Capturing Toronto

I am not sure how, but somehow I completely forgot about making this post. I would have done it about 50 days back had this not completely slipped out my mind. After all this was the first time I was painting outside India and that too the summer landscapes of Toronto. Summers are the best time to be in Toronto. Everyone is out enjoying the sun and the warm weather after the tough winters. Hence there is a buzz all around. I was there for a month and went out painting at every opportunity I could find. 

Here are some of the works I did and I immensely enjoyed doing these. And to add icing on the cake I happened to meet up a few artists just by pure chance. It was a joy to interact with them in that short time. I really cant wait to get back there and paint again. 

p.s The beer in Toronto was great too.

En Plein Air at St Lawrence Market

En Plein Air at Distillery District

En Plein Air at Harbour Front

En Plein Air at High Park

En Plein Air at Queen's Park

Chilika Explorations

About four months back I had made a trip to Chilika lake (again) with my family. We traveled on an open boat for about 3 hrs to reach a small island. The island had a small temple where people from the land came to offer prayers sometimes. We managed to cook our lunch on the boat which we devoured sitting under a tree in front of the temple. It was the migration season so birds from far away countries gave us company all the time. 

Among all this I was struck by the serenity of the majestic lake once again. After I returned for the last four months I have been trying to replicate the 'feel' on paper since then. I wont say I have been successful, but the journey has been good. Here are some of the works that came out of this journey.

Chilika Explorations - XI

20 x 28 inch

Chilika Explorations - VII

21 x 14 inch

Chilika Explorations - X

10 x 14 inch

Chilika Explorations - II

21 x 14 inch

Few WC sketches

Watercolor sketches

I dont always do a watercolor sketch before doing a painting. But generally I do it if I am not very conversant with subject or I have not been able to resolve the subject in mind. And sometimes I do it just for fun.

I never use fresh paper for these sketches. I use the unpainted side of paintings which have not made the cut (which gives me quiet a bit of paper to play with. ;)). And I do them quick and sometimes in a couple in parallel. And these are never bigger than half of a quarter sheet.

Here are few WC sketches. I'll post a few more in my next post.

Winter Light III and IV

Here are the last 2 from my winter light (mini)series. While the last two had a dominant color, these two are mostly about the grays. The second one was a challenge as I was trying to depict the very first light of the day which hits the earth even before sun is visible on the horizon. The light is trying to break out of the haze of the winter morning. Such a difficult light to capture. But I was happy with how it turned out.

Winter Light - III

21 x 14 inch

Winter Light - IV

14 x 10 inch

Winter Light Series

The other series along with working class series that I was working on is now done. The series is called Winter Light. The winters here are the best time in the year in terms of temperature and humidity. The temperature is usually between 25 degree to 12 degrees. The quality of light is drastically different from how it is in summers. Its quiet soft especially in the mornings. In this series I have captured the light of different phases of winter mornings. Here are two of them. The rest I'll post in my next post. Thank for viewing. 

Winter Light - I

21 x 14 inch

Winter Light - II

10 x 14 inch

Process

Finally. Yes Finally it is.. After a lot of coaxing by many of you I have finally managed to capture the WIP pictures of one of my works. And I am very happy to be sharing my process with you. When I say process it does not mean I follow the same process for every painting. Every painting is different and hence how it will be reached will be different. So the process that I am sharing applies to this painting only. 

This is the picture of the place. A quiet place with an imposing structure of a Hindu temple. A lovely atmosphere to paint in.

I usually do a few thumbnails and quick tonal studies before doing a painting. Here I just did sketching for about 10-15 minutes to get a feel of the place. I did not do any tonal studies as the idea was more or less clear in my head.

In the first age after initial drawing I went in for a warm under wash. Saw hints of  blues and reds in the foreground . So let some blues and reds mingle in in the foreground yellow ochre wash. I also distorted the perspective of the temple quiet a bit. This was done because I was predicting stiffness in the final outcome. So decided to play with the structure a little. Gave it a little 'gesture'.

In the second and most important stage I did a tonal block in of the major shapes. Transparent washes were used to block in. Note that I have made the color spire of the temple similar to the color of the temple. Otherwise I thought it would cause an unnecessary creation of a shape and clutter the painting. I wanted the temple to be a single shape. 

Now details on the wall of the temple have been done with dry brush technique. Note that there is much less detail in the back walls of the structure. 

Here figures have been added to complete the painting.

Back at home when I evaluated it I thought the figure was of same tone as the temple. So I darkened the figure. Also added the background tree on the top left corner. This foliage along with the figure maintains the green color throughout the painting, hence causing balance. The green color also compensates for the red of the temple as green and red are complementary to each other.

Plein air at Gada Khorda - 21 Dec 2013

10 x 14 inch

Thank you for viewing. I hope this is useful to some of you.

Have a happy Christmas and a great 2015.

