Sunday, June 12, 2016

My Art Teacher who taught me how to draw...

With the beautiful Painting of Goddess Saraswathi by
my Art Teacher done on a wall in my school. 

Though my Dad and my uncle Jaladanki Sudhakar were two persons whose Art works I observed very closely in my childhood before I left home at the age of 9 years to Gurukula Vidyalayam, there was another person whose Art works I observed even more closer, admired more and in fact learned Art from him as one of his students. My Art Teacher from my high-school, A.P. Residential School, Kodigenahalli, Sri. M. Venkateswara Rao was my first-and-the-only Art Teacher in my life.

We used to have just one 45-minute "Art Period" every week in our school from 5th to 9th grade. Those five years, I was probably one of the two or three students in my class of 36 students who used to look forward for that one Art period, week after week.

The special Art notebook that we used to carry to our Art period which was at least two times the size of a regular subject notebook with just about 20 pages or so to fill-in with Art for the full school-year. I saved some of my Art works I did in my school days, but couldn't save any of pages from my Art subject notebook as at the end of the school-year, we had to return all our notebooks to the school.

Many of our school Art periods are still very fresh in my memory including the very small room next to our 5th class dormitory which used to be our Art teacher's room initially. The outer-side wall of that room had three beautiful Paintings with wonderful messages, 1) Goddess Saraswathi Devi with the slokam "yakundendu thusharahaara dhavalaayaa subhra vsthraamitha..." 2) Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation, India with some of his finest words, and 3) Rabindranath Tagore with his poem, "Where the mind is without fear...". All those beautiful paintings were done by our Art Teacher. Even after 30+ years those paintings are still there on the wall.

Also, the new and big Auditorium never fades out in my memory, in which my Art Teacher had his room at one corner with a small wall-window, in my later years at our school. He used to have a small watercolor painting of Saraswathi in a simple frame on his table. Whenever I used to go there, my eyes and heart just used to stare at that beautiful painting. That small painting got a photo-print in my memory. When I try to recollect it from my memory, it often comes out as the most beautiful painting I have ever seen and admired since my school days. I am still trying to extract it out from my memory so that I can try to reproduce it, as close to it as I can, in coming years to pay my respects to my Teacher.

One of the best things happened in my life recently was our first-ever school reunion in Dallas, US. I met many of our schoolmates, seniors, juniors and one of our teachers there. One of my seniors brought his school autograph book and showed the autograph from our Art Teacher. His Autograph was nothing but a very beautiful sketch in that book of small size: 3"x4". I was so happy to see the sketch and immediately took a picture of it- a quick sketch as his autograph on one page and his hand-writing on the other page. I am so glad that I took pictures of those two pages.

God plans few things for us upon hearing our prayers and delivers those to us at appropriate times in life. I believe, the God certainly delivered those two pages to me on that occasion.

Here are the two pages:

My Art Teacher's quick sketch from
one of my senior's autograph book
My Art Teacher's hand-writing
I was also so happy to call my Teacher's son after our school reunion event, who was also a student of our school and was a junior to me. With so much of joy which is hard to express in words, I did talk with my Teacher, 3 decades after graduating from the school. I shared my Art Blog with my Teacher. Later, his son shared with me, what my Teacher said after looking at some of my paintings..."Giri drew better than me". I do not consider that I drew better than my Teacher in anyway, but take it as- the best blessings that my Art ever received. Also, that is the best compliment a student can get from his Teacher.

A couple my Teacher's paintings I collected from his Son:

One of my Art Teacher's Paintings
An Oil Painting by my Art Teacher
on a wall at his home

Some of my Teacher's Art works from memories of my school days:

  • Paintings on walls of several buildings around the school campus
  • Many good quotations in Telugu and English that were painted on the back walls many of our  classrooms.
  • The sketches that he used to prepare with help of few selected students for Science Fair Projects.
  • The stencil of our school name he made and used to print on our t-shirts for our Grigs: district-level Games & Sports we used to participate representing our school.
  • Sculpture on Soaps. Especially, the Taj Mahal on Pears soap, the only transparent bath soap available those days, placed in a see through box made out of audio cassette plastic box with an  added small light behind it. A marvelous piece of Art. (I attempted this feat of sculpture on soaps at least three times so far, and I wish I could do more of it.)
  • Our class-room black boards with white letters painted on the top left corner.

