Stay Talented...

Bharathanatyam - Indian Classical Dance
Watercolors on Paper (8.5" x 11")   

Talent put into constant practice keeps you stay talented. Once talented doesn't mean talented forever. Like anything in life including relationships, once started losing touch, talent fades away slowly with time. All top talented people are constant practitioners.

Be a constant practitioner of your talent in privacy and stay talented in public!

"A career is born in public - talent in privacy." - Marilyn Monroe

Happy Painting! Happy Practicing!!

Details
Inspiration: Rukmini Vijayakumar - classical dancer
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

Expressive efforts...

Nátyánjali - my tribute to Indian Classical Dance
Watercolors on Paper (8.5" x 11")    

You get nowhere without putting in efforts. The more efforts you put in, the more successful you will be. There is no exception to this fact.

This painting is done after adding in more efforts to get it to what it looks like now. Few months ago, I actually did a fast pencil sketch but did not promote it to be a painting with more efforts. The main reason was, I never wanted to paint a female with no smile on her face. I was so sure that a smile on the face in this gesture looks odd. However, Indian classical dance is more than a dance, and is very expressive. Not only the face, but also the body expresses the meaning of lyrics and music.

Art is very expressive. The expressiveness of a Painting goes into it through the efforts of the Artist and comes out through the eyes of the viewer.

Make your efforts expressive! Happy Painting!!

“Much effort, much prosperity.” - Euripides

Details
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

Draw into Painting...

Watercolors on Paper (8.5" x 11")    

Drawing is essential to become an Artist or a Painter. It's my opinion that painting is nothing but drawing with brush. One who can draw can paint as well. Unlike pencil or pen used for drawing, brush gives wider, greater and multi-dimensional flexibility.

A successful painter is the one who knows how to use all dimensions offered by the brush. So, first draw, draw until you become good at it, then draw yourself into painting. Painting is certainly challenging, but drawing eases those challenges. I think, I found an intermediate ground where in I blend drawing into painting and painting into drawing, both done with brush on paper where I get to meet challenges offered by both and deal with those.

“Drawing is absolutely essential to becoming a successful artist.” - Mary Whyte

Happy Drawing! Happy Painting!!

Details
Inspiration and Credits: Amrapali Boutique
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

Be Graceful and Beautiful...

Nátyánjali - my tribute to Indian Classical Dance
Watercolors on Paper (8.5" x 11")    

Talent is born with you and stays hidden within you, until you identify and put-in efforts to bring it out. Identifying and bringing it out is enough to be talented, but not enough to stay talented. Practice makes you stay there. Those who practice their talent become and stay talented.

So, first identify your talent, then practice to become and stay talented!!

This is a very classic pose in Indian Classical Dance. I made minor changes from the reference picture I took to make it look more like my favorite dancer, who was so delicate, graceful and beautiful by all means in dance. People who know me enough, know very well who that dancer is ;)

Also, this is one of my favorite paintings in recent months. I got what I wanted, 100% in this painting. My initial base pencil sketch went through several erases while progressing towards "Grace and Beauty" that I was aiming for. But keeping up with what I got in pencil-sketch all through the next painting stage was a BIG challenge. The supportive vertical black split-lines I added enhanced it further. But, I spoiled it at one point by adding a drop of orange color to the mix. Like life, painting is a process that takes you through ups and downs. At the end what matters is, how we arise from a downfall and get going towards our goal. I was happy with what I did with colors further to turn what I thought I spoiled into improved.

Best Compliment
One of the best compliments I got in recent years was from an Artist friend on Facebook. His words made my day! He read my heart in this Painting. Click to read his compliment.

Happy painting! Turn down side up!!

"Be graceful and beautiful in what you do, than in what you say." - Giridhar Pottepalem

Details
Title: Nátyánjali - my tribute to Indian Classical Dance
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

Ahead...

Ahead...

Watercolors on Paper (8.5" x 11")    

It's better to find yourself where you want to be in the future than getting lost in the past. Looking ahead is always brighter than looking back. Make your future bright. Work for it today, everyday, and you will meet yourself a day in there.

"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time." - Dean Acheson

Happy painting!

Details
Title: Ahead...
Inspiration: Amrapali Boutique
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

'చిరునవ్వుల' నిండుదనం...

"చిరునవ్వుల నిండుదనం"
Portrait of Talented Dancer & Telugu Actress Karronya Katrynn
Watercolors on Paper (8.5" x 11")

"కట్టూ బొట్టూ కలిసిన

'తెలుగు'దనం...

చిరునవ్వులు విరిసిన

'నిండు'దనం..."

“A smile is the best makeup any girl can wear.” – Marilyn Monroe

Happy Painting!

Details
Title: "చిరునవ్వుల నిండుదనం"
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

Fill in the Darkness...