Back to Hampi

Its back to Hampi again.

There were a few places and time in Hampi where I just got disconnected completely from my present world and was lost in the mysterious beauty of Hampi. I wanted to get that feeling in the paintings. So I deviated a little from my representational style and went more into a fantasy kind of style to see what can happen. And this is what happened. I hope you enjoy these.

Surreal Hampi I - Fields

10 x 14 inch

Surreal Hampi II - Vertigo

10 x 14 inch

Mysore Trip Post - VI

Date - 31st March 2014
Time - 4:30 PM

Mysore trip had ended. We were on our way back. I really did not want it to end. But all good things come to end anyway. Well thats what we thought. We took a detour to Bangalore University campus (which is about 15kms odd from Bangalore CBD) for a small break. And as the campus was nice we thought we could end our trip by sketching a little. As we were searching for a spot this coconut seller with his stack of coconuts caught my eye. I really loved the way light was creating a nice atmosphere around them. So immediately my paper and brushes were out.

We did not have much time as it was soon going to be dark. I was painting as fast as I could with leftover colors mostly and this was completed in 20 minutes only. And incidentally I liked it. 

So finally the trip ended with a piece that I liked. Waiting for the next trip now..

Plein air @ Bangalore University

10 x 14 inch

Mysore Trip Post - V

Date - 31st March
Time - 09 : 00 AM

It was our last day at Mysore and we were going to Chamundi hills to paint. The previous day evening we had made a quick trip to Chamundi hills to find a spot, where we could paint the next day as we did not want to waste time searching for a spot. And I had also managed to make a quick sketch, though most of it was done in dark as the sun seems to set too quickly on a hill.

When we reached Chamundi hills our spot was not quiet as good as it was the day before. The reason being the previous day we had seen the spot in afternoon sun light and today it was the morning sun. So now again we had to find a new place. After drving around for sometime we decided to settle down at this place, where we got a little shade and a decent enough view.

I usually paint quarter sheets outdoors, but Madhu encouraged me to go for half sheet and he passed a Langton half sheet to me. the scene was complex. the sun was rising fast. Not to mention the wind and on top of that half sheet. It was going to be difficult and it was. I struggled quiet a bit and soon the sun was beating down hard. We planned to return with unfinished works. Later in the studio I completed it. 

We were back in the hotel and after a little freshening up we were on our way back to Bangalore. Mysore trip had ended, but not with a satisfactory work.

To be continued............

En Plein Air at Chamundi Hills, Mysore 31st March 2014

14 x 21 inch

The sketch done in dark

Back from Mysore Trip

I made a trip to the heritage city of Mysore last weekend with fellow artist Madhu Kumar. Mysore is at a distance of 140 kms from Bangalore. We started very early on Saturday and were back in Bangalore on Monday evening. Mysore is a very beautiful city. Mysore is known for monuments like the Mysore palace, Chamundi Hills, KRS Dam and Vrindavan Gardens etc. But the artist's eye sees much more than that. Mysore was simply stunning. We were surely spoilt for choices, when we started painting. I felt like a greedy child who was left to swim in a ocean of candies, and he did not know where to start from.

The only let down was the weather. It was too hot and in the afternoon we had to stay indoors and could not paint during that time. But otherwise it was a great trip for learning and exploring my creative side further.

One thing that I learnt was that such trips with fellow artists are a great time to learn and share. As painting is the only thing that everyone has on their minds, it creates great energy, focus and intensity. It surely brings out certain aspect of an artist which otherwise may have been laying dormant. And moreover the discussions, critiques etc by other artists is a great value add to one's learning. I am really looking forward to more such trips in future.

And couple of days and half was no way good to be in Mysore for. One needs at least a couple of weeks to do some justice to the beauty of Mysore.

I'll be posting the works in the coming weeks, when I photograph them. Till then I'll leave you with a study from my trip and another plein air work that I had done a couple of weeks ago.

Plein air at RMZ Infinity 23 march 2014 - I
12 x 9 inch

Study at Srirangapatna (20 kms from Mysore)

Thats me painting on Chamundi Hills

Compilation of Madu and my works at the end of the trip

Memories from Ramnagar

Two months back I went for a sketching day to Ramnagar (about 60 kms from Bangalore) with two of my sketching buddies. We spent the entire day travelling, sketching and enjoying the beauty of rural India. The divided sheet is one of the things I brought back from Ramnagar. It is fun to paint on a divided sheet.

Later I decided to do a big one for one of them, which is posted here. I am going for a 3 day sketching trip to Mysore, which is a heritage city. I hope to soak myself in the beauty of Mysore and hopefully bring back something worthwhile from there too.

Wish you all a very happy weekend.

