Sketchbook again

I thought of sharing some more sketches with you from my sketchbook. All these sketches are done either sitting in cafes, parks or even standing on the roadside. 

To be honest I never really liked sketching so much. I used to do it as a mandatory thing to really improve on my painting. But I must confess that gradually I have started enjoying it quiet a bit. Hopefully you enjoy these sketches too. :)

Sketchbook time

Hi there. Its been long since I posted anything from my sketchbook. I know many of you out there love to get a peek into other artist's sketchbooks. I too always look forward to it. 

These two sketches were done yesterday (15th August, Independence day of India) at a coffee shop. While I was sketching the gentleman below he realized in quick time that he was being sketched and exclaimed to me 'Oh looks like I am being sketched'! I dont know why but for a moment I felt like a thief who has been caught red handed by the police. But being a nice person he was he gave a nod for me to continue. Other sketches were just gesture studies of people who did not realize they were being sketched. :)

While I was just cleaning up my book shelf I found this abstract doodle I had done about 12-13 years back. Completely meaning less doodle, but thought it would be an interesting post.

Have a happy weekend everyone.

Loco

Three weeks back I had gone to sketch in Military memorial with my sketching group. I did not get much time there as I had other plans for the day. However I made some study sketches of this old train engine that was kept on display. Back in studio I did this small painting. 

I really dont do much of such paintings whereby I am painting an object or in other words still life (Though this is huge I guess it still qualifies to be a still life in natural setup :)). So its always challenging for me. Compared to landscapes where the mood is what I am striving for, here I am unclear about what is that I must strive for. Is it the light, the textures, the details... I really dont know. So I just go with the flow. And sometimes because of that the final output comes out completely unexpected.

What do you do when you are unclear. I would like to hear from you.

Have a great week ahead.

Loco

11 x 15 inch

Carnations

Finally.... I got some sunlight and could photograph my paintings from the workshop. These paintings were done from still life setup with carnations. After the demo for the first batch on 20th I realized that there were nine flowers in the painting. I decided to do nine flowers for the second batch on 21st also. I went a little too dramatic with the second one and finally that part did not seem to work. But over all I think both the demos went off well.

I hope you all are keeping safe and painting well. Have a great week ahead.

Nine Carnations - I

15 x 11 inch

Nine Carnations - II

15 x 11 inch

Workshop news

I had an extremely exciting weekend teaching workshop on watercolors to twenty very enthusiastic and very talented individuals. As it was an introductory workshop on watercolors the focus was on basic techniques and their application in a painting. The final painting of the workshop was done from a still life setup of carnations (lots of negative painting :)). Some amazing works came out from the students and I was very pleased with them. Here are some pictures from the workshop. I have not yet taken pics of the demo I did. I'll post them in next post. But as of now enjoy the works done by the students. Have a great day.

The Minimalists

A few days back I stumbled upon this web site called http://www.theminimalists.com/. Its a blog site of two people who are living the minimalist life style and share their experiences through the blog. Minimalism is a concept that enables one to live a happier and more meaningful life, by creating more, consuming less and contributing to others lives in a meaningful way. If is a great resource on the internet and if you find time I suggest you spend some time on this site.

Anyway coming to the painting now. I thought cows are the original minimalists and thought of painting them again. But this time all of them together. And keeping with the theme I used minimal color set. Just French Ultra, permanent Orange and Yellow Ochre. 

I thought the painting came out good, but I had a tough time photographing it. I have never been able to photograph French Ultra properly ever. How do you photograph paintings with french ultra. Do let me know.

By the way for the last painting I picked up the title 'Liquid Moon'. It was suggested on FB by a fantastic artist friend Bijay Biswal.

And yes there are just a few seats left for the workshop that I am taking coming weekend. So in case you have not yet registered do register quickly. Here is more info about it.

The Minimalists

15 x 22 inch

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