Fill in the Darkness...
Watercolors on Paper (8.5" x 11")    

Everyday is a blank canvas given to each one of us along with twenty-four hours of time to paint whatever we want to paint on it. Once that given time is over, the canvas disappears into our memories. The canvas given is full, but empty. We need to fill that full emptiness with colors of our choice picking from dark and light. Whether we choose dark(er) colors or light(er) colors, it's all up to us. The more light we choose to add in, the more it shines in our memories. The darker we make it, the duller it goes in and vanishes faster.

Fulfill your day in light of today for tomorrow. For tomorrow, to re-collect it as a shining star around you, not as darkness into which you will be lost. Fill in the Darkness with Light, the light of your choice!

Happy Diwali, the festival of lights!
Happy Painting!
Lighten up your day as you wish!

"An empty canvas is full." - Robert Rauschenberg

Details
Title: Fill the Darkness...
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

Delicacy...

Delicacy of Indian woman hairstyle
Watercolors on Paper (8.5" x 11")   

Art is delicate, so an Artist is. Dealing with delicacy is not easy both in Art and in person. I love delicacy. This hairstyle and particularly this view of head is interesting to me for doing a portrait. This is not the first time I did this pose. I did a very similar pose in the past which was a full-blown watercolor painting. Check it out here.

I had to add so much of delicacy to my brush-work in dealing with all the delicacy in this portrait on a sketch book paper which is not good for watercolor painting. Enjoyed delicately dealing with all the delicacy.

Happy Painting! Be delicate, don't be rough!! ;)

"True strength is delicate." - Louise Berliawsky Nevelson

Dedicate this Painting (Oct 23, 2019)

I dedicate this painting to my VR Siddhartha Engineering College Professor and Head of the Department of Computer Science, Sri. Jatindas Dandamudi garu who taught us programming languages Fortran and COBOL along with other Computer Science subject with a passion. Our batch of 20 students was the very first batch of Computer Science from that college. Hence we had a great bond with all our Computer Science lecturers and professors back then and we all have been affectionately connected with them since then.

I got in contact with our professor a couple of years ago on Facebook and since then he used to appreciate my Paintings regularly through his comments. I am deeply saddened today to know about his demise. In fact, he appreciated this Painting just two days before he passed away. That comment has now become so precious to me. I consider and will remember his last words about my painting as his last blessings for my Art!

Sir, thank you so much for being a beloved Professor and we greatly miss you now! With tears running down from my eyes, now I recollect and I remember all those classroom-days when you were teaching us. I pay my great respects to you and what we learned from your teachings. My thoughts and prayers are with your family. May his soul Rest in Peace!

Thank you Sir! 🙏🙏🙏


Details
Title: Delicacy in Indian woman hairstyle
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

Great to be Simple...

Great to be Simple
Watercolors on Paper (8.5" x 11")    

It's good to be great. But it's great to be simple.
Be simple and humble to be great.

Happy Painting! Happy Simplicity!!

"There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth."

-Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (9 Sep 1828-1910)

Details
Title: Great to be Simple
Inspiration: Amrapali Boutique
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

పరవశం...

పరవశం
Watercolors on Paper  8.5" x 11"   .

Little practice...
Little joy...
Little satisfaction...
That's how my weekend goes on...
Even if time doesn't permit, I permit time to find me to do...

If you permit your time, you will never complain that you do not have it for anybody or anything.

"Words are but pictures of our thoughts." - John Dryden

Happy Painting!

Details
Title: పరవశం
Inspiration: Amrapali Boutique
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

Wear a Smile...

Wear a Smile
Watercolors on Paper 8.5" x 11"      

Don't forget to wear a Smile, nothing fits you better than a smile does ;)

"Nothing you wear is more important than your smile." - Connie Stevens

Details
Title: Wear a Smile
Inspiration: Amrapali Boutique
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

Keep building...

Watercolors on Paper 8.5" x 11"    

No effort goes waste. It's only by doing one can learn, improve and build wealth of experience.

"All wealth is the product of labor." - John Locke

Keep Painting!
Keep building wealth!!

Details
Mediums: Ink and Watercolors on Paper
Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

"బాపు" బొమ్మ...

"బాపు" బొమ్మ
Watercolors on Paper (11" x 13")

తెలుగు అమ్మాయి అంటే

అప్పుడూ ఇప్పుడూ ఎప్పుడూ

"బాపు బొమ్మ" లానే ఉండాలి...

అదే నిండైన తెలుగుదనం

అదే తెలుగు కి తీరైన అందం...

Happy Painting!

Details
Title: "బాపు" బొమ్మ...
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Inspiration: Talented Dancer and Telugu Actress, Karronya Katrynn

Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Canson Watercolor Paper, 140 lb Cold Press

Let your smile show you the results...

