A painting can change the mood...

Bharatanatyam

Certain days have a gloomy start; we don't know what to do, but we feel like doing something close to our heart. Yesterday, on such a day, I opened my college-days collection of paper cuttings. Most of those were mainly appealing to me and a source of inspiration for me to start a drawing or painting during my college-days. A small black and white picture which I believe I did a pen sketch for our college magazine made me to start this painting. Guess what, rest of my day took me out from this world for few hours.

I tried to get that very pleasant face into my painting. At the end, I felt like I should have started even on a bigger size paper. I gave my best to turn my gloomy day into a bright one.

Art is always inspiring, refreshing and can change bad mood into good mood.

Happy Painting ;)

Materials 

Mediums: Watercolors
Surface: Canson Artist Series Watercolor Paper, 140 lb/300 G, Cold press
Size: 11" x 13 1/2" (28 cm x 34 cm)

Paints: Winsor & Newton - Opera Rose, Raw Sienna, Olive green, Grumbacher Academy Violet and Rowney Georgian Ultramarine Blue

Brushes: 8, 6, 2 and 000 round Sable

Stages 

Stage-2: Initial Painting

Stage-1: Pencil sketch

Telugu Girl...

Telugu Girl

Enjoyed doing this portrait along my journey of exploring watercolor painting.

Happy Painting ;)

Materials 

Mediums: Watercolors
Surface: Arches Watercolor Paper, 140 lb, Cold press
Size: 16" x 20" (40 cm x 50 cm)

Paints: Winsor & Newton - Raw Sienna, Cadmium Orange hue, Olive gren, Hooker's green, Rowney Georgian - Burnt Sienna, Grumbacher Academy - Cadmium yellow pale hue, Ivory black

Brushes: 8 round Sable, and 2 round Sable

Going bigger....

A feedback that I got lately from many of my friends and viewers was- "You will have try bigger paintings". I attempted a portrait on a bigger paper 16" x 20". This is probably the biggest portrait and watercolor painting I have ever tried so far.

This is based on Telugu playback Singer and multi-talented artist Sunitha's portrait posted on her Facebook page. Though I lost her exact facial features along the way, I enjoyed doing a portrait of this big in size. It is easier to flow and blend colors.

Happy Painting ;)

Materials 

Mediums: Watercolors
Surface: Arches Watercolor Paper, 140 lb, Cold press
Size: 16" x 20" (40 cm x 50 cm)

Paints: Winsor & Newton - Raw Sienna, Cadmium Orange hue, Olive gren, Hooker's green, Rowney Georgian - Burnt Sienna, Grumbacher Academy - Cadmium yellow pale hue, Ivory black

Brushes: 8 round Sable, and 2 round Sable

New world of learning possibilities...

Learning is the only process that has no end in life. There are many possible ways of learning anything. When we try a new way, suddenly a new world opens up for new possibilities.

I started sketching on my train commute to work almost two years ago and I had quickly finished a couple of sketchbooks. When I look back, I could clearly notice the progressive-difference from page to page. After all, one can only improve by practicing - the best way of learning and sharpening skills.

With my enjoyable daily-sketching experience, I felt like doing continuous painting for improving my study of color on paper- watercolor painting. I am taking my daily-sketching to a new level- frequent painting studies by opening a watercolor sketch pad. Hope this opens up a new world of possibilities and bring in some rewarding experiences.

Happy Painting ;)

Materials 

Mediums: Watercolors
Surface: Artist's Loft Watercolor Paper, 140 lb/300 g/m2
Size: 9" x 12" (23 cm x 30 cm)

Paints: Grumbacher- Violet, Winsor & Newton - Raw Sienna, Cobalt blue

Brushes: 10 round sable, 00 synthetic Winsor & Newton

Himalayas...

Himalayas - Mountain Nanda Devi

Happy Painting ;)

Materials 

Mediums: Watercolors
Surface: Artist's Loft Watercolor Paper, 140 lb/300 g/m2
Size: 9" x 12" (23 cm x 30 cm)

Paints: Winsor & Newton - Raw Sienna, Cobalt blue, Cadmium Orange hueRowney Georgian - Burnt Sienna, Ultra Marine Blue

Brushes: 1 1/2" Flat Wash, 10 round sable, 00 synthetic Winsor & Newton, and 000 Sable synthetic blend

Art Inspires Art...

Indian Classical Dance

One form of Art always inspires another form of Art, there is no doubt about it! Indian classical dance is a very fine subject for any Artist to do a series of Drawings and Paintings. The gestures and facial expressions found in this form of dance are endless.

I happened to go to an Arangetram (the debut on-stage performance of a classical dance student ) of one of my neighbor's daughter. She was such a wonderful dancer and her performance was so inspiring and I took pictures of many postures for my series of future paintings. This painting is based on one of those pictures.

This is another painting that I started more than an year ago, but only finished it last week to call it "done". For many days I was just looking at it thinking about what to put in the background. Finally decided to just go with a bright color in watercolor way. I am happy with the color that I had put for the background and it helped elevate all other colors in this painting and made this painting more appealing to me.

