misty trail

..This was an attempt to depict the mist in this photo taken in Kemmangundi after a heavy downpour and the sun about to set.

size : 1/4 imperial

time taken : 2.5 hrs

The idea was to paint loose and quicker than our usual pace.

Initially I struggled with the wet-on-wet. resulted in cauliflowers and frustrations..

Adding a darker tone seemed to lift off the lower layers !

I am not sure why ? and I seemed to blame the paper for it :)

I used a canson montval paper.

Any suggestions please..

I tried the same mix on a test paper : Arches aquarelle - rough grain.

On this sheet, wet-on-wet was a lot under control..

I am not sure though, as the test sheet was only 6" x 8" ..and size does matter

I liked this quickie more than the normal one..and this one took me just 10 minutes :)

size : 6" x 8"

time taken : 10 minutes

a thing of the past..

Prabal and me decided to paint this old house after scouring our old pics.

This time I had 2 things in mind

1. make a tonal value sketch and plan before I start applying paint

2. keep the perspectives right (by following the eye-line)

I think I got both right to a fair extent. But could not refrain from committing the same old mistakes :

"darks are too dark" (i almost used undiluted mixes) - which Prabal calls is anti-purist or acryllic-style :)

I stuck to the reference as I found the tree in the front and the clothes-line interesting. Prabal however customized it a bit.

This time, I also experimented with the masking fluid to save the whites.

bamboos

just to keep my blog in-sync with prabal's, I fished out a couple of oldies :)

These were painted way back in 2007

When on a bike trip to Savandurga, me and Shashwath couldn't miss these bright bamboo bushes. Not equipped with a camera, we captured the details on a piece of paper with rough pencil sketches (study).

En Plein Air

It was Prabal's Idea again.. to paint "en plein air"..

Place and time was decided..7:00 am, Cubbon Park..

But the rain forced us back.. the only shelter we could think of..."office !!" - our second home :) ..

With only a handful of options at hand, we settled to paint the UB city view..

I was painting on a pretty good quality paper and was quite thrilled and conscious at the same time...

This paper, unlike the handmades I used, was not very absorbent..which means more cauliflowers if you are not careful..

While painting the sky, I washed the sheet with a light tone of grey and started applying a darker tone with lot of water in brush. I was a little late for the second quote and a way too early for a dry-on-dry..This lifted the already applied tone and started spreading !..

some cauliflowers are seen near the edge of the building ..

I must be careful about the "timing" next time..

here's the final frame..

not satisfied with the results..

The dried branches on the left was added as the left of the composition looked too empty..

But, prabal thinks this makes the painting sad..

Neverthelss, we had a fun "en plein air"..

first watercolour..after a long break

tried my hand at watercolour after a very long time....

setup time : 2 hours

painting time : 1 hour ..

this speaks it all !!

I had to search for my paints and brushes, and prepare a surface from an old handmade paper...

The paper turned out bad and it did blot the paint in few areas..

Thanks Prabal for the motivation :) ..