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

Another Acrylic

Hi there. First of all if you are able to read this right now I need some advice. My blog has developed a problem recently all of a sudden on its own. When I open my blog it automatically redirects me to some other page. I can log into blogger, but when I open my blog page it gets redirected. And the funny part is that everybody is not experiencing this problem with my blog. Some are also able to open my blog without any issues. I really dont know what to do about it. If any of you have got any advice please mail me at prabal.mallick@gmail.com.

 

Well since I am able to post I am posting this acrylic piece I did a few days back. This is one of my friends from college. He got married recently and this one is done for him. I hope it finds a good place in his home.

Acrylics on paper

22 x 15 inch

From Nandi hills

The trip to Nandi hills with pencil jammers last Sunday was some experience. The bus that we had hired seemed like the slowest bus around and took forever to reach the hill top. Sometime it felt like the bus would start rolling backwards on those hilly roads. But anyway we reached our destination around 10:30 AM after a hearty breakfast on the way. There was a big surprise waiting for us there.

Strong winds were blowing across the hill. It was cloudy and was drizzling intermittently. Fortunately we found a covered place overlooking the hill side where we painted. But we had to keep running for our boards and palettes  as they flew off many times while painting. It was some experience I tell you. The scene that I painted was very difficult and I was not able to resolve it well enough. So got into some unnecessary details. But I guess I could get the cloudy and windy feeling in the painting.

After lunch we came down and visited a beautiful temple which is around 1300 years old. It was the Bhoga Nandiswara temple and the residing deity was Shiva and Parvati as you would have guessed. Unfortunately we were not allowed to paint there as it was a protected site under archaeological dept of India. But some of us were negotiating with the authorities to allow us to sketch there. While they were doing that I quickly managed to sketch the scene. Later on when I came back I finished it at home. Though I could not continue painting there it was a great experience visiting the temple. It was so beautiful and peaceful. If you go to Nandi hills anytime make sure to take out sometime to visit this place.

All in all it was a great day of painting and learning.

En plein air @ Nandi Hills, 16 June 2013

11 x 15 inch

En plein air @ Bhoga Nandiswara temple, 16 June 2013

11 x 15 inch

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