Wednesday, December 15, 2010

panda





This was my first acrylic venture,the reason to paint this was  the photograph,It was very inspiring. Painting animal images are real pleasure ,though I do not call myself an animal enthusiasist, one of the subjects that attracts me is of course animal .In this painting I've focussed more on his fur .It required lot of variations in colour .The foreground leaves and plants were given equal attention too.
This piece of art was completed in june 2007,I saved this painting for my daughter.

Friday, December 10, 2010

bluejay splendour




This is bluejay splendour,done on 16 X 20  canvas . I used acrylics , for easy use.This painting takes me back, down memory lane to those days when I used to watch bluejays tweeting through my woodlake apartment window  in Silver Spring,  Maryland.I could see them during fall and spring.Their vibrant variations in blue on their body ,is very fascinating,especially when they flap their wings.It was really hard to capture them on a camera and I always wished to paint 'em.So here it is,my long awaited wish .

To paint this first I sketched the picture, then I painted the background ,next I did the leaves  and then the wooden rims,finally the bluejays.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

late summer stream

This is"late summer afternoon"acrylic on canvas.
This is an old painting of mine ,the  much focused area for this painting was the rippling stream ,rocks through which the stream slips through and the foreground bushes and trees.
When i look at this painting my mind floats over the  mesmerizing streams and foothills my eyes has browsed through ,,Thank God for all the  happy moment.......:)

Monday, September 13, 2010

my current project

Due to my move and my day job it was quite impossible for me to squeeze in time to paint ,but i finally determined to start one at any cost ,I m working on lord Ganesha mural ,will keep posted once its completed
blog u soon meanwhile have fun painting

Sunday, April 25, 2010

my painting @ hoco auction

My big red  displayed @ the Howard county arts council's silent auction
thanx to my friend priya who made it happen and to aishu for help fix the back wires
and to chandu  to send me the pictures.
I really wish i was there .....

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

my old paintings

The previous couple of days have been very very crucial,we were (and still are)going thru the process of transition due to our move ,but my hands cant wait till my painting stuff arrives, mean while i came across three of my old paintings which i had never recorded b4 ...so thought of sharing them ,...they are all oil paintings on 12x14 canvas board.

I named this "slipping stream" cos generally i love to watch a stream slipping through the rocks and i adore the beautiful sound they make ....This is a bob ross inspired work ....wet on wet technique.

I named it serene mountain lake ....the green evergreens always motivated me to paint .. i tried  my best to give them a good shape ..and the lill muddy banks are the illusion a palette knife and invariably mixed paint  can perform.


shoe flower
Hibiscus though commonly considered a simple 4 petalled flower ,,,has a real attractive nature..they have members with different colours in their family ,i love pretty much every one............. this one was for my mom who loves yellow hibiscus.Apart from their beauty they r high in medicinal values though my inspiration was only the looks .
hope u enjoyed this post pls post your valuable comments.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

my first venture in soft pastles

my priceless treasures
soft pastels on paper
I was introduced to this medium through an art  expert in arts and craft networking site,
The instructions were too good that i could'nt resist myself from doing one even in the midst of a situation where i dont even have time to breath..I m really happy with the result but I know I have a long long way to go to reach perfection. It took around 2 hours to do this work.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

my watercolor works


lunch at the patio table

I was inspired to do this painting  on reading a book by an English artist ,her subjects always being still life  ,the lighting in her painting is worth mentioning.


cotton tail

I learned  some interesting techniques in watercolor while doing this art work, i.e.,the use of masking fluid in order to retain the white highlights in a painting ,the results were amazing.and painting was much more easier than the traditional method,

sunflower

The interesting part of this painting is the texture in the center of the flower ,that was created by sprinkling  table salt while the paint is still wet and brushed away when dry...this creates interesting texture.


snowy rock
For this painting I followd the traditional way of retaining whites .This is a simple paintining ,that would defenitely complement the wall where its framed and hanged.

hidden waterfall
This painting helped me learn to  create water in  water color.


seagulls @the beach

This is another painting that again focuses  water and shadows of the birds...and so on


hope u enjoyed this post

Monday, March 1, 2010

decorative painting



goldfinch and daisies

This is oil on canvas ,size 11x14 , I painted the background with metalic royal esspresso (acrylic)and then sketched the bird and the fence with oil paints


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

one stroke painting

one stroke painting  is what I started with ,the single strokes creating fascinating flowers and leaves .Its so dramatic that I became a big fan of this style of painting,

