Gone with the City - My (he)art...

I still have my Heart left in New York City, even after a week of returning home. I only captured pictures as references for my Art, but preserved many moments for memories in my Heart. Though I have been many times to this city, it's only this time I saw the real side and much beauty of it.

Visiting The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art  was an unforgettable experience. I lost myself many times in front of the original paintings of many great artists; Jackson Pollock, Monet's Lillis, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Picasso, John Constable, Sargent...just to name a few.

Watching this great City from the Hudson River was the most memorable experience. The lights and illumination at the Times Square (The Crossroads of the World) with dark skies was the most colorful experience of life. I truly fell in love with the dynamism, beauty and colors of this city.

I chose Times Square as my first subject for the series of my Paintings on this City. It is my first watercolor painting of New York City. With all the vibrant colors done in a subtle way, left to viewers imagination are some details of this ever changing colorful place.

I learned and practiced few techniques along the path of my experiment with vibrant colors in this painting. Following are some techniques that I tried:

• No prior sketching
• Free flow of colors
• Natural flow of water on the paper
• Not many details
• Mixture of one color with it's adjacent colors to add some Drama
• No black and brown colors used at all

 Painting  - Taking the shape

 Materials 

Surface: Bienfang 140lb/207gsm Water Color paper; Stretched

Paints: Grumbacher - Cadmium Yellow, Violet, Winsor & Newton - Cotman Turquoise Aquarelle, Cobalt blue, Cadmium Orange Hue, Speedball Professional Water Colors Red

Brushes: 10 round sable, 00 synthetic Winsor & Newton, and 000 Sable synthetic blend

Mediums: water

Size: 9" x 12"

Every Attempt...

In Painting, every attempt is an opportunity for learning. I love flowers. Though I did few drawings and sketches of flowers in the past, I can almost say, I never attempted flowers in watercolor.

In this first attempt, along the way, I learned few techniques and noted some points:

• Let the color freely flow on the paper and mix with adjacent colors to give a smooth and subtle effect
• Be prepared to do mistakes, after all this is the best way to learn ;)
• Show contrasting in adjacent colors
• Tried to show water drops on the leaves, but felt like I am not there yet ;(

This painting is based on a photograph that I took from my front yard, the first yellow rose of the season. First, I did a quick sketch with the ballpoint pen as part of my study before this attempt.

 The Sketch 

 Painting  - Taking the shape

 Materials 

Surface: Winsor & Newton Cotman 140lb/300gsm water Color paper

Paints: Grumbacher - Cadmium Yellow, Winsor & Newton - Cotman Turquoise Aquarelle, Sap Green, Cobalt blue, Cadmium Orange Hue

Brushes: 10 round sable, 00 synthetic Winsor & Newton, and 000 Sable synthetic blend

Mediums: water

Size: 7" x 10"