Art always touches hearts and lives longer. I hope to see and collect some more of my Art Teacher's works in future.

With great respects, I say- "Thank you Sir, for teaching me Art" and I also thank God for all these great memories of Art.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Indian Woman in Sari...

Indian Woman in Sari
Indian woman- yet another theme that I chose this year for my series of Paintings. For hundreds of generations, Indian women did not come out of their homes. But, this generation of Indian women changed it altogether. They are equally educated as men and proved that they are capable, stronger and even complete human-beings by all means.

For centuries, nothing could influence Indian women to change their traditional dress style which is- Sari. In recent years, the world has changed faster than ever, so as India. Indian women now are seen in western outfits and are much more free to wear what they like. But still...on any given day, an Indian woman would like to see herself a complete woman, only in the traditional and beautiful Sari.

In this new series of my Paintings, I am going to paint this traditional, yet elegant and gorgeous dress style of Indian women: Sari.

Happy Painting!

While progressing:


Details
Mediums: Watercolors
Title: Indian woman in Sari
Category: Portraits
Reference: Telugu actress Anushka's picture
Size: 16" x 20" (40 cm x 50 cm)

Toolkit
Surface: Artistico Fabriano Watercolor Paper, 140 lb Cold Press,
Paints: Winsor & Newton Cadmium Lemon, Hooker's Green, Neutral Tint, Ultramarine Blue, Prussian Blue, HWC Lavender, Daniel Smith Quinacridone Purple, Quinacridone Sienna
Brushes: Winsor & Newton Sable 6, Da Vinci Kolinsky Round Size 1, 3 and RAPHEL Pure Squirrel Mop Brush (N0. 8)

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Indian Woman Hair Style...

Indian Woman - Hair Style

Looking at some of my Paintings, one of my Artist-friends made a comment- "Giri, you always show Indian woman looking so happy & beautiful in your Paintings". One of the new themes that I thought I would do a series of Paintings this year was - Indian Woman.

I love painting Portraits and especially the hair. It's bit hard doing hair in watercolor paintings. This is my second painting of this kind. My first one can be seen here.

I also did sketch as part of doing a value study for this Painting. Here is the sketch.

Happy painting and Keep practicing!
Stage-1
Stage-2
Stage-3
Stage-4
Details
Mediums: Watercolors
Title: Indian woman hair style
Category: Portraits
Inspiration: Random pictures
Size: 16" x 20" (40 cm x 50 cm)

Toolkit
Surface: Artistico Fabriano Watercolor Paper, 140 lb Cold Press,
Paints: Winsor & Newton Cadmium Lemon, Hooker's Green, Neutral Tint, Ultramarine Blue, Prussian Blue, HWC Lavender, Yellow Ocher, Daniel Smith Quinacridone Purple, Quinacridone Sienna
Brushes: Winsor & Newton Sable 6, Da Vinci Kolinsky Round Size 1, 3 and RAPHEL Pure Squirrel Mop Brush (N0. 8)

Saturday, March 26, 2016

An Art is not a lifeless piece of colors...

Gateway Arch, St. Louis

This Day That Age...

It was 28 years ago today I did this small Painting of Gateway Arch, St. Louis. At that time, I didn't even know where on the earth this Monument was. But, it was an amazing feeling when I went to St. Louis and spent a full-day on a weekend at the monument in the year 2003, almost 15 years after I did this Painting.

Today, when I look back 28 years from now, it takes me into my small but wonderful world of that student-life, filled completely with nothing but just Books, Friends and Love of Art.

"An Art is not a lifeless piece of colors. It has life and tells it's own story even to the Artist who created it. As the time goes by, the story it tells is filled with some of the finest moments of an Artist's Life."