It is very motivating for beginners ,when I began doing this style ,with a couple of  days of practice , I was able to make beautiful bouquet of flowers .I was on the roof of the sky ,when i saw the results ... I guess any one could do it with a little practice....so heres some of my initial onestroke paintings
a bunch of fruits




signature rose or cabbage rose


wild rose


calla lillies


                                                                       roses
calla lillies on 16x20 canvas
tulips
hope u liked this post

Saturday, February 13, 2010

love for nature



pleasent waterfall  oil on canvas


I am a person who can sit down for a day and watch the rain splashing down through the leaves and grass......As a child ..........visiting my grandma's place in kochi which in my opinion , is one of the most beautiful places on earth, was a relish to my eyes and mind.The beaches , the back waters ,rivers and lakes,the coconut trees they  all have great impact on me,Now I live in  US where I got to experience majestic snow clad mountains,valley of evergreens, ferns and aspens  ,serene landscapes, fresh spring blossoms,vallies of  stunning tulips and daffodills ,freezing blue winter , scenic fall foliage,pleasent country side and so on, and has inspired the potential in me 
The above painting was a result of the love for nature ,I had conceived this idea in my mind long back,a small stream slipping through the rocks on a green grassy mountain slope with some evergreen trees around but had no idea how to bring it on a canvas ,it was then I saw the program " Joy of Painting "by Bob Ross on a  PBS channel for the first time,I cannot explain by words the joy i experienced on that day,the way he magically transforms a plain white canvas to a beautiful landscape(heres a video link for one of his programs) http://www.livevideo.com/video/4C93D056D1444AC38E32BBCE41A5B406/bob-ross-winter-splendor.aspxFrom then on  till now i try not to miss even  one episode,as the tittle suggest its really a joy of painting. so I learned the techniques of painting waterfall ,reflection leaves and so on  thats how I could put togather this "pleasent waterfall"
hope u enjoyed this post please dont forget to leave ur comments

Friday, February 12, 2010

My very first Tanjore painting


புன்னை மரத்தடி குழந்தை கிருஷ்ணர்
Baby sri krishna under the sacred tree


This was my first venture with regard to Tanjore painting .,the speciality is I made this painting with materials completely available in the local stores (US), me and my friend  very instantly  decided to do the same subject. Hearty Thanks to our  friend Aishu who helped us with the basics of tanjore painting.Thanks to mrs.Nimmi birla 's(i believe thats her name) video demo on tanjore art  board making and its sequels on youtube here 's the link to her videos

 Before begining this project we were'nt sure about the availability of resources in US ..we explored togather to find the stuff around  in Michaels , home depot and amazon.and this is what we found out.

The supplies for Tanjore painting are
1.chalk powder -available at Home depot or lowes in different colours try  to get  light color.

2.stones or crystals- rhine stones (adhesive backed)available pretty much everywhere, michaels,walmart online.........in different sizes shapes and colors.

3.Arabic gum-Michaels in the art section

4.crafters glue-michaels or from any where you like

5.Gold foil-Michaels ..  its better to feel the texture before buying it there are different varieties of foil .It should not be too thin(it crumbles in your hand on touching)  or too thick( wont get the impression from the embossed area.)I just used imitation gold foil ,I wanted to try my hands on it first ,once
 I am confident i thought of investing in original 22 ct  gold foils.

6. fine markers and paints

7.Reference picture

This is the style of painting in which u can project all your decorative skills ,crisp and neat edges make it look elegant ,crystals beads and gold foil add richness to them

finally we completed our paintings and both of us were happy with our results.Though we chose the same subject both of our  paintings looked very much different from each other

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

small informations about acrylics

This is one of my acrylic paintings,  I named it  "The big red" I got the inspiration ,when I visited GALLERY 44,an art gallery  near my apartment,the vibrant red color cought my eyes and could not move away,so I ended up painting my own version of it.

In this post i just thought of sharing some small info about acrylics
I started with oils and wanted to try my hands in acrylics , after trying it  I was'nt sure to continue  since I was not happy with the results, .On getting a deeper knowledge about acrylics ,I was able to work effectively .

Acrylic is a versatile fast drying medium that can be used direct from the tube like oils or thinned with water to be used like watercolor.

Acrylic paints dry fast  so squeeze only a little paint out of the tube

Use a spray bottle to spray a mist of water over the paint to keep it moist.

If you wish to blend colors while painting with acrylics ,we need to work faster ,since it dries faster, if you are painting on a paper dampening the paper would help slow the drying process.

