morning walk

Here are 2 quick sketches. I wanted to paint the trees that I see from my balcony. I had rushed though them without enjoying in the last painting..So here's the dessert !

Fabriano 300gsm. 6" x 8"

Having painted this, I did not really like the composition. In fact, I never tried to compose it..So thought removing some trees and adding some interest.. here's the morning walk..

Canson Montval. 8" x 11"

Had been a while that I had tried painting without a pencil sketch..hope you enjoyed these...

rain coming down

The retreating monsoon has been very active this year in Bangalore and it's still raining here..
Sitting in my balcony I was watching these nimbus clouds descend and precipitate...
With my little daughter sleeping warm, I took a break from baby seating and grabbed the colours..
Had to be quick to finish before the little one woke up and cried :)

towards the end, it started pouring and I had to rush through the foreground foliage..
I hope I have captured the moment..

menavali ghat

Happy Diwali everyone !

Wanted to try this new handmade paper I had bought last week.
as usual it turned out to be a blotting paper that renders the brush dry after a stroke..and then dulls the colour at the end :(
But I had a good time painting this one after a long break..and it's a temple-reflection again :)

size : 11" x 14"
This temple is in Menavali in Wai, Maharasthra, on the banks of river Krishna..
hope you like it.

Here's the smaller sketch on a cartridge paper

divine reflections

...Feels out of touch...feels it's been ages since I painted and blogged :) .
Made a fresh start yesterday..but there is a backlog I have to clear..
so will post some of my paintings (made during 'confluence') in the days to come..

Photo courtesy : Aditi Das Patnaik.
Thanks Aditi for the photo..

I completed this in 2 sittings
1. painful sketching session, getting the perspective right..
2. fun filled painting session :)

Invitation to my first Art Exhibition

This will be my first art exhibition and I am thrilled about it.

Here is the invitation to our upcoming show named 'Confluence' that will be inaugurated on 30th June at 11 AM. About 60 watercolor paintings by Ramesh, Prabal and me with themes mostly covering landscapes, cityscapes, villagescapes and scenes from day to day life will be exhibited. Please grace the occasion and in case you have any questions please drop me a mail.

Hope to see you there !

Following is a painting that I made for this show

Village Alley [painting]

Here's the painting for the value-sketch I had posted last week.
This is a scene from a small village adjoining my home in Hubli.
The house in the foreground had an eerie bright blue colour which I omitted conveniently to avoid distraction.
Added a couple of people, pots and a dog for some interest.

hope you enjoy this.

alley [painting]

Here's the painting of the previous sketch I posted.
I am not too happy with the foreground shadows though
I enjoyed paiting the far off alley. was quick and came out well..

do let me know what's not right technically

yet another alley sketch

Yet another pencil sketch, and it's an alley again !
I had made up my mind to paint something tonight. I thought of making a value sketch first. I got stuck right there with the sketch :) . hope to paint this some day..

village alley

Was too tired to paint. So thought will sketch something quick.

The villager

Had taken this photo in an adjoining village in my home town. When I took his photo, the old man exclaimed

"So, you are from the press eh ?. You are going to write an article about this village ?. these pipes have been lying around here and no one seems to care......"... I had to succumb to his authority and say "yes, I will talk about it"..
The best I could do here is to paint this old man and the un-used cement pipes that were supposed to improve the sanitation of this place.

But for the bright colours I have used, I felt OK with the result. But, I enjoyed painting it a lot.

size: 1/4 imperial
paper : decapo 200 gsm

fishing boat

Had taken this photo on Marina beach in Chennai on a cloudy morning.
While painting this, I had to remind myself not do overdo the washes. This paper (Montval) doesn't let you do it anyways..
used masking fluid to mask off the whites. Most was wet-on-wet except for the details in boat

how did you like it ?

paper: Canson Montval
size : 1/4 imperial

villagescape

Village landscapes are my favourite and I enjoy painting them a lot..
This is a remote house in the forest which I saw on one of my treks

I am not happy with the sky. I am using this paper for the first time and it tends to retain wetness longer than I expected. So the blue spead and encroached the whites I had left to suggest clouds.

any comments ?

After storm

Too many things happening in my life right now..Been extremely busy since last 2 weeks..Yesterday, I got a little time to relax..felt like slience after the storm...

hope you liked it...

[ watercolour on 1/4 imperial ]

photograph courtesy : Moirangthem Ranjith (published in better photography magazine)

Malnad village

been away from painting for almost 2 months now !.. here's the comeback :)
felt slightly out of touch ..

Saw this during a visit to my best friend's wedding in thirthalli (Shimoga, Karnataka) on the banks of Tunga river..What I liked about it is the huge tree which dwarfs the houses under it..

paper : fabriano
size : 1/4 imperial
hope you liked it..

chitra-santhe [Kannada: The Art-Market]

ಚಿತ್ರ ಸಂತೆ [Chitra-santhe] [Kannada: Art-Market] is a annual feature here in namma bengaluru.
hundreds of artists from all over India take part to bring art closer to the people. I've been a regular 'vistor' to this fair, but it was a great experience to experience the 'back-stage' this time.
Me and Prabal had long since planned this. We were so enthu about it that we kept on calling up the Chitrakala Parishat ..and the outcome, stall #1 and #2 ! :)

let the pictures do more talking...

my paintings on display

The stall with my paintings

me and my stall

onlookers and buyers..

Prabal and his stall..

The event features more activities like on-the-spot portrait making

hoping to see more of you next time..

flowers again !

Having done flowers back to back, I was kind of liking it.
So, here are some orchids..

Montval paper was not very friendly with subsequent washes.
following is a smaller version on a different paper

more flowers

well, I was an engineering student once..and I still believe in overnight preparations for examinations :)
I was falling short of paintings for display at chitra-santhe and when I realized, it was 2 days to go. I decided to paint more flowers..

size : 1/4 imperial
paper : Canson  Montval


hope you enjoyed it..

besharam phool

I saw these beautiful flowers in the countryside on a cycling trip. My friend exclaimed बेशरम फूल [Hindi: shameless flowers] !. His explanation was that they grow everywhere :)

I tried this on Canson Figuera paper (only to realize later that it was meant for acrylic :D ..psst !!)
size : 1/2 imperial
colours : crimson lake, ultramarine, prussian blue, sap green
I had put this up in ChitraSanthe.. and it's my first painting that I sold !

flowers

This was my first painting after a long break..
And this is indeed the first "flower painting" after a very very long time (I can't remember when I painted the flowers last) ...
And of course this was the first painting with prabal after a long time again :) ...See Prabal's painting here.

I started off with the idea that I will paint as less details as possible. I personally liked the result, but not quite. I thought the background is a little distracting.
What d'ya think ?