This was done based on a photograph published in a local Telugu News Paper.

Details
Reference: Picture published in a Telugu News Paper
Mediums: Indian Ink and Poster Colors on Paper
Surface: Paper
Size: 8" x 6" (20 cm x 15 cm)

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Time to clean up that mess...

messy Palette - watercolor
Artists' palettes usually look very messy. I myself often wonder how such messy surface can be the base for creating beautiful and wonderful paintings. Believe it or not, some Artists never clean their palettes ;)

I took a break from my watercolor painting to experience Painting in Oils last summer. Just opened my palette today to see what kind of mess I had left on it after my last watercolor painting. All of the color-slots have pretty dry paint left and the mixing areas and large wells for washes  all got dried-up. Before I clean this mess, I thought I'd rather take a snapshot of it, which when I look back reminds me, two years of wonderful journey into my dream of watercolor painting.

Now, it's time to clean up that mess and start a new journey from here again. Looking forward to fantastic experiences again after this break.

Creation is always a messy process, but the outcome of a creation is always wonderful.

Don't be afraid to get into messy things when you are trying to create anything that is wonderful and beautiful!

Happy Painting and get into it by all means of messy ways!

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Value study...

"Value study" done before watercolor painting
Many Artists do a value study of the subject before they start Watercolor Painting. Value study is nothing but a quick sketch done to study the composition of shapes that make up the painting. The study of composition also includes finding the values, usually classified into three: 1) darks, 2) mediums and 3) lights.

Typically, value study is done with Pencil as pencil is close to Watercolors. Pen and ink is also good media to do a value study as darks and mediums can be easily shown. The sketch done to do value study is generally smaller in size than the actual painting. It basically helps studying the subject quickly. Once the study is done, it will be a good reference during the actual painting.

This sketch is done as a "value study" to my next painting. Darks are identified with dark black, mediums are shown with finer lines of black, and lights are nothing but the areas of paper not touched.

Happy Painting!
If you have a passion of Painting, keep painting.
Today is yesterday's tomorrow, to have no regrets of yesterday ;)

Details
Reference: Picture from internet
Mediums: Ink Pen on Paper
Size: 11" x 81/2" (28 cm x 21.5 cm)

Toolkit
Pens: Prismacolor Premier Brush Tip Marker (black), Staedtler 0.33mm ink pen
Surface: Heavyweight (80#) Sketching Paper

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Practice is the only way...

Sketching - Eyes
Keep practicing to get better. Practice is the only way!
Happy sketching!

Here is an inline few seconds glimpse of my sketch while progressing (video credits: Bhuvan Pottepalem):

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/BQnZDxN4sow


Details
Title: Eyes
Inspiration: Desire to improve my skills
Reference: My college day paper collections
Mediums: Ink pen
Surface: Heavyweight (80#) Sketching Paper
Size: 11" x 81/2" (28 cm x 21.5 cm)

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Climb High...

I didn't know what material I needed, where to buy and how to start. All I knew was I wanted to do Painting. A strong desire to learn Painting. That strong desire drove me to explore all book-stores and shops in search of Painting material in Vijayawada, my college-town in India.

In fact, this one was my very-first-attempt to do a watercolor painting with Camel Poster colors I bought. I still remember that joyful moment of my first step into a long journey of Painting! The journey started about 29 years ago today...This Day that Age!

Keep your Aim always higher than the goal.
Happy Painting!

This Day that Age: The very first step of my journey into Painting
Details
Title: Climb High
Inspiration: Desire to test & improve my skills
Reference: Newspaper Ad
Mediums: Camel Poster Colors
Surface: Paper
Size: 15" x 9' (38 cm x 23 cm)
Dated: Feb 20, 1987

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Drawing like a Painting...

Portrait of Bhanupriya - Ballpoint Pen on Paper
I heard some Artists saying- don't paint like a drawing. That's true! When you are painting, don't paint like a drawing. But, what if I am drawing and I want to draw like a painting? That's an interesting thought and exactly what I questioned myself before I started drawing this.