As said earlier when used thick or with very little water or medium  like oils its an opaque medium and when thinned with water and used like watercolor its a transparent medim.

hope this post was of  some help

Saturday, February 6, 2010

tips on storing the left over acrylic paints

 When i started painting with acrylics I could not figure  out a way to save the squeezed out paint because it dries out fast unlike oils, so I was looking for a solution
On searching the web, i found a way to store it i've not tried it yet but thought of sharing it
If we have some paint left at the end of a painting project just remove the dried layer and scrape out the rest and store it in  a sealable jar or even a ziploc cover completely air tight ,so after  a few projects we might have quite a bit of paint in different colors,just mix up all the colours and we can use it to underpaint a canvas in a new project


Tuesday, February 2, 2010

masking fluids

PRESERVING WHITES WITH MASKING FLUIDS FOR WATERCOLORS


1.Before applying masking fluid the paper must be totally dry
2. dip the brush in liquid soap then wipe  off excess soap
3.dip the brush in masking fluid and apply it to the paper in the area where white needs to be preserved
4.work for a short time and wash the brush ,to prevent the masking fluid from hardening on it
5.proceed with the painting,it is okay  to paint over the mask
6.Masking fluid can be removed when the paper is completely dry 
7. to remove....., just rub with fingers they just peel off
hope this post was useful

Thursday, January 28, 2010

fall in the falls



This is an acrylic painting .,that reminds me of the wonderful time when  we(group of 3)would have painting party when I  said party  I meant, we used to meet exclusively to paint  one subject ,It was so much fun .This painting helped me  sharpen my skills in landscapes ,apart from that the other reason that made me happy  about this artwork was when  my daughter's piano teacher who is from Latvia and who had not visited  her country for years ..........felt really nostalgic on looking at these aspen trees .so this turned out to be a christmas gift for her..this  painting is always close to my heart

the hidden creek




The intersting thing about this oil painting is that ..,I tried wet -on-wet painting technique  for the first time and  the advantage was that i did not have to wait  longer  to get the layers dried I completed this painting in an hour

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

snowy foothill







This is my very first oil painting....when it came to choose a subject my very first choice was SNOW
It has always never failed to impress me ...the light blue... purplish ....pink ....shadow of the snow  ..drives me crazy
I realised how shadows can transform a painting

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

stages of water colour

I just thought of sharing the gist of different stages of basic water colour technique


we could explore the first few stages in this post


PAINTING SET UP


This stage is applicable to any medium , ...the point is what ever we work on...... we need a proper work space with sufficient lighting ...preferably natural lighting   and access to all the resource we need .By this i did not mean a hi-tech studio with hi-tech lighting etc etc,to begin with a table and a chair in a corner of your room(preferably near window )will be more than enough


VALUE SKETCH


a.First pick our subject


b.Jot down ideas in the form of value sketch


c.Explore subjects in terms of dark and light tones


d.value sketch  is a rough pencil sketch of what we plan to paint


LINE DRAWING


This is a light pencil outline of a subject to be portrayed  on the water colour paper


PRESERVE WHITES
We do not use white paint  in transparent watercolour ,any white in a painting is the white of the paper,we must decide on the white areas of painting even before we start painting so we can leave that area blank.
The other method of preserving white is by masking the area where it needs to be white
for this we can use either
masking fluid 
or
masking  tape
I thought of giving details on this in my next post 


hope this post was informative









WATER COLOUR



I am pretty much a beginner ,when it comes to watercolour,I feel its a very unforgiving medium ..this medium calls for really careful planning  ...............,despite all these challenge I am fascinated by this transparent medium after reading the books of Susan Bourdet , Bart Rulon  and various other watercolour artists
Their paintings have tricked me to think that its a photograph ....Iam not kidding or exaggerating its true .


This is one of my fav s ........,i learned lots of techniques  while doing this painting  and the results stunned me ,
this was from susan bourdets,s book on bringing light in watercolour painting,I loved doing this painting
I'll keep you posted on more about watercolour soon
hope you enjoyed this post ,happy painting.




Friday, January 22, 2010

Tips that might help while painting

painting  is not just a hobby to me ...i could tell for sure that its  a habit 


I read somewhere that while painting ,  mistakes never happen only happy accidents occur ,I realised how true it was ...... I've experienced it ..







