My red adenium flowered!

I have not been able to do any painting for the last couple of weeks....work has been hectic and I have been travelling as well! I came home to find that my little adenium was giving out bright red flowers! So I was inspired to do a quick 20 min. challenge. Its interesting to see that my quick sketches are improving and the 20 min challenge has certainly contributed to that. I spend the first few seconds focusing on the main colours and form, do a really quick sketch, and start painting without too much thought! It works. I would have liked to spend time doing a background that would enhance the painting, but couldn't manage that!

I'm quite fascinated by boats and reflections. So I can see a series coming out my ever growing collection of reference pictures! I am also interested in catching reflections in different lights, and the lights itself. This was early in the morning, ah=gain at Arun's farm...and there was a clear light about!  The fisherman was probably getting ready for his day's work, possibly finding a spot from where he could throw in his net for the day's catch!

The next one is of the banyan tree I can look down at, from my kitchen window. I see the tree through all the seasons.....at the moment it's full of new transparent leaves as summer comes along. It was early evening and the sun caught the new leaves making them glow in the light. The sky was pink touched with shades of amber and the whole scene was infused with wonderful warm colours. I rushed and got my journal, and did a quick 20 min sketch, no drawing, just painted straight on to the paper!

Experimenting!

These are 2 pictures I did recently. The first one was done from some sketches of cottages in the mountains. I have signed up for qa few water colour classes and this was how the tutor felt I should do the picture. I had to remember and imagine the colours, decide which side the sun was coming from and put in shadows accordingly!!! It was a really good exercise. However I am not happy with the picture, especially the 2 huts, they are a little too defined a little too stylised! I have also realised that I prefer to work a more loose style, so this picture doesn't really turn me on too much!

The next one is of boats on the river. This is from reference pictures I took during our visit to Arun's farm. It was early morning and there was a thick mist on the river. The fishing boats were all  moored on the river bank, almost ghostly in the mist. The sun was just beginning to rise so there were tiny glints of ochre on the boats, otherwise everything was in shades of grey, all shadowy colours! I did this picture as a practice really, as I want to do a series on boats, and wanted to experiment with making and painting with shades of greys and also to try to catch early morning light. Not sure I have got it quite as I want, but its a beginning.

The WC February Challenge

I did this for the February Wet Canvas Challenge!  I painted the picture in the evening under artificial light, which is possibly why the colours are a bit skewed, and I am not happy with it! Maybe a quick sketch of it in daylight will be better!

Catching up!!

These are pictures I did over last month when I decided to start another blog, for posting daily paintings. I realise it was a ridiculous decision as I spent my time repeating myself, so have cancelled the other blog and posted a few pictures I had done over the last month, and not posted here!
Feb 5th 2011
I was walking at the CCFC the other day...It was getting dusk and the sky was a pale pinkish blue with a little yellow. I looked up to see this wonderful tree silhouetted, the branches almost black and the pale evening sky enhancing the darkness of the branches. It was so striking, that I have been wanting to recreate the picture....Artistic licence in my picture as I visulised what it would look like in an open air setting....somewhere it was not surrounded by buildings! This is the result!

Feb 11th 2011
A wonderful day spent at Arun's farm on the river! So of course there were paintings of boats! A sketch in my journal, and another smaller picture...both done quickly and using a pen again!

Arun also grows his own vegetables! I have never seen purple 'ghat gobis' before. I think they are a form of turnip....the colour was so striking that I did a quick painting for the 20 min. challenge!

11th Feb 2011
Another painting from Arun's place....his veggie patch! I had not taken a picture, but had done a simple sketch, and the rest is in retrospective memory! I am beginning to realise with a strong feeling of joy, that if something moves me enough, if I concentrate and focus on it, it stays in my memory and can be painted later!  This was a quick picture, but I really like it, the purple turnips, a variety of spinach and cabbage and the yellows of the mustard flower! The brick coloured outhouse and wall at the back made a great rustic picture!

Another TMC...apples

I bought these wonderful red apples the other day and put a few on a pottery plate and it made a lovely picture. I decided to paint it as a 20 min. challenge! I didn't have time to finish the background, so sort of left it a bit vague. I enjoy the 20 min. challenge as it helps me focus on whats important and essential in a picture and this often results in a good picture. It also suits my style as I seem to like a quick style, and like impressions more than detail! The paper was  a good thick one and I could paint wet on wet!

I am getting a bit confused as to what pictures I should paste in witch blog! I think I will change this one into a more professional one, where I will post pictures that are complete and may be available for sale!

The old Mosque on the banks of the Hooghly

We were on a ferry sailing up and down river on the Hooghly. For those of you who may not know Kolkata, its the river that flows through the city! It is one of the few tidal rivers in India, and connects with the sea at Diamond Harbour. There is so much history on the banks of this river, to think the British first sailed up this river when they landed  in Eastern India, and arrived in Kolkata which was just a set of villages then....We've come a long way from there, but the tragedy is that no one has really done much to preserve the history, and as we sailed down river we came across these old building and houses, so strategically located with a wonderful access to the river, but neglected and uncared for now...
This is a view of an old Mosque, which was visible from the boat, and it made a lovely picture. with all the many greens of the trees, and the top of the Mosque peeping put. We are still having winter weather in Kolkata, so although it was a clear bright day, the sun was not too hot, but bright enough to make the mosque glow and gleam.