Kodaikanal

Kodaikanal is a small hill station in the south of India. It is a very touristy place. I had been there recently which was off season, but still there were lot of tourists. It was very difficult painting there as the whole place was always covered with clouds and paper would take ages to dry. But I got some pictures from there and planning to do a series on Kodaikanal. This is the first one. 

p.s. In the last session of the workshop which was like general question answer, exchange of thoughts etc one of the participants had taken a few pictures of me. I am posting one of them. The reason of posting this is that you'll probably get a look at all the artwork the participants produced. Aren't they really good. II really loved them.

Another day at Kodai - KKNL Series - I

22 x 15 inch

Watercolor on paper 

All the student artworks with yours truly. :)

Workshop

Hi there. Thank you all so much for wishing me speedy recovery. I actually did recover just in time for the workshop.

The workshop was a lot of fun. The first day of the workshop was indoors and the focus was on basic watercolor techniques, color theory, composition, design, simplification, sketching etc. Not only did we practice techniques and discussed about concepts we also did a complete painting each. Second day was outdoors. And the place we went to was Ulsoor lake. There was slight drizzle and we thought our plans to paint outdoors may all go awry, but thankfully we found a place with some protection over our heads. And we all really enjoyed ourselves painting in a cool rainy atmosphere by the lake. 

Though it was very tiring I really enjoyed myself. All the students were very enthusiastic and passionate. They really kept me on my toes all the time and I loved that. I hope the they were able to learn a thing or two and most importantly I hope I was able to fuel their sparks within.

Thanks to all the participants and all those at Penciljam studios who made it possible.

Here are some pictures of the workshop.

Church @ Kodaikanal - My demo during the first day of workshop

Size - 15 x 11 inch

The girls in the workshop

And the boys... 

 My demo painting alongside the presentation

Completely engrossed

 Looking at the lake..

From left to right - Thomas, Anand, Sandeep, Yours truly, Lakshmi, Subhashri, Nandita, Shruti, Sahina, Fatima

En plein air

Hi there. Been some time since I posted. The news from my side is that I am down with a bad fever for last few days. Today I am feeling a little better. But I guess it is going to take some time. My workshop is just five days away. I hope I am all right by then.

Posting a couple of my recent outdoor works today. Hope you enjoy them.

Plein air @ Whitefield church

15 x 11 inch

Plein air @ outside NGMA

15 x 11 inch

Upcoming workshop details

Hi there. 

I'll be taking a 1.5 day workshop titled "En plein air: Outdoors with watercolors" on the 20th and 21st of this month. Day one will be indoors which will focus on watercolor techniques and landscape painting fundamentals. Day two will be completely outdoors. We'll be painting in the lap of mother nature, where we'll be applying all our learning from day one. I'll also be sharing a few tricks of outdoor painting which should be helpful when you go painting outdoors. To know more details of the workshop please click here.

Penciljam studios is organizing this workshop. Seats are limited (12 only) and will be reserved on first come first serve basis. To book a seat call 9901293823.

Barista @ The Leela

The Leela palace is a 5 star business hotel close to my place and the coffee shop there is a Barista Lavazza. Its a cosy little place and great for sketching. A few days back I went there for sketching and it was afternoon time. The place was calm as usual, but still there was a soft buzz of people passing by. Mostly business people in their impeccable business suits. After doing some sketches there I came back home and painted this. Hope you enjoy this.

Title : Barista @ The Leela

Size : 22 x 15 incj

Medium : Watercolor on paper

Moody Bull Temple

My last painting on bull temple was a little not so me. I was just trying out something different. I did another one on bull temple that is more me. Hope you enjoy.

Title : Moody Bull temple

Size : 22 x 14 inch

Medium : Watercolor on paper

Another plein air story

I think in my last post I made the idea plein air painting sound very bad. Actually it is not. My last post was about one off experience that happened. Otherwise painting outdoors is just as good as it can get.

This painting was done in an afternoon outside a children's park near my house. The park is closed in the afternoon, but opens in the evening. So there were really not many people around. I found a place with a lot of trees to protect me and these garbage trucks parked in front of me in the afternoon light were really looking good. But the best part of that afternoon was this little guy selling freshly toasted peanuts. 

He was waiting for the park to open and really was not doing any business that time. And when he saw me drawing he came in front of me and just stood in the best pose he could. I asked him to move a little to the side as he was blocking my view. He moved, but as little as he could. All he really wanted to be is to be drawn. And he just kept standing in that amazing pose. As soon as I understood that I was drawing his gesture.

Generally doing gesture studies outside is very difficult as people are constantly moving. But this guy was happily posing for me. What more could I ask for. So I did some studies on him and I showed him that. He was really very happy to see that and that made me even happier. And then when it came to the the painting he was was my foreground which really lifted the painting in my opinion. Just look at the way he is toasting the peanuts with a bend of his body and one knee resting on his cart.

Plein air painting is always full of surprises. It is almost like watercolor in nature. You just have to go with the flow. And add to that every experience creates great memories.

Plein air @ Indiranagar childrens park 01st Sep 2012

Size : 11 x 15 inch

Medium : Watercolor on paper