In Painting, there is always a set of colors to choose from and different values of single color to get the composition and all the shades desired. The surface chosen to Paint also helps and plays an important role along the way. In drawing, you don't have all that luxury of choices and help. Typically, all you have is the surface and one medium like pencil, ink, charcoal etc that you choose. Of course, each medium comes with it's own challenges. All you depend on is, just your own skill.

Painting doesn't require accuracy, but drawing does.

In Art, in my opinion, there are no boundaries, and no hard and fast rules. Just go with no rules and boundaries and do you what you enjoy doing. When you enjoy and love what you do, nothing else matters much!

Happy Drawing and Happy Painting!

Here is a snapshot of work in progress:

Drawing in progress...
Here is a few seconds glimpse of my drawing while progressing (video credits: Bhuvan Pottepalem):

Youtube link to video: https://youtu.be/Sd0WzgL0xgg


Details
Title: Portrait of Bhanupriya
Inspiration: Desire to test & improve my skills
Reference: A paper cutting from my college-days (portrait of Telugu actress Bhanupriya)
Mediums: BIC round stic Grip fine Ballpoint Pen
Surface: Utrecht Smooth 2-Ply Plate Finish Acid Free Paper
Size: 11" x 14' (28 cm x 36 cm)

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Crispy Sketching with Ballpoint Pen...

Woman in Towel
Sketching with Pen is very common. Ballpoint Pen offers more crisp and sharp lines than Ink Pen. Artists often use Pen in their sketching.

Though I started doing a rough sketch as a reference for my Painting, it took me on the finer path and helped me doing more detailed study.

Woman in Towel - work in progress

First time ever, I tried to capture a video while sketching (video credits: Bhuvan Pottepalem).

Youtube link: https://youtu.be/3st6OVfyhOw


Happy Drawing ;)

Details
Title: Woman in Towel
Mediums: Ballpoint Pen on Paper
Surface: Heavy weight 80# Sketching Paper
Size: 11 x 8 1/2" (27.9cm x 21.6 cm)

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Art Taking Part in BigHelp Annual Event - 2016...

BigHelp 2016 - Stage Decoration
A quick brainstorming of two Artists, one hour conference call with BigHelp committee, more than 10 hours of paper-cutting & preparations and 3 hours of stage decoration, all these efforts together had set this year's BigHelp Annual Event's Stage with a simple but elegant look. Within the limited time, resources and BigHelp's theme with added simplicity, Radha Jaldu and I took this task of Stage Decoration and we were pleasingly satisfied with our efforts & the outcome.

Though I have been helping with Art Contest for last few years, this year, it was a very satisfying experience for me, sitting in the audience and enjoying the cultural programs with my heart filled with the feeling of- our Art Taking Part in BigHelp Annual Event.

It was an amazing satisfaction for taking our Art become part of this year's BigHelp Fundraising Annual Event for the noble cause of helping needy students. Not just the stage decoration, I also took part in helping with Judging the Art contest, Rangoli contest and Coloring contest.

I am happy to take my Art part of this event for a noble cause.

Thanks to BigHelp President & Chairman Mr.Chand Pasha Shaik and Boston Chapter President Mrs.Sandhya Bommaraju for their trust on our creativity and making us part of this wonderful event.

Also, thanks to all those helpers who helped us on the stage arranging each and every bird and making sure that we were getting the shape that we visualized.

"Enjoy the satisfaction that comes from doing little things well."
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

The complete stage decoration


Sunday, January 3, 2016

New Year - New Hope...

Sketch
New Year comes with new hope. New hope gives new energy...

Happy New Year!
Happy Painting!


Details
Inspiration: Sagara Sangamam Movie
Mediums: Ink and Watercolors on Paper
Surface: Strathmore SmoothBristol 100 lb (270 g/m2) Acid Free Paper
Size: 8 1/2" (21.5cm x 28 cm)