Smile...
Watercolors on Paper (11" x 13")   

Let your smile show you the results of your efforts, and let your smile be the result of it. We all know that nothing can defeat a Smile. Yet, we forget to have it. Always start your work with a smile and end with a smile. The result will quietly be quite different.

Half way through it, I almost gave up on this Painting as the paper was very challenging. At one point, I  even thought of starting it over on a different paper. There came out a Smile on my face. I smiled and continued working on it to capture that stunning jewel, the Smile that the lady in the portrait is wearing. I finished it with a Smile.

My Smile gave me this result and I love it. I love my smile, I love the result it gives me.

This is certainly one of my best so far, and I myself have been staring at it several times ever since I created it. Makes me feel like I climbed one more step in Painting by this. It's all nothing but the magic in that Beautiful Smile ;)

"Never regret anything that made you smile."

- Mark Twain

Happy Painting!
Smile and let it's result make you smile even more!

Details
Title: Smile...
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Inspiration: A Smile

Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Canson Watercolor Paper, 140 lb Cold Press

రంగులలో కలవో...

రంగులలో కలవో...
Watercolors on Paper (9" x 12")    

Details
Title: రంగులలో కలవో...
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Inspiration: A boring day.

Size: 9" x 12" (23 cm x 30.5 cm)

Surface: Canson Cold press, 140 lb/300 gm2 Watercolor Paper

Quality comes by quantity...

Dancing with Colors...
Watercolors on Paper (8.5 " x 11")    

I missed many things in life. Along the way of busy/lazy life (my synonym for busy is lazy), I also missed my passion: Art for many years. Not anymore, I am back with it now. When we miss somebody or something for a longtime and meet again, we feel like catching up. That's what I am doing with my Art. Catching up with time, time that went way ahead of me. I have many years to catch up. The only way to do so is to be with it, more and more.

I strongly believe in work, hard-work rather. Success comes by quality, but quality comes by quantity. All successful Artists are the ones who did tonnes and tonnes of art works. The more we work, the better we get at anything.

Don't get trapped by misleading and very discouraging words, "it's quality not quantity that matters". In reality, both matter. After all, quality can never be achieved without quantity, especially in Arts. Just go and do it, whatever you feel like and whenever you feel like. Transform it into a habit, one day you will get there, where you want to.

There are two erased pencil outlines underneath this painting. I wanted to do this Indian classical dance pose very differently. Started by doing a simple line sketch, erased and started doing more realistic, erased again and started to do just shadows. Happy with the outcome.

When my brush dances on the paper, my soul dances in colors... ;)

Happy Painting!
Dance with your soul!!

"Quantity and persistence will get you the outcomes you need." - James Altucher

Details
Title: Dancing with colors...
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Reference: A photograph collected from Narthanam

Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

Just be yourself...

Just be yourself...
Ink and Watercolors on Paper (8.5" x 11")    

Much of the world moves on by imitation. A child born learns by imitating people around, starts developing a personality influenced by family and friends. Most of the times we try to be like others, and act for others.

The best of all is none other than you, nowhere else found better than within yourself. Bring out that YOU within you and just be yourself. Smile like you, be like you, live like you, do like you do, and just be yourself...

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” - Oscar Wilde

Happy Painting!

Details
Title: Just be yourself...
Mediums: Ink and Watercolors on Paper
Reference: A photograph from my collection

Size: 8.5" x 11" (21.5 cm x 27.9 cm)

Surface: Artist's Loft Sketchbook, 75 lb/110 gm2 Acid-free Paper

Learn to be...

Nátyánjali - My tribute to Indian Classical Dance
Watercolors on Paper 16" x 20" (41 cm x 51 cm)   

Patience is one among many that passion teaches us, as long as we are open to learn. I like doing anything fast(er). I never used to like slow in (m)any thing(s) in life. My passion for Painting is my teacher these days. One of the best things I learned and am still learning from it is patience. When I do things patiently, the results are very different.

Indian Classical Dance is another form of Art that I admire most, I do not know why. The only way I can pay my tributes to this Art is through my Paintings. A dancer with Konark Temple backdrop has been there in my dream-list for a long time, since 2010. This is my attempt with watercolors, patience and hard work. I am happy with the outcome. I will repeat the same in Oil on a huge canvas for my new dream home.

"I've learned that anything in life worth having comes from patience and hard work."

- Greg Behrendt

Happy Painting!
Have patience!!

Details
Title: Nátyánjali - My tribute to Indian Classical Dance
Mediums: Watercolors on Paper
Reference: A Dancer photograph from my collection and Konark Temple pictures

Size: 16" x 20" (41 cm x 51 cm)

Surface: Arches Watercolor Paper