A little piece of Goan beaches

I spent the last 5 days of 2015 lazing around in Goa and soaking up the sun in its amazing beaches. Was lucky to manage few works while lying on the beach bed. Hope you enjoy these.

En Plein Air at Aswem Beach, 29 Dec, 2015

9 x 12 inch

 En Plein Air at Baga Beach, 30 Dec, 2015

9 x 12 inch

En Plein Air at Aswem Beach, 31 Dec, 2015

9 x 12 inch

Quick sketch on Aswem beach

Happy new year

Wish you all a really great 2013. Hope you all grow even more this year.

I was on a vacation for two weeks and hence you could see no posts from me during this time. Moreover I too missed most of your posts. However whenever possible I had a glance at your blogs to find out what you were up to. And unlike me I find that most of you have been up to something or the other. I have not painted for about 20 days now. Feel very rusty. What I am posting now are three paintings of last year which I could not post. All three are beach scenes. The paintings are the first three of my Gokarna series. A few more will follow soon (whenever I pick up my brushes again. :)). Till then take care and have a great weekend.

Day end @ Kudle (Gokarna - III)

11 x 15 inch

Stepping out of Kudle (Gokarna - II)

15 x 22 inch

Stepping on to Om beach (Gokarna - I)

11 x 15 inch

Sketches from Gokarna Trip

Last weekend I was at Gokarna with a few of my friends. Gokarna is a small seaside town on the west coast of India. We stayed bang on Kudle beach. It was one of the most peaceful beaches I have seen and hence it was fabulous. We stayed there for the weekend only and I felt it was just too short a stay. While playing beach football, trekking from one beach to other, sea bathing, hogging, visiting famous temples I manged to squeeze some time out and do some sketches. 

On Saturday evening we witnessed a very beautiful sunset. While I was soaking up the amazing sunset I realized I did not have my camera. So I just tried to memorize everything that was creating the mood. The tones, colors, shapes, edges etc. When I got back I did a quick WC sketch of the sunset. 

I have got some photos all right. But still I am posting these sketches for you as I think they tell a better story than my photographs (as my camera is very slow and outdated and I never happen to click a picture at the right moment).

I am posting one picture that I had clicked of two kids playing on the beach and I really liked it.

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.

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