A few snaps of the monsoon

In Bhubaneswar it does not rain. It pours. Monsoons is of great importance in Odisha. First, it controls the unbearable heat. It replenishes the water bodies and gives life back to plants and trees. Sometimes it also causes devastation in the form of floods. Whatever the case, it is eagerly awaited every year the rains have always been watercolorist's delight. Here are a few works from my monsoon inspiration this year. Hope you like them.

Rain and the City - V

Motion

15 x 21 inch

Rain and the City - IV

Cats and Dogs

18 x 22 inch

Rain and the City - I

Rain Riders

21 x 14 inch

Last of the Hampi series

I had to paint those temples if I was painting Hampi. I did a triptych (Officially my first one). I should have used warmer hues to stay true to the colors of the stones at Hampi. But I decided to go for the mood, which I could achieve in grays only. I had a choice between story telling and being true the physical appearance. As usual I chose the former.

I hope you enjoy these.

 

Triptych - Elements of Hampi : Earth I, II and III

24 x 12 inch each

Monsoons

Hi. I am a much relieved man now as my blog problem got sorted out. There was a script running on my blog which was automatically redirecting me to another site. Now that script has been removed and my blog is safe. :)

I have been thinking of doing a night rainy scene for sometime now. Monsoons have almost arrived and we are receiving pre-monsoon showers here every now and then. I have been observing the roads at night for quiet sometime now and finally thought of painting them. I just took my previous plein air painting of Bhoganadiswara temple and applied my observations for a night rainy scene to it. I had made a small sketch which looked good, but when it was done on a large scale like this one, it was just not having the same effect. I took some advice from my artist friend Ramkrishna and incorporated it in the painting. While doing that I got more ideas and added it. And that actually brought some life into the painting.

I have still not thought of a title for this. Can you suggest one??

By the way I'll be taking a one day workshop on Basics of watercolor on 20th and 21st of this month at Frazer town and Koramangala respectively. The details are here. The number of participants is limited to 10-12, so that the students can be given individual attention. So if you want to book a seat you must do it right away.

With that I'll sign off. Hope you all are having a great week.

Untitled

20 x 26 inch

Game Rain and Mood

Game Rain and Mood. Yes this is the title of this painting. I really could not get a better title. So just going with this. 

Last Friday evening we had a game of football (not the American one :)) and it started to rain. I guess it must be at least ten years since a football game in rain for me. It was really a lot of fun. As we were returning back it was getting dark. Sun had already set, but the far sky had some warmth. We were tired. Vehicles were slowly starting to put their lights on while the road was wet and slippery. A kind of dark and sombre mood had set in after all that thrill from the game. I had my moment of inspiration. On Sunday I painted this from memory.

I did not like certain things in the final painting. The car on the left of the painting could have been much further in the distance. The over all dark feel probably has got exaggerated more than necessary. Etc etc (as always). But when I see the painting it reminds me of how it felt that time. Which I think is awesome.

What do you feel about it??

Title - Game Rain and Mood

Size - 22 x 15 inch

Medium - Watercolor on paper

Short spell @ Church street

Title - Short Spell @ Church Street

Size - 22 x 15 inch

Medium - Watercolor on paper

Bangalore has a very strange weather pattern. In one day one can experience 3 different types of weathers. Hot scorching sun in the day followed by rains, followed by chilly nights. And since 2 weeks we are having rains almost everyday. In short spells though.. Rains in November..November rains.. Reminds me of Guns and Roses. :). Anyway here is to Bangalore rains.

The boon

The monsoons always brings happiness and more so for the farmer. That is when his prayers are answered.

Title - The boon
Size - 19.5 inch x 12.5 inch
Medium - Watercolor on paper

A city soaked

Every time I visited Ajay's blog I would see this photograph taken by him which looked like a painting. It was irresistible not to paint this, but since I had not painted a rainy scene before it was intimidating too. However I just went ahead and painted it.

The composition of the photo was great. So made only some minor changes in the painting. The biggest change was to increase the size of the dome and make people wear colorful clothes :). I hope I was able to do justice to the photograph.