Smoky Morning at Ramnagar

18 x 24 inch

Hampi series continues

I have to blame it on Facebook. It is so much easier. It makes me lazy to come here and post. But I am not giving up. Though not as frequent as earlier, I have made it a point to come and post here. So many of my friends are not on FB and also many of my artist friends do not post on FB. So I am not going to miss out on the art work here for sure. :)

So my Hampi series continues and these are the next three in the water series. I guess I'll put a full stop to the water series and move on to something else. Till then I hope you enjoy these.

Elements of Hampi Series: Water - IV

"Transport"
10x14 inch

Elements of Hampi Series: Water - III
"Music"
21x14 inch

Elements of Hampi Series: Water - II
"Tungabhadra"
14x21 inch

After a long break

Its been long. Really long. Almost two and half months. A lot happened during this time. I had to move out of my old place. So I had to search for a new place, move in there, setup my new studio and do all that stuff which end up taking too much time. 

Anyway now that I am back, hope to catch up with everything that is happening in blogosphere. And the updates from my side is that another book just got published for which I did the cover. Its available in stores now. Here is the flipkart link.

Cover Illustration for "She Was"

I have started my new next series. And this series will be on Hampi, where I had been about six months back. This is the first one of the series. Hope you enjoy this..

Elements of Hampi Series: Water - I
Title - Still
Size - 10x14 inch

Coonoor

Hi. Its been some time since I have posted a new work here. I have been a little busy (Could not have come up with any worse excuse than that). And mostly I have been lazy (Now I am telling the truth). :)

I have not been painting well enough recently, which also means that I am stuck in a plateau and if I just keep at it then at the end of this phase I would have a taken a step higher (That is real positive thinking I guess). A couple of decent enough works still have come out in this phase which I thought were okay to post. I hope you like them.

To all my friends across the globe, A Very Happy Christmas. Ho Ho..... :)

Coonoor - I

11 x 15 inch

Coonoor - II

11 x 15 inch

Muvattupuzha - VII

It has been a long drawn series. And it comes to end with this one. Presenting to you the last of Muvattupuzha. Hope you enjoy this.

Muvattupuzha - VII

11 x 15 inch

Muvattupuzah - V

Here is the fifth in the Muvattupuzah series. The quality of light in this was something that I would call as damp light. A feeling of wetness and an ambient light when the sun has gone behind the clouds. And the foreground lacking light almost completely. 

I feel I could have done better. But still I am happy with this one.

Muvattupuzah - V

20 x 16 inch

Muvattupuzah - III

Hi there. After the small detour here I am with my Muvattupuzah series. This is the third in the series and I could not really think of a title for this one. All suggestions are always welcome.

Muvattupuzah - III

22 x 15 inch

Muvattupuzah - II

Here is the second painting of my Muvattupuzah series. Its the painting of the same place as in the first painting, but from a different angle. In the last painting I had blown up the house a little bit to show off the tiled roof, but in this I have scaled it down a little bit to make the figures noticeable. Artistic license you see. :)

Hope you enjoy this one. I am off to my next one in the series. Have a great week.

Muvattupuzah - II

The pineapple farmer

11 x 15 inch

Muvattupuzah - I

My next series is going to be on this quaint place in Kerala called Muvattupuzah. Its a small hilly town with 5 rivers (though I got to see only one), lots of vegetation and beautiful people. I was smitten by this place. So series on Hampi will have to wait. :)

Muvattupuzah - I

The pineapple farm

15 x 22 inch

From Nandi hills

The trip to Nandi hills with pencil jammers last Sunday was some experience. The bus that we had hired seemed like the slowest bus around and took forever to reach the hill top. Sometime it felt like the bus would start rolling backwards on those hilly roads. But anyway we reached our destination around 10:30 AM after a hearty breakfast on the way. There was a big surprise waiting for us there.

Strong winds were blowing across the hill. It was cloudy and was drizzling intermittently. Fortunately we found a covered place overlooking the hill side where we painted. But we had to keep running for our boards and palettes  as they flew off many times while painting. It was some experience I tell you. The scene that I painted was very difficult and I was not able to resolve it well enough. So got into some unnecessary details. But I guess I could get the cloudy and windy feeling in the painting.

After lunch we came down and visited a beautiful temple which is around 1300 years old. It was the Bhoga Nandiswara temple and the residing deity was Shiva and Parvati as you would have guessed. Unfortunately we were not allowed to paint there as it was a protected site under archaeological dept of India. But some of us were negotiating with the authorities to allow us to sketch there. While they were doing that I quickly managed to sketch the scene. Later on when I came back I finished it at home. Though I could not continue painting there it was a great experience visiting the temple. It was so beautiful and peaceful. If you go to Nandi hills anytime make sure to take out sometime to visit this place.

All in all it was a great day of painting and learning.

En plein air @ Nandi Hills, 16 June 2013

11 x 15 inch

En plein air @ Bhoga Nandiswara temple, 16 June 2013

11 x 15 inch