Orchids in a teak forest!

Our wonderful holiday in Thailand ended with a visit to the bridge on the river Kwai in Kanchanabura....yes the same one which was a major movie with Alec Guinness!!! Naeeda and David had booked us into this beautiful resort which was on the river itself and built in a teak plantation. It had been really well planned as the rooms were actually single roomed cottages interspersed between the trees, covered in flowering orchids of all colours. The landscaping followed the natural flow of the land and had little ponds and wooden bridges! The food was excellent and we had a really relaxed time!
These two pictures were painted in my sketch book and were really quick sketches. I enjoyed being able to paint plein aire! Neither took more than an hour!

This last sketch was also done quite quickly as we lazed on cushions on the deck almost at the rivers very edge! I need to do it in colour as well! Want to see if I can paint  it from this sketch as a reference!

Holiday in Thailand...Marigold garlands

We went to visit an old traditional Thai home....all made of wood, Jim Thompson's home (an American architect who lived inThailand in the early 1900s and popularised silk weaves to the western world), now a museum. It is a really beautiful house, made in traditional Thai style, all in wood, full of priceless treasures, surrounded outside by a lush garden, full of amazing orchids and plants and of course the traditional pond with lotus blooming! It was a really hot day but the gardens and the inside of the house was cool and peaceful. In the north east corner is this little temple that houses the Gods! The belief in Thailand  is that all home have a temple for the local Gods and this protects the home and keeps everyone safe. The temple has to be built on the north east part of the property, so that the shadow of the house doesn't ever fall on it....or the gods will get angry! The wonderful bright Marigold garlands and white flowers adorning  the wooden temple, surrounded by thick green plants, including an overhead hanging 'bird of paradise', certainly caught my eye and made a pretty picture!

Flowers in the sun

We visited the Royal Palace yesterday. The sun was 'white hot' and bright as we walked down the long driveway. On either side were these big borders of wonderfully green plants with bright boganvilla and marigolds shining in the sun....it almost hurt the eye. It was too hot to paint outside so I took a picture and painted it at home! Its hot in Kolkata as well, but somehow the sun seems brighter here, there seems less dust as well. Viveck says everything has been covered in concrete, hence there seems to be less dust, and certainly no garbage in the areas we are staying in.  Bangkok is such a glittery city, full of high rises and really grand malls, and now with Christmas around the corner, full of lights. All the poverty seems to be hidden away, although we did see some shanties as we went along the river on the way to the Royal Palace!

Cactus in Bangkok!

I have been so busy travelling on work, I really haven't had time to post anything on my blog for quite while. This bit of travel is holiday time as Viveck and I visit Bangkok to stay wih Naeeda and David, and then on to Manila, so I hope I can catch up on some painting! This is a cactus plant I found to post for cactus Monday....I loved the terracota pottery planter and the colours of the leaves complemented it so well! Bangkok is a bright city, full of colour, which get even brighter under a very ot sun!

My ATCs

I sent these ATCs to my friend Elva, and she is really pleased with them. What a wonderful way to exchange art with like minded artists! It was a challenge to paint something so tiny, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Elva likes to paint from nature, so I sent her a picture of a banyan tree which grows in the dhobi ghat outside our flat, a Madhubani bird and my flowering red adenium! I like the banyan tree and the Madhubani bird, but I think the flower hasn't come out as well as I wanted it to!

Teak Tree

Another 20 min challenge! Sitting in the hotel room in Guwahati I decided to paint this teak tree outside the window. I focused on the large leaves and painted straight on to the paper with very wet paints and no drawing.  I didn't think too much about what I was doing but used instinct and used colours as I saw it! It was quick and bold! Not my usual style of painting, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! Its a milestone really, as I seem to have  got the perspective of the path, and all this without spending too much time first drawing out the picture! Certainly will try this some more!

My flowering cactus!

Tash and Sufi have been visiting for the first time, so I was totally immersed being grand mom, and had no time to do any serious painting or  participate in any of my painting challenges!! However while Sufi slept on my bed early one morning, I decided to paint my flowering cactus plant for the twenty minute challenge! Viveck thinks its a very ugly plant as the bud id so huge and out of symmetry with the rest of the plant! This the 3rd time this cactus has flowered. I followed it closely this time as every other time I thought it died at the bud stage. This time I managed to catch it in full bloom for a very short period, late at night! Its such a huge bud for such a small plant, and the flower was a glorious white bloom with deep pink tinted petals! I should have painted the flower but it was very late at night, and I didn't realise it would start fading in a few hours!
Happy Cactus Monday!