Pink it is!

Oil on 4"*8" canvas panel

My second oil painting, loving them.

Succulent II

Oil on Canvas 4" * 4".

The second painting of the series.

Image credit: Gennine.

Succulent series. I

Mixed media on 4" * 4" canvas .

I have been planning to paint a series of succulents for ages.

 I am a long time admirer  of  Geninne's amazing work. I love every thing about her work. Watercolors, pottery, stamps, photography.... the list goes on and on.

Her collection of succulents are a huge source of inspiration to me. 

This painting is from one of her many amazing photos of succulents on her blog.

Basking in the sun

Watercolor on A4 size Indian Handmade Paper.

Practice practice and more practice. Hopefully should be able to understand watercolors better in a few more months.

Tropical Fruit.

Graphite on 130 gsm A4 paper.

Back to graphite, thought I am still playing with my charcoal sticks.
Some thing that I have been frustrated for a long time now, is the glare in my pencil work photographs. Pencil works are best photographed in a bright shade. But it is easier said than done. Even in the shade some part of the drawings got more light than the the rest, resulting in a glare or over darkening of one side of the drawing etc.
I have tried photographing at different times of the day. Afternoon works best if you have access to a terrace or open space where the light hits from all directions. But even then, even lighting is tricky (tricky sentence :) ). Evenings have never worked for me.
This particular photo, with which I am really happy was taken early in the morning just before sun rise. It was very bright outside but no sun rays hitting the art work, no glare, no shadows and very little editing required. I am all smiles.

Charcoal Sketches.

Charcoal sticks on cartridge paper. 

My new obsession.  Charcoal sticks...
I am in love with this medium.
Though I have used charcoal pencils before... was reluctant to use charcoal in any other form (chunky, vine, willow or compressed charcoal.).

Now that I have tried it,... am not going to stop.

Fruit Anybody??

Acrylic on Panel, 8" * 11"

I have had a couple of hardboard panels that I bought ages ago when I was starting to teach my self Acrylic paintings. I wanted to experiment with different surfaces and hence the purchase. I don't exactly remember what was on these panels, but a few years ago I painted white gesso over them. I sanded them to a smooth finish using fine grit sandpaper before starting with this piece.
I think I like the smooth panel better than the canvas texture.  

Fluffy Clouds



Acrylic on 8"* 11" Hardboard panel.

New book.

Watercolor on Brustro watercolor paper 5"*7"

I bought a new book ' The water-colourist's essential notebook - landscapes' by Gordon Mackenzie. Its a good book for anybody interested in watercolour and watercolour landscapes in particular. My first practice attempt from the book.

Sketches

Hurray,...We finally have a broadband connection at our place. Its been more than 10 months, since our shift to this house but were not able to find a broadband provider. We moved to a relatively new locality of our city. Just a couple of days before the shift, we realized that BSNL is not providing any phone or internet connection to our new apartment.  More cables required, overload etc etc were the reasons given.... one year since and still no cables.
Hopefully now this neglected blog of mine will see more action.

Violet .... or is it purple

Colour theory says blue mixed with red gives violet. Not so simple... two weeks of mixing and tweaking and more mixing and this is what I have.

Acrylic on canvas panel 4"*6"

Browns

An exercise in browns.

Acrylics on canvas panel. 4"*6".

Sketching

The last few months have been very, very busy here.... too many things going on ..... leaving no time for painting or blogging.

watercolours, acrylics and micron pens on hand made paper.

But my little sketch book has kept me company all through and so have my new Sakura micron pens.  Sharing a few sketches here.

watercolours, microns on hand made paper



micron pens on hand made paper.

 

Monarch butterfly

8"*10" Acrylic on Canvas Panel

More butterflies. Had a lot of fun mixing different blacks for this painting. Instead of using the color black right out of the tube I try mixing my own, every time I paint. This exercise in mixing colors has been a rewarding one, am getting better..

Back with butterflies.




8"*10".Acrylics on Canvas panel.

Have been away for a long time now. My son who is nine months old has been keeping me busy. Hope fully should be able to paint more often now.

The photo does not show the background colours accurately. Will try and post a more accurate picture soon.

Scenic Tuscan

Graphite on 180gsm Paper, 10"*6'"

Practicing clouds. Diane Wright, whom I have mentioned before has excellent tutorials on her website. I keep going back to her blog and website for inspiration and tips.
Following Diane's tutorial on clouds, I crosshatched the sky area with a F .5mm mechanical pencil. After blending the whole area with a paper towel, I sculpt the clouds with a plastic eraser. I keep working on the clouds erasing and darkening till I am satisfied with the results.
For the rest of the picture I have used  .5mm mechanical pencils with a 2B lead for the darkest tones, F, 2H and 4H for the lighter tones.

Iron Chain Completed

Charcoal, carbon and graphite pencil on Vellum Bristol. 10"*6"

Tried so many different techniques in this one piece alone. The idea was to to get a realistic rusted iron chain texture. What worked eventually was, for the shadowed regions of the drawing, stippling with carbon pencil first and then with a hard charcoal pencil. Then a light blending with a brush. 

For the bright sun lite parts of the chain, a series of reverse burnishing, starting with 7H then 4H and finally 2H to get the rough texture. The white of the paper were preserved by stippling with a empty ballpoint pen before hand.

Iron Chain WIP

Charcoal,carbon and graphite pencil on Vellum Bristol.

Working on an another charcoal, carbon and graphite combination. Posting the quarter part of the piece that I have been working on. More to come soon.

Marigold

Acrylics on gessoed watercolor paper.

Inspired be some amazing watercolor works by pencil jammers, I did try a few myself, with disastrous results. Now am back to acrylics, watercolors will have to wait.
Wanted to paint loose with minimal attention to detail, with emphasis on the brush strokes. The whole painting took me about 2 hrs in two sittings  Spent an hour or so drawing the sketch on a rough paper, transferring it onto the watercolor paper and laying down few initials layers of paint. I let the paint dry over night and finished the painting the next day.

Landscape Struggles Finished

Graphite on A4 paper.

Finally completed this piece. Have kept it pending for quite some time now. The techniques I used, back when I started this drawing did not let me darken the grass as much as I wanted. And also I destroyed a few portions of the paper by erasing too much.
After a few days of mourning I have made peace with the fact that I might not achieve the required results. After a few final adjustments, am calling this finished.