Math

The title is not Math as in mathematics as most would think. Math (in Hindi and Odia) generally means a place where holy men (Sadhus) stay. This is a math in my village Bhusandpur in Odisha. The math complex has temples dedicated to different Gods and Godesses. The two temples that you can see in this photo are that of Hanuman and Jagannath.

Anyway coming to the painting, I am not at all happy with it. The villages in India have such a different atmosphere and mood. It is so different from cities. And since I am not so used to that kind of mood it becomes very difficult to paint it. But still I keep trying. One day I hope I'll be able to get that mood on paper successfully.

I have been on a little bit of travel cut off from the internet most of the time. So I have not been really able to paint and post of late. And I have also not been able to visit all your blogs on a regular basis. Looks like it is going to continue like this for some time. Hopefully by October everything will be sorted out.

And yes I'll be taking a workshop in October in Bangalore. Details will soon follow. 

Signing off now. Have a great day.

Title : Hanumant Math

Size : 15 x 22 inch

Medium: Watercolor on paper

A warm beginning

After the last rainy painting, I thought you may need some sun. :)

This is done from a sketch I had done sometime back for Morning Mood, Bangalore series. Somehow I had forgotten about it. When I saw it recently I had to paint it.

Wishing you all a great weekend. 

Title : A warm beginning (MMB - V)

Size : 15 x 22 inch

Medium : Watercolor on paper

Red Truck @ Empire

The rainy season started a little late here this year. It is raining now a days, but not as much as it should  be raining. But it is enough for a painting I guess. :)

Title : Red Truck @ Empire

Size : 26 x 20 inch

Medium : Watercolor on paper

Morning Dew

90% of the painting was done in a single wash and I loved that. The rest 10% really did not add anything to the final product. I wish I had taken a picture of the first wash.

Anyways can you feel the dew!!!!!!

Title : Morning Dew

Size : 15 x 22 inch

Medium : Watercolor on paper

Sappers at Ulsoor

This is the boat club of Madras Sappers Regiment at Ulsoor lake. Ulsoor lake is one of my favorite places in Bangalore. In a cramped city here one gets to experience a little bit of space. And with greenery and avian life around the lake spending time here always brings peace. This was done from a plein air sketch I had done about 2 months back. Both are posted. 

While the plein air one is crisp, this has a little more subdued feel. It was not planned that way. It just turned out that way. As they say watercolor has its own ways. We'll never know.

And of course the plein air work always has the spontaneity that studio pieces fail to have.

p.s. By the way Superb Sandra's painting has been shortlisted for a competition. Please visit her post (click here) to know about it and if you like her entry dont forget to vote. :)

Title : Sappers @ Ulsoor

Size : 20 x 26 inch

Medium : Watercolor on paper

Plein air sketch @ Ulsoor lake

Useful.. May be

I realized that I never post anything useful in my blog. This post will try to break that. I thought I'll share one of my working methods with you. And may be you benefit from it.

Now this method is one of my working methods and not the only method I follow. But I thought of sharing this because I thought it may be a little unique, and its just so much fun.

Whenever I work from photographs I don't directly work from it. There is an intermediate stage where I make a sketch using the photo which usually involves moving things here and there, eliminating stuff, adding elements, playing with tonal values etc. The idea is to come up with a composition from the photo which can be painted. Mostly I do this step with pencil. But sometimes a clear idea does not get formed even after trying out a lot of things. Or may be sometimes I want to get a lot more clarity on the idea. Then I do this.

I do a few fun sketches in watercolor itself. This is how I do it.

1. I tape my paper (usually half imperial) to divide it into four parts. Sometimes the parts are equal and sometimes they are not. Really depends on my mood.I picked this paper division thing from Robert Wade.

2. Then I do my drawings.

3. Next I generally put down a note on top of each part mentioning the time of the day/mood that I am aiming to achieve in each part. Not always though.

4. Then using only 3 primaries (generally) I start coloring them simultaneously. This way I don't have to wait for layers to dry in a painting.

5. I try out whatever ideas I have in my mind. This is important because I get a general idea about what will work for that painting. And more importantly what will not work.

6. Remove the tape in the end and again make note of what has and what has not worked.

This way I get a reference for my painting which has a lot of information and lot of clarity of thought while having loads of fun. Sometimes one of these sketches turn out just perfect. A finished painting in its own right.

 Stage 1: Drawings are done. Note about the time/mood has been made.

 

 Stage 2: A snapshot of simultaneous paintings. Just trying out everything I have in my head

Stage 3: All sketches done. Now its time to reflect and find out what worked and more importantly what did not.

Another older study

Let me know if you enjoyed this post. If you learnt anything from this it will be great. Let me know.

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