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)

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!

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

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)

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

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)

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)

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

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)

Good Bye - 2015...

The Journey - 2015

As the year 2015 comes to a close in just few hours, I thought I would end this year with a fast sketch. Once again, my picture-collection-treasure-box became the source of inspiration for my last Art work of this year.

This year also has been a wonderful Art Journey year for me. To depict this journey, I chose to do a sketch of this train going through beautiful mountains. Like a train journey takes us through many stations, life journey takes us through many years in life-time. Each year comes in bringing new hopes, new surprises and leaves us with many memories. As the life journey goes on, we keep collecting memories from each year and cherish those in coming years.

In any journey, we come across new people. We make friends of some. Some, just come and go. I met many wonderful people along this year's Art Journey. Everyone who looks at my Art and expresses their opinion by saying something, takes part in this journey. Some leave me with many Artful memories. I always look back into my past to cherish every such fine moment.

2015 is an exceptional year for me and my Art. With my heart heavily filled with memories, I have to say "Good Bye" now to 2015.

Like many years, I always remember this year!

Good Bye 2015!

Happy painting!

My last Art before saying "Good Bye - 2015"

Details
Inspiration: Random Picture from my Collection
Mediums: Ballpoint Pen and Watercolors on Paper
Surface: Utrecht Smooth Surface Acid Free Paper

Size: 11" x 14" (28 cm x 35.5 cm)

Classic Art...

Indian Classical Dance - A Sketch

Practice is the only way to improve any skill. Art becomes Classic when it reaches the highest in it's quality and standards. Indian Classical Dance is the best example of such Art.

Practice the skill you have and make it reach "Classic"...

Happy Painting!

Indian Classical Dance - A Sketch in progress

Details
Inspiration: Random Picture from my Collection
Mediums: Ballpoint Pen and Watercolors on Paper
Surface: Heavyweight (80#) Sketching Paper

Size: 11" x 81/2" (28 cm x 21.5 cm)

Sketching to learn...

A Sketch

Sketching is a quick way of visualizing. For Artists, it is a way of quickly studying the subject.

Happy Sketching and Happy Painting!

Details
Inspiration: Random Picture from my Collection
Mediums: Ballpoint Pen and Watercolors on Paper
Surface: Utrecht Smooth Surface Acid Free Paper

Size: 11" x 14" (28 cm x 35.5 cm)