Old Or New

While cleaning my supplies cupboard, I came across my old sketchbooks. And the drawings I had made some 6 years back! At that time, I was trying my hand at a number of different painting mediums, and watercolours were one of them.

I decided to redo these yellow bougainvilleas in acrylics and ink, and now they look so much more vibrant and lively.

I also love how the background has turned out. Back then, I used to feel stumped by backgrounds - didn't know how to handle them well. Now I am confident; so much so that even if I mess things up, I can salvage the situation with some paint trick or the other. Mixed media and acrylics are definitely more forgiving than watercolours. (You can read the original post here.)

Now when I look back, I realize a few things - the quality of those watercolour tubes was rather shoddy (even though it was Camel; artist quality watercolours must be in a different league), and as a newly-minted artist I was using very little paint (the brush should have been definitely loaded better).

One learns so much with time and practice. But I would love to have your opinions on this, dear readers.... which version do you like better - old or new?

The Room Amidst The Trees

Tried working on a watercolor after the longest time, and was pleasantly surprised. A medium that requires a lot of patience and relies pretty heavily on technique, watercolors were definitely not my preferred mode. But somehow I wanted to try out this scene using watercolors.... call it inexplicable instinct!

I walk past this room, which is in pretty dilapidated condition, everyday on my way to fetch the kids from school. It is surrounded by trees on all sides, and you really need to look closely else you might miss it amidst all the foliage. The discoloured, half-broken brickwork looks so attractive that I found the scene immensely paint-worthy.

When I chose to depict the scene using watercolors, I realized that sustained efforts do yield some results. Even though I have been painting in acrylics for the past year (or maybe more), all that effort had somehow paid off. Well, at least some bit because my control over watercolors had increased considerably. And I found a new level of comfort in handling this medium.

Don't know if I'll stay in this mode or go back to acrylics.... but for sure, every new piece is a new experiment! What do you say, dear readers?

Capsicum Study

Didn't I tell you the kitchen has some rather tempting options to paint! Well, here is one of my favourites... I love capsicums (green peppers), and they were a natural choice as they lay waiting to be chopped and cooked.

Painted this one with watercolors, and outlined using charcoal.

Wanna eat some? :)

Still Life Study

Again something that I haven't done in a long while - a still life study of a floral arrangement.

Though I more or less stuck to the original colours but I changed some colours in the primary flowers (the pink ones) to bring out contrasts better. Here is a close-up of the flowers.

Am hoping to do more still life soon; they train you to focus on the light and shade with a more intense eye.

Homeward Bound

Back to watercolors after a hiatus. I feel returning to any medium after a break usually gives good results. So I decided to capture this Rajasthani shepherd in traditional clothes, out to graze his sheep on a wintry day.


The shepherd was not too difficult to do but it took me a while to get his sheep right. Especially getting them to stand out from the similar-coloured background.

What do you think of the results?

p.s. - Wishing all my readers from India a very colourful Holi, and my prayers for the people of Japan.

Mustard Fields

Fields of yellow swaying in the breeze - a common sight in these parts in the middle of biting winter chill.

When everything is enveloped in foggy grey, the yellow and green of the mustard fields bring a sense of warmth and colour. So I decided to depict the scene using two diverse media.

This first one is a watercolor...

It has a dreamy quality to it, does justice to the trees in the middle of the field, and captures the light of the sun pretty well.

This second one is the same scene in acrylic and crayon...

This one captures the distinct colours in the sky better, gets the mustard field in the right shade of yellow, and has more texture to it. But those trees aren't as good here.

So which one do you like more?

Street Food Cart

Can't believe this is my 100th post! This blog has sure come a long way.... :)

My second submission for the virtual paintout at San Miguel de Allende. I used this street view to create this painting, and am pretty pleased with the outcome.

My learning this time was about how important shadows are. After I had finished putting in the colours, I realised that something was amiss. Then, by sheer gut feel, I darkened the shadows. While black is a colour one should use with a lot of thought, this once I used it liberally. As soon as the shadows got done right, the colours from the other parts popped up and everything worked together.

I especially like how the figures turned out in this one... the lady sitting with her cup, the fellow with his cap, the couple on the right of the cart, and the food sellers with their distinctive identities. Adding human interest definitely ups the overall appeal of any painting.

I'll be working on a couple of bottles now, and then plunge headlong into Diwali festivities. :) See you all sometime next month....

The Farmer's Field

The farmer's field behind our house is the source of endless inspiration. I can actually sit in the comfort of my bedroom and stare all day at the lush green fields. The ripening crops attract a lot of birds and animals, and watching them intertact and play around is such fun.

In this piece I have tried capturing some such instances of activity in the fields - the butterflies flitting in and out of the swaying crops, the crow flying low looking for some food, the fat tabby cat waiting to pounce upon some unsuspecting bird.

I am quite happy with this one, especially because things did turn out as I had originally imagined. I can feel a series of more drawings brewing up inside....

Kashmir Valley

Chronologically, this one should've come before the previous post. It was started last month, and left to languish in the midst of my festive fiesta. Finally completed it earlier this week.

Done from a picture taken by a cousin on one of her many trips to the beautiful Kashmir valley in north India.


While I'm happy with the most part, after I finished I wished I'd done the skies differently. They seem to take the focus away from the pretty colours of the hills.

What do you think? Am I being too hard on myself! ;)

Cactus Country

My first submission to the Virtual Paintout blog featuring San Miguel de Allende this month. I am participating after a long gap of five months, and really enjoyed touring around the colourful streets of this month's location.

Click here to see the picture that I used for my small painting (7.5" x 5.5").

I really liked the outcome. Hope to be able to send across another one next week.

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.

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.

Waiting or Moored?

Remember the Falkenberg series of paintings I did last year? You can see them here and here.

Well, this is the last picture from that trilogy. Only while the older ones were done in acrylic, this time I decided to use watercolors.

While I love the way the boat and the grassy areas have come out, I feel the water could do better but I really don't know how. Any ideas or suggestions? Incidentally, this is the original picture that I used as reference.

I'm also not sure what I want to call it - Waiting or Moored. Maybe my readers should vote for this one and help me decide! :)

Gulmohar

Just tried doing a watercolor floral (undoubtedly my fav topic!) using the wax resist technique.

Not a great piece of work, but I did learn something new. I hope to try out more work (with better proportions, of course) using this technique soon.