Red Berry Walk

After my Chikmagalur series I am taking a break with acrylics. No watercolor for last 7-8 days now. Just having a little fun with acrylics before any more tubes of my acrylic set dries up (4 tubes have already dried up by the way). I find taking such breaks with a different medium very useful and a lot of fun.

I did not start with a very concrete idea for this one. Just kept going with the flow. Changed the foreground and the tree 2-3 times. Finally stopped at the least unsatisfied point. Otherwise I may still have been painting this.

I'll be going with my sketching group for a weekend sketching trip to Nandi hills (about 40 kms from Bangalore) on Sunday. I am really excited about it. Hopefully I'll be able to get one nice work out of the trip. But more on that next week. You guys enjoy your weekend.

Red Berry Walk

21 x 15 inch

Acrylic on paper

p.s. This too is from my Chikmagalur inspiration. :)

Via Belur

This is my last one of Chikmagalur series. But this place is not exactly in Chikmagalur. On our way back to Bangalore from Chikmagalur we stopped at a place called Belur. It has ruins of a Hoayasala temple and the residing God is Channa Kesava (Handsome Krishna). I was blown by the workmanship of the artists who built this temple. If you happen to pass by Belur, make sure you stop and watch this poetry on stone. Find more about it here on wiki.

Coming back to the painting.. It was really tricky with all the darks and stuff. When I finished the painting I thought I pulled it off. But later when I took a picture and saw it on computer screen it did not look that great. I took another picture. And this also did not come out so good. But anyway I thought I'll post it.

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend and this one adds to your enjoyment. :)

Via Belur

Chikmagalur Series - VII

Malnad Sunset

Hi there. I have been absent from here for almost sizable amount of time. That is because I was having quiet a bit of failures in painting and was not having anything good enough to post. And then when I had something good enough I was not able to photograph it because of the weather here. Its been raining quiet a bit and is generally cloudy most of the day. My camera can click well only when there is sun light. 

Anyhow I took this picture today with whatever light available and tried to correct it to match the original as much as possible. Could not really wait for the clouds to clear up anymore. 

I have used quiet a bit of layers in this, which is not what I typically do, because I am not very patient. But with this I had to control my natural instincts and I guess it paid off well (patting my own back). :)

Malnad Sunset

Chikmagalur series - VI

15 x 22 inch

Posing

Hi there.. This is the fourth painting of my Chikmagalur series. When I started I thought this was going to be a rather simple painting. Very easy. Yes thats what I thought. And I started complicating it. I was in no time brought back to my senses by this medium called watercolor. 

Beauty of this medium is that nothing is easy, but everything can me made simple. :)

In my last painting I liked the central part and thought that only that could have also made a painting. So I made another painting, but changed the mood.

Have you done something like this before? Same painting or part of a painting painted differently. The hangover of the first painting was so strong that I just can not appreciate the new one. How have you felt?

Posing

Chikmagalur series - IV

22 x 15 inch

Last painting cropped  

New painting with different mood

Nesting Grounds

This is where we stayed for the first night at Chikmagalur. It was on the hill side below a coffee estate and was overlooking the valley. I had woken up early to see the sunrise here, but to my surprise it was all foggy and beautiful. I did not mind missing the sunrise. I have taken a little bit of artistic license while doing this. I wanted to capture that feeling of fog and suggestion of the valley as seen from the building. 

I was on a small break for a week. This was done just before I went on vacation. Cant wait to start painting again. A week is actually quiet a long time. :)

Have a great weekend.

Nesting Grounds

Chikmagalur series - III

15 x 22 inch

Almost there.. Somewhere

One the second morning of my weekend trip to Chikmagalur three of us woke up early and went for a walk. There was a small hillock nearby which we scaled. I clicked this picture then. Again it was asking to be painted. 

Almost there... somewhere

Chikmagalur series - II

22x15 inch

Chikmagalur - I

A couple of weeks back I made a trip to a place called Chikmagalur with a few friends on a weekend. Chikmagalur is a hilly area with lot of coffee estates. It was  peak of summers and not the best time to go to this place, but still it was a lot of fun. I had not carried my painting kit as it was only a 2 day trip, but I wish I had. However I took a few pictures and I'll be painting some of them.

I do a few sketches before every painting, which gives me an idea of the tonality, color etc before I make the final painting. But it also kind of ties me up a little. So for this series of paintings I decided not to do any kind of sketch and just paint. I want to see what happens and want to have the experience. This is the first painting of the series. As I am more used to preliminary sketches I was a little lost in some places here. But still it turned out okay.

I would love to hear from you about your thoughts on preliminary sketches. Have a great weekend.

On the way to Chikmagalur

Chikmagalur series - I

11 x 15 inch