"1 + 1 > 2" made possible...

Song dedicated to my Art by my classmate Kiran

What a pleasant surprise I had when I received this song on Telugu New Year's day Ugadi, from one of my closest classmates since my Engineering College days- Kiran Kakarlamudi.

Kiran is a Singer whose voice and presentation I admired most in my College days. He is also a multi-faceted Artist, but had passion for Music. I still remember a song-bit I learned from him on the Guitar instrument, a song-bit from the Hindi movie, Saagar, without even knowing on how to play notes on the Guitar. He was one of very few friends in my College who used to say encouraging words about my Arts.

After many years, I heard his voice couple of years ago when he shared with me an old Hindi song he sang. I had that song playing in repeat-mode while I was doing a painting for few hours. I did love it that much. And, now this special song compiled with my Paintings and dedicated to my Art brought "Tears of Joy" in my eyes. What a great honor my Art has received from my good friend, classmate and college-roommate. His voice gave life to each Painting he picked and compiled into this most beautiful presentation of my Art.

One of my classmates Raghunandan aptly coined this phrase by saying "1 + 1 > 2 made possible" when Kiran shared this with us. In Math, 1 + 1 > 2 is not possible. But with friends 1 + 1 > 2 is possible. Friends and friendship make it possible. In this song, it is thus made possible.

Whenever Art meets Art, it's a double-inspiration, double-treat and double-honor. I cherish this special song dedicated to my Art by Kiran forever!

Thank you Kiran!
Friends forever!!

"No friendship is an accident." - O. Henry, Heart of the West

Day-7 of Painting Challenge on Facebook . . .

Poster colors on Paper

Poster colors on Paper

Day-7 of Painting Challenge on Facebook . . .

I conclude this week-long #painting #challenge with the following 2 watercolor paintings done during my college days at #VRSEC Engineering college, #Vijayawada.

Both the paintings were done during my initial learnjng days by studying published paintings of Artist Uttam Kumar, an illustrator then in #AndhraBhoomi #Telugu weekly magazine. One thing common in both of these paintings is #woman with(in) the #nature. Each takes viewers into it's own story. They both depict different shades of a woman alongside of different changes of nature. Both nature and woman are portrayed beautifully showing the beautiful side of human-nature.

It's been a pleasure sharing my college days paintings and recollecting some of my memories with those.

Painting-1 signed and dated: Jan 14, 1988
Painting-2 signed and dated: Dec 3, 1988

Thanks to all those who took time to comment and a moment to click 'like' ;)
Special thanks to Indira Meka who followed this closely and eagerly, also saved and shared one of my paintings of those days that she got from me.

Day-5 of Painting Challenge on Facebook . . .

Ballpoint Pen on Paper

Day-5 of Painting Challenge

#Ballpointpen has been one of my strongest media. There are quite a few I did straight with ballpoint pen with no prior pencil outline. This is one among those.

The little #girl in this #painting like #drawing is trying to catch the #ocean into her small bucket. This is based on a very impressive printed-photograph I saw with my batchmate, one of my best friends and a good admirer of my art Srinivas Nilagiri.

Needless to say that I was quite happy with the outcome and it still remains as one of my favorite ballpoint works even after this many years!

Signed and Dated: Aug 30, 1987

Day-4 of Painting Challenge on Facebook . . .

Day-4 of Painting Challenge on Facebook

This is one of my early explorations of #watercolor #painting during my college days at #VRSEC, #Vijayawada. This is based on a painting by Thomas Moran, an American Artist, published in SPAN magazine I bought on the footpaths at Alankar theatre, #Vijayawada. I didn't know any techniques, didn't even know the basics of #colortheory. All I had was a limited set of poster colors and a strong desire to learn from #masters printed art works.

Details

Mediums: Camel Poster Colors on Paper

Inspiration: A Painting published in SPAN magazine

Size: 11" x 14" (28 cm x 36 cm)
Signed and Dated: Oct 21, 1987

Day-3 of Painting Challenge on Facebook . . .

Day-3 of Painting Challenge on Facebook

Another #painting based on an illustration by #Telugu Artist "Uttam Kumar" in Telugu weekly magazine #Andhrabhoomi. This is one of many I did in just #BlackAndWhite.

