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

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"
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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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paxikbvRrfk&feature=related

 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

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

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

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