Happy Painting ;)

Materials 

Mediums: Watercolors
Surface: Beinfang Watercolor Paper, 140 lb. 207 GSM
Size: 9" x 12" (23 cm x 30 cm)

Paints: Grumbacher - Violet, Cadmium Yellow pale hue, Winsor & Newton - Raw Sienna, Cobalt blue, Cadmium Orange hue, Hooker's Green, Rowney Georgian - Burnt Sienna, Ultra Marine Blue

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

Wah Taj...

TajMahal - Watercolors om Paper

Wah Taj....!
The moment of saying this, standing in front of Taj Mahal has never come in my life. I hope a day will definitely come to go and see this amazing monument of Love. It's been one of my to-do dream paintings and sculptures.

This is just an attempt of learning watercolors. Though I started this painting almost an year ago, it's only in the last few days, I could touch it again and call it completed.

I will definitely attempt it again in a big way in coming years.

Happy Painting ;)

Materials 

Mediums: Watercolors
Surface: Beinfang Watercolor Paper, 140 lb. 207 GSM
Size: 9" x 12" (23 cm x 30 cm)

Paints: Grumbacher - Violet, Winsor & Newton - Raw Sienna, Cobalt blue, Hooker's Green, Rowney Georgian - Burnt Sienna, Ultra Marine Blue

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

Two Roses...

I continued to paint flowers, the theme chosen in January, 2014 for exploring the beauty of flowers and colors with watercolor painting. Along the way, I learned many things and applied few techniques that I learned from books.

I applied the fooling techniques in this painting and enjoyed free flow of colors on the paper:

• Masking fluid
• Table salt
• Loose painting

Materials 

Mediums: Watercolors
Surface: Strathmore Watercolor Paper 400 Series, 140lb 300 g/m2 (unstretched)
Size: 12" x 16" (30 cm x 40 cm)

Paints: Grumbacher - Violet, Winsor & Newton Olive Green, Hooker's Green, Grumbacher Academy - Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue, Rowney Georgian Ultramarine Blue

Brushes: Da Vinci 36 Kolinsky Round Size 8, 5, 2

Stages

Stage-1

Stage-2

Stage-3

Stage-4

Stage-5

My New Art Friends ;)

My new Art Friends

Artist's Loft Watercolor Pad, 140 lb / 300 g/m2, 9 in x 12 in Cold press, 24 sheets

Bought at Michaels, not that expensive. I bought this for my daily watercolor painting. I am carrying this with me in my backpack to do pencil sketches on the train and do painting at home afterwards.

Canson Watercolor Aquarelle Cold press 140 lb / 300 G, 11 in x 14 in, 20 sheets

Bought from Blick Art online, little expensive. I wanted to try different watercolor papers and see which one I like most.

1 1/2 inch Flat wash brush

Realized that a brush like this needed for wetting the paper for doing any backgrounds. Very expensive one. Bought from Blick Art, online.

Also bought  a sheet of 300 lb Arches watercolor paper from Blick Art- This is supposed to be the kind of paper that all Artists say, there's nothing like this....yet to try and experience painting on this heavy weight paper surface...of course it is expensive too.

Happy Painting ;)

Shirley Temple...

Shirley Temple

Portrait of Shirley Temple, who lifted America's spirits as a bright eyed, dimpled child movie start during the Great Depression and forged a second career as a U.S. diplomat.

She died at the age of 85 and this painting is a tribute to her and is based on a black and white picture from a news paper.

Materials 

Mediums: Watercolors
Surface: Artist's Loft Watercolor Paper 140lb 300 g/m2 Cold press
Size: 9" x 12" (22.8 cm x 30.4 cm)

Paints: Grumbacher - Violet, Winsor & Newton - Opera Rose, Raw Sienna, Rowney Georgian Ultramarine Blue

Brushes: Da Vinci 36 Kolinsky Round Size 8, 5, 2, and 000 Sable synthetic blend

My New Watercolor Brushes....

My New Watercolor Brushes

This is my birthday gift to myself this year. I bough these Red Sable Watercolor Brushes from BLICK online Art Store.

The details from left to right:

• Da Vinci Series 36 Kolinsky Round Size 10/0
• Da Vinci Series 36 Kolinsky Round Size 5/0
• Da Vinci 36 Kolinsky Round Size 4/0
• Da Vinci 36 Kolinsky Round Size 0
• Da Vinci 36 Kolinsky Round Size 1
• Da Vinci 36 Kolinsky Round Size 2
• Da Vinci 36 Kolinsky Round Size 3
• Da Vinci 36 Kolinsky Round Size 4
• Da Vinci 36 Kolinsky Round Size 5
• Winsor And Newton Artist Sable Round Size 6 
• Da Vinci 36 Kolinsky Round Size 8

Good Art material makes a difference with the outcome of any Painting. I wish many colorful days and long lasting association with my new brushes ;)

Happy Painting!

Continue to explore...

I continue to explore watercolor painting of flowers on the current theme- Floral.

Painting is always a joyful experience. Sometimes it is frustrating with watercolors, colors won't blend the way we want them to. If we let colors flow and blend naturally, they surprisingly produce amazing things on the paper.

Happy Painting ;)

Materials 

Mediums: Watercolors
Surface: Strathmore Watercolor Paper 400 Series, 140lb 300 g/m2 (stretched)
Size: 12" x 16" (30 cm x 40 cm)

Paints: Grumbacher - Violet, Winsor & Newton - Opera Rose, Olive Green, Hooker's Green, Grumbacher Academy - Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue

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