Most of my paintings that I did during my engineering college days at #VRSECnever went out of my hostel room. But, this is the only painting that got onto the "Literary Club News Board" and was displayed there for a week or so. One of my batch mates and a good friend of mine, Kiran Kakarlamudi made this happen with a caption of the following lines taken from a song:

"నీ నును పైటను తాకిన చాలు
గాలికి గిలిగింత కలుగునులే

నీ కనుచూపే సోకిన చాలు
సూర్యుడు వెన్నెల కాయునులే

నీ పాదాలూ తాకిన చాలు
శిలలైనా విరబూయాలిలే...."

Even as on today, if I happen to listen that Telugu song, this painting comes in and remains in the background.

Details

Mediums: Camel Poster Colors on Paper
Inspiration: A illustration by Uttam Kumar in Andhrabhoomi Telugu magazine

Size: 8" x 10" (20 cm x 25 cm)
Signed and Dated: Nov 26, 1988

Day-2 of Painting Challenge on Facebook . . .

Day-2 of painting challenge on Facebook

This is also one of the early milestones of my journey with #watercolors that boosted my confidence. I was so happy with this outcome and was so proud of it for many days at my home in #Kavali where I did this one.

This is based on a photograph from a Calendar of beautiful pictures that I got from my uncle Sudhakar Jaladanki. The original picture was a lake in beautiful #Kashmir in #India.

Details

Mediums: Camel Poster Colors on Paper
Inspiration: A calendar picture of a lake in Kashmir, India

Size: 8" x 10" (20 cm x 25 cm)
Signed and Dated: Aug 4, 1987

Day-1 of Painting Challenge on Facebook . . .

Day-1 of Painting Challenge on Facebook

Accepting the nomination for a 7-day Painting Challenge from one of my good Art Friends Mridula Satyamurti, I will be posting one painting each day starting from today for next 7 days. I chose to post my college days Paintings rather than recent ones in this challenge. These are the Paintings that I did when I was in my #EngineeringCollege #vrsec in #Vijayawada.

This very first #Painting is a mere copy of "Uttam Kumar"- a fantastic #TeluguArtist of those years who worked as an Illustrator for #Telugu weekly magazine #Andhrabhoomi, the one and only one Artist from India who later worked with thousands of other Artists for Hollywood animation movies. As I always say, his Paintings inspired me in my college days to hold a brush and start painting.

This is based on one of his paintings he did as part of his series in #Andhrabhoomi magazine under the title "Uttama Naayikalu". This one is one of my early watercolor paintings done with #CamelPosterColors. Needless to say that one of my best came out at the very beginning of my journey with #Watercolor Painting.

"Imitating Masters always gives an Artist a jump start with learning". Hope my Facebook friends enjoy this series. Thanks to Mridula Satyamurti for nominating me to take part in this 7-day challenge.

Details

Mediums: Camel Poster Colors on Paper
Inspiration: One of Uttam Kumar's Paintings published in Andhrabhoomi Telugu magazine

Size: 8" x 10" (20 cm x 25 cm)
Signed and Dated: Dec 11, 1988

Proud moments...

My Drawing on Telugu TV - tv9

I was watching tv9 - Telugu tv last night and there was a program about ShantiPriya. To my pleasant surprise, I saw my Art in there. They used one of my Drawings that I did in my college days. That was originally the drawing of Bhanupriya. I felt happy to see my Art on TV.

Those days that I did many of Bhanupriya's portraits are still fresh in my memory. This one is based on a picture from a Filmfare magazine that I bought on the footpaths in Vijayawada at the Alankar Center on a Sunday evening where there used to be a big sale of old books and magazines.

Here is the original one. I have it framed and seen in my Drawing room. I proudly said many times to many people that I did this one straight with Ballpoint Pen. Now it makes me feel prouder.

Portrait of Bhanupriya

Details
Mediums: Ballpoint Pen
Title: Bhanupriya
Category: Portraits
Inspiration: Photograph from Filmfare magazine

Size: 4" x 6" (11 cm x 16 cm)
Signed and Dated: Sep 19, 1988