First Strokes

Does it ever happen to you?....

...That the first few strokes look so amazing that you never get around to working on the rest of it!!!

Yes, it happens with me many a times. This one lay on my work table like this for a week before I actually felt like going in and finishing it. Of course the finished piece always looks quite different from those initial strokes.

Come back next week and I'll give you glimpses of what this finally turned into!

Laburnum: A Quick Study

My walk in the park today drew my attention to the bunches of yellow hanging overhead. The Laburnum or Amaltas was blooming again, the faint sweetness of its fragrance hanging in the crisp morning air.

As I looked up, I could see a maze of yellow flowers, green leaves and brown stems, with bits of sky filling up the background.

That is exactly what I have tried to capture in this quick study of the Amaltas, a flower I have admired for long but could finally bring myself to paint only now.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Reflections

Again one of those abstracts that came to me as I lay in bed preparing to fall asleep. How these pieces assume shape and reach you through the haze between sleep and wakefulness is something I am unable to comprehend.

I remember thinking of beachy sunsets, and of that stage of sundown where the sky and the water seem to merge into one. And then this piece emerged.... carrying reflections of one in another.

The blues look strong and piercing through the camera but upfront they are a more pleasing shade.

Been doing some papier mache recently; hop over to my Facebook page to see what got made! Hope you all are gearing up for a good weekend....

Glassy Landscape

As I told you all a couple of weeks back, I had been working on a piece of cut and shaped glass for a friend. The glass had quite a few peaks, with a broad bottom half leading up to a narrow top. It was difficult to handle because of the jagged edges, and yet it was the ideal shape for a soothing landscape.

I really enjoyed doing this piece because it challenged me to think up new ways of depicting the obvious. So I mixed colours, used the process of stippling, and worked keeping in mind the tenets of reverse glass painting.

The end result is this gorgeous piece.... pity the camera doesn't quite do justice to the varied hues of  blue, especially used in the river. I can only give you a stilted, lying-down view but when you stand it up, the colours look amazing! Sharing with you a part preview for now since the friend has not yet seen the finished piece, and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Snooze Mode Musings

Yes, the blog has been running on snooze mode for a while. Post-exam holidays for the kids, new session madness, and a hundred other things on my to-do list meant very little time for any creative endeavours. Also, the change of seasons somehow meant more photography and less painting. So while I have some fabulous shots from our garden, I have very little painted stuff up for the walls....

Even then I have started working on some very interesting pieces of glass that a family friend brought along. He got the glass pieces shaped and cut because he wanted a particular look, especially with the larger piece. To take a look at my work in progress, check out my Facebook page.

In the meanwhile, the Facebook page itself has thrown up some pleasant surprises. It reached a 100 Likes at an excruciatingly slow pace but it has amazingly crossed 200 Likes in a little over a month. I'm ecstatic, of course!

I have a thousand ideas in my head but don't know how I'll squeeze out the time to convert them all into reality. Hang in there, dear readers.... the pace may have slowed but as long as there is progress there is nothing to worry about! Leaving you all with one of my photo compositions for a change.....

Poppy Studies

After the poppy crop came out in our garden, I did some plein air studies. The balmy spring weather, the sun warming my back, the cool breeze caressing my cheeks, and the mingled fragrance of so many flowers - it was the perfect weather to be out in the open!

And this is what they led to in the studio...

No, the picture isn't complete. For seeing the whole painting, you'll need to wait for me to have an exhibition! Talk about goals and having a wishlist.... :)

Poppymania

Didn't mean to disappear for so long but the kids' exams and a nagging back pain kept me away from posting. Now the first is done but the second still persists.... Anyhow, remember the poppies I was waiting for? Well, with the warmer temperatures, they are blooming all over..... including my studio!

So what better subject to take inspiration from? This painting of poppies is made with lots of texture. All those yellow highlighted outlines leap out at you, especially when the light falls at a certain angle. A good example of tactile art, this is one of those paintings that should be framed without glass. Have framed it for you using the online editor Lunapic.... but according to me, it doesn't require a mount at all; just a wooden frame will work wonders.

More poppies are blooming on my work table.... taking shape from scratch. Will share those soon. Till then, wish you all a blessed week ahead.