Nasturtiums Galore

Nasturtiums again, this time in watercolor.

I did this one directly with paint on paper, without any sketching for guidance. Doing away with the sketching does allow for more flexibility; there aren't any lines to restrict and you simply move with the way the colour flows.

Portulaca Splendour

Apologies for my absence most of last week. I got trapped in a bottle (Much like the fabled genie)!! Well, I'll let the pictures do the talking this time....

Portulaca blooms in my garden, a sight that welcomes me through the monsoon season.

Portulaca blooms on my bottle, a sight that will last through all seasons.

The eye-catching combination of hot pink and yellow was just too hard to resist.

Mmmmm... sheer gorgeousness!! Whaddaya think?

The Last Few Suns

The sunflowers in my neighbour's garden are having a last burst of blooms before they are retired in favour of the seasonal varieties. Everyday as I pass them by on my way out, their bright nodding heads look so paintworthy. :)

This one has actually turned out better than I expected. And the part I enjoyed doing the most was the upturned flower. Here is a close-up of that bit.

Hope the coming week is as fulfilling, paint-wise, as the last one. I am loving this phase of quick paintings albeit small ones. Shall move on to a bigger size soon.....

Cinnerarias

Inspired entirely by the oh-so-gorgeous blooms in my winter garden last year, these cheery cinnerarias were fun to do.

My learning this time was all about mixing the right shades. Since my basic 12-tube watercolor pack has a limited pallette (it does not have any shades of purple/fuchsia), I had to make sure I mixed the right amounts of red and blue to get the different shades.

Another floral is coming up in the next post.... stay tuned (These words are a sureshot hangover from my radio jockey days!).

Ghats And Boats

The two things that characterize the city of Benaras, or Varanasi, believed to be the oldest city in India. Also considered the seat of Hindu traditions, and famous for its weaving of the now dying Benarasi sari. Though I have never visited the city but I found a newspaper picture of it so compelling that I just had to paint it.

This was one painting I enjoyed thoroughly, especially doing the boats. Here is a close-up of my favourite parts.

The aim now is to consciously paint in a more loose fashion with emphasis on the Impressionist approach. I believe a watercolor works best that way.

Hope you enjoyed this one!

The Swish Set

And you thought they appeared only on Page 3! I see them everyday in my rural backyard. ;)

The farmers' buffaloes with their languorous gait and their forever swishing tails make for an interesting subject. Especially when they line up for their fodder, heads bent and fully focussed on eating. Only the tails move, constantly.

The monsoon overdrive has sent me on a watercolor overdrive. Just can't seem to get enough of this medium. :)

Canna Flowers

I worked up the gumption to do a watercolor floral after quite a while. Inspired by canna flowers that have been blooming all over the neighbourhood thanks to the over-active monsoon this year.

More than the flowers, I love the delicate stripes that show up on canna leaves. That is what I tried capturing in this attempt.

My Experiments With Squawky

Yesterday I did two back-to-back paintings after a long time. I was also in the mood to experiment so I kept the sketching to a bare minimum and tried playing around directly with colour on the brush.

The result of my first experiment is this squawky fella. Didn't I tell you the parrots will keep returning! :) I am happy that I could keep the strokes fairly loose, though of course there is still more scope.

My second experiment had to do with a floral; look out for that in my next post.

Grassland

September always gets off to a slow start as my daughter's birthday right at the beginning of the month keeps me busy. But I'm aiming to make up this week by trying to paint more often.

Here is a glimpse of the painting before it dried completely, with the wet parts standing out.

This time I chose a picture from my inspiration file, and I was sure I wanted to paint it using watercolors. I love the fact that I'm suddenly feeling more confident about this medium. Months of observing the works of other artists seems to have finally paid off!

No votes for the question I posed on my last post! Tch, tch.... my readers are getting indifferent. Anyway, I am going with 'Waiting' because that signifies hope, and is therefore a more positive title.