Floral Outings

Check out my floral outings this week. I painted these flowers on corrugated fiberboard pieces with acrylics, using pen outlines.

The first picture is of a flower that is currently blooming in my garden. The second picture was inspired by a photograph I came across while browsing.

Pity the camera didn't capture the shades of mauve too well. However good your camera may be (and mine is a high-res Sony), sometimes the naked eye works best! :)

Cityscape: San Francisco Street

I tried out a new style in painting yet again. And this time it was the urban setting of San Francisco (SFO) that caught my fancy.

Going through one of my favourite blogs, Different Strokes For Different Folks by artist Karin Jurick, I came across this picture of the SFO street.

My first reaction was 'How can anyone paint something so drab and grey?' But the responses that came in were such a learning experience. It taught me how to look at a subject from your own imaginative viewpoint so that even the most regular of shots could be interpreted in an aesthically pleasing fashion.



So this was my version of the SFO street, and I must admit I'm quite pleased with the end result. What do you think, dear readers?

Forced Creative Break

Duh! Am in the middle of dealing with a forced creative break. Its been over a month that I haven't touched my brushes. Just made some paper lanterns for Diwali with the kids, and a spot of rangoli, and that was it.... no more creative outings in the festive season. tch! tch!

Can't say I'm too happy about this scenario. Rather I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms.... Now wait, my creative brain says that is a good thing, a sign of the tumult inside. Let's see where this leads....
Promise to be back soon with something to show! And hope you all (from India) had a fabulous Diwali.

The Lighthouse

Way back when I was in high school, I had the opportunity to go up a lighthouse. I still remember the name of the place - it was the Chandrabhaga Lighthouse near the famous Sun Temple of Konark in Orissa.

We were on a trip to Orissa; on a rainy, drizzly afternoon as we went up the lighthouse, I still remember how breathtaking the view from top was! As we laboured up the long flight of steps, the deep-set windows brought in wafts of fresh sea breeze. I climbed right up to the top where the reflector is installed, and as I looked down the glass windows, one side was deep green forest and the other was a deep blue sea. Simply gorgeous! One day last week I was suddenly reminded of that experience, and so decided to paint a lighthouse.

This is again one of those quick acrylics on paper, completed over an afternoon. Making this helped me connect with that precious past experience once more.

P.S. : Posting is likely to be thin as the festive season starts, and I'll get to paint much less with all the moving around and socialising. But do keep checking in for updates.

Tea And Cakes

I'm in experimentation mode. So I decided to do this one.... it is a little different from my usual landscapes.

Though an acrylic on paper again, this painting doesn't come from any photograph but has been entirely conjured up in my head. Not a very difficult thing to do for a woman, given the subject! :)


I have always been charmed by the round-bottomed traditional ceramic teapot that comes along with its matching set of cups. This painting is simply an ode to one of the biggest pleasures that we take for granted - sipping tea while nibbling into a piece of cake. Mmmm...

Hope you enjoy this as much as I loved painting it.

Orange Hills

This time I kept my promise to be back soon! :)

And this time I worked using poster colours instead of the usual acrylics. Well, poster colours spread better with water but the colours do not have as much vibrancy as the acrylics do.

I also captured the progress of my work through its various stages. So the first wash looked like this.

After the first wash was completely dry, I worked on the details of the railway track and its surroundings.

Then the final painting turned out this way....


My inspiration photograph for this painting came from the very interesting travel blog of Mridula Dwivedi called Travel Tales From India.


This picture was taken on a walk from Barog to Solan during one of Mridula's trips to the Himachal, accompanied by her young nephews. Click here to read the associated article.

The Vanishing Trick

I never seem to be able to keep my word, do I? I make promises of showing you all my new creative projects and then disappear! Well, some of the reasons of my disappearance are given right here.

As for what I've been upto, I'll leave you with this teaser of an unfinished project for the kids. Hope to complete it over this weekend.

And yes, I just finished another painting, this time using my kids' poster paints. :) You'll get a peep into that too... very soon.... promise!!!