Working Class Series

Its fun to work on a series. Its even more fun to work on more than one series in parallel. One of the series that I am working on right now is called Working Class. Posting all the work that I have done in that series till now. 

Happy painting.

Working Class - II

10x14 inch

Working Class - I

21x14 inch

Working Class - III

21x7 inch

Process

Finally. Yes Finally it is.. After a lot of coaxing by many of you I have finally managed to capture the WIP pictures of one of my works. And I am very happy to be sharing my process with you. When I say process it does not mean I follow the same process for every painting. Every painting is different and hence how it will be reached will be different. So the process that I am sharing applies to this painting only. 

This is the picture of the place. A quiet place with an imposing structure of a Hindu temple. A lovely atmosphere to paint in.

I usually do a few thumbnails and quick tonal studies before doing a painting. Here I just did sketching for about 10-15 minutes to get a feel of the place. I did not do any tonal studies as the idea was more or less clear in my head.

In the first age after initial drawing I went in for a warm under wash. Saw hints of  blues and reds in the foreground . So let some blues and reds mingle in in the foreground yellow ochre wash. I also distorted the perspective of the temple quiet a bit. This was done because I was predicting stiffness in the final outcome. So decided to play with the structure a little. Gave it a little 'gesture'.

In the second and most important stage I did a tonal block in of the major shapes. Transparent washes were used to block in. Note that I have made the color spire of the temple similar to the color of the temple. Otherwise I thought it would cause an unnecessary creation of a shape and clutter the painting. I wanted the temple to be a single shape. 

Now details on the wall of the temple have been done with dry brush technique. Note that there is much less detail in the back walls of the structure. 

Here figures have been added to complete the painting.

Back at home when I evaluated it I thought the figure was of same tone as the temple. So I darkened the figure. Also added the background tree on the top left corner. This foliage along with the figure maintains the green color throughout the painting, hence causing balance. The green color also compensates for the red of the temple as green and red are complementary to each other.

Plein air at Gada Khorda - 21 Dec 2013

10 x 14 inch

Thank you for viewing. I hope this is useful to some of you.

Have a happy Christmas and a great 2015.

An acrylic triad

Last time I was in Kolkata I was enchanted by the beauty of the city. I was seeing paintings everywhere. The city has a personality and it reflects even in the non-living things out there. Specially in the buildings. Both old and ancient. Sometime they look like gaunt old men, sometime like a lady twisting her body and sometimes like children playing hide and seek. I was not sure how I would do this in watercolor. So I used acrylics, which allowed me to explore end experiment while painting. And a little experimentation with perspective distortion did seem to help the cause. I hope you enjoy these.

Personality City - I : YELLOW

20x14 inch

Personality City - II : RED

20x14 inch

Personality City - III : BLUE

20x14 inch

Not the usual stuff

This time I am posting something that I do not do so often. Figurative work and a few charcoal works. The figurative work demanded a controlled approach as opposed to my free flowing approach in landscapes. But the end result was satisfying.

In the charcoal ones I tried to play around with the perspectives to make things interesting. I hope it interests you. :)

And All That You Leave Behind

21 x 13 inch

 

Kolkata - I

Kolkata - II

Puri Series

Puri is a beach town near Bhubaneswar. Puri is know ln for its annual Rath Jatra (Car Festival) and Jagannath temple. Puri is also famous for its sweets. If you got a sweet tooth then Puri is a heaven for you. Khaja is one of the most loved sweets of Puri. Here is my attempt to give you a taste of Puri.

Khaja

21x14 inch

Mother and the Market

10x14inch

Untitled

20 x 28 inch

A few snaps of the monsoon

In Bhubaneswar it does not rain. It pours. Monsoons is of great importance in Odisha. First, it controls the unbearable heat. It replenishes the water bodies and gives life back to plants and trees. Sometimes it also causes devastation in the form of floods. Whatever the case, it is eagerly awaited every year the rains have always been watercolorist's delight. Here are a few works from my monsoon inspiration this year. Hope you like them.

Rain and the City - V

Motion

15 x 21 inch

Rain and the City - IV

Cats and Dogs

18 x 22 inch

Rain and the City - I

Rain Riders

21 x 14 inch

Long Gap and Website

Hmmm. I guess I have run out of reasons now. But yes, the gap was a tad too long. I promise to keep the next gap shorter. :)

Anyway posting something different this time. Just discovered the joys of charcoal and hence excited to share this with you.

Btw my website is also up. I did put in quiet a bit of effort in getting this together. So please have a look and share your feedback with me. I would love to hear from you.

Portrait of a Saadhu

19x13 inch