Canteen, Cubbon Park, Bangalore

At Berhampur island in Chilika lake, Odisha