   This is one of my favourites ,my very second oil painting on canvas size 16 x 20 , the inspiration was from a calender ,I named it "sunset @ canyon beach"




so here r some tips that I've learned


1.While choosing our subject ... its really important to choose a subject that ignites a spark in our mind,
choose the one you like 


2.Once we choose a subject  .....study the subject  in detail, observe the colours ,if its a photo ,put it in a place where we can see it often,this  would boost our inspiration and helps us decide  the colours and position of the subject (ofcourse remind us about the painting waiting to be finished by us)


3. Its always better to mix the paint on our palette ,than on our canvas . ,this helps to avoid mess 


4. Being stingy with the paint ,ofcourse will make the painting aweful


5.Applying   all the leftover paints on,t the canvas....... just to avoid wasting them ....well  by doing this  ..we'll be wasting our painting 


6.We must allow ourself ample time to work otherwise we'll end up loosing our initial inspiration(this might be a real challenge for most of us)


7. We do not have to fix each and every mistake  on the canvas ,as i told u earlier they r not mistakes  they are happy accidents .


8.We dont have to think too much ...........i feel its more of a feeling thing than  an intellectual thing


9.Do not try to paint like someone else...try  being  ourself


10. Its always better to trust our instincts and our selves and leave the rest , do not worry abut the result


hope you enjoyed this post,wish u happy painting

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

rajput paintings



This is a rajput painting which i tried on a wooden bark , I used acrylic paints and the following are some of the intersting facts about rajput painting , i got on the net  so thought of sharing it

Rajput Painting is an Indian art form belonging to the state of Rajasthan. Spanning from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, this art originated under the earliest Rajput Kingdoms and was so named. Rajput Painting flourished as a court art in the 'friendly' Rajputana states, under the umbrella of the Mughal Empire. Therefore, the style carried a strong influence of the Mughal Art. The subjects and a degree of inherent abstraction however, set the Rajput Paintings apart. Different Rajput states developed their own distinguishing styles, yet all of them retained the fundamental elements of Rajput Painting as a whole.

The Details

A large body of works from the Rajputana Kingdoms centered on devotional and religious subjects that included the life history of the Indian God Lord Krishna. Tales from the Indian epics, like Ramayana & Mahabharata and Indian holy books such as Bhagavata Purana were also important subjects here. Bikaner, Bundi, Kota, Amber, Jaipur, Kishengarh, Marwar, and Mewar were the most significant regions that contributed towards the development of Rajput Painting. Bundi, where court scenes, noblemen, and amours attracted maximum artistic attention, is considered the birthplace of Rajput Painting. Painted works from Bikaner blended the characteristics of Deccan Art with the Mughal style. Artists from Kota, on the other hand, focused on hunting scenes, Ragamalas, and portraits. The Kishangarh School of Art is well known for its regional style termed as 'Bani Thani' paintings. Mewar was the key territory, in which, the Rajput Painting kept away from the Mughal influence and instead, drew its inspiration from the Indian Chaurapanchasika style. By the end of the sixteenth century, this Indian painting style started blending domestic as well as international influences, such as Persian, Chinese, and European.

Flat forms, bold lines, and vibrant colors marked the two-dimensional Rajput Paintings. Bright yellow, orange, red, brown, and deep blue were usually the dominating colors on the Rajput palettes. These paintings were noted for their ornamental abstraction, where physical features were emphasized and accentuated. For example, eyes were often portrayed in large, almond shapes, and necks & fingers were elongated & sleek. No part of the frame was left untouched, which created a rich and flamboyant final output.

Rajput Paintings were mostly in the form of miniature pictures placed in manuscripts or small sized pictures, as part of collections. However, they were not limited to these forms with a host of works being painted on the walls of the royal courts and fort chambers, especially in the regime of Shekhawat Rajputs. The color pigments were derived from organic, mineral and metals. Not only did the use of precious metals, including gold & silver, and processed gemstones, but also the brilliance of style and execution, make Rajput Paintings among the most invaluable contributions in the field of Fine Arts.

narthana vinayagar

Painting  has always been a pleasure to me ,the same way lord Ganesha 's images have always made me happier
so here is the outcome of that love

before sharing this painting , i must say that this painting was a result of my inspiration for kerala murals

kerala mural is the fine paintings on the walls of ancient temples and churches  in kerala , the subjects mainly being deities and the mythology.

now more on murals from the net

The mural of Kerala is very much related to Dravidian art of Kalamezhuthu. This was much more developed from the customs and religious  rituals . It was the art of sprinklings and filling up of attractive colours inside the outlines of drawings. The architecture and murals are also influenced by pal lavas.


The Sanskrit text silparatna, describing painting and related subjects by Sri kumara must have been a role model for contemporary and later artists. There is no other text instead for it till now, which precisely discuss about the aesthetics and technological aspects of Indian Arts.