Boats in Cochin!

The exciting thing is that I have booked a gallery for my first ever exhibition! I am doing it jointly with Jyoti David. She is a more experienced artist and we try and get together every Saturday to paint! Now that we have committed ourselves I have 8 months to get some decent work done!
An artist friend said that one should only paint something when it moves you and touches your heart! These boats in Kerala certainly did! There is something fascinating about boats, especially the country ones we have in India.... of so many varieties as well! The combination of the water and the boat, the stillness and calm of the moment, filled me with a feeling of wanting to capture the moment....so here it is....

Early morning sun

Walking in the Lakes his morning at 5.30 am, the light was great and there was a wonderful breeze! It has been so hot and humid that any kind of physical activity seems to be a herculean task! I see this tree every time I go for a walk, but today I loved the light on it from one side, and the extra plants growing on its outstretched limb, a sure sign that the recent showers that we have had are a precursor to the Monsoons, hence so much greenery has suddenly sprung up....Came home and painted the picture from memory...loved the colours! I seem to have caught the light and for a half hour sketch, it has come out quite well. Once again I didn't think just put down what I felt!

Orchids in Bangkok!

Bangkok is the land of orchids...as you get off the plane at the airport you are greeted by them and everywhere you go they are there, wonderful blooms in myriad colours!. They bring back memories of my father and my childhood in Burma! He had an amazing love for them and collected plants from all over the country as he traveled in his role as Military Attache. Now My daughter Naeeda seems to be developing the same interest. She has orchids in her home in Bangkok and spends a lot of time worrying about them  and fussing over them!
I have been visiting the kids for a week as David has had to be in hospital for a couple of days....and waiting in his hospital room I painted these in my sketch book!

Nets in Cochin

Practicing my paintings and working towards the exhibition. I did a pencil sketch as a first step towards completing this painting. It helped me get my values sorted! Then I have done a small version of the picture 11"x7 1/2". Now I am ready to do the final version, which will probably be on a half size sheet! I have fiddled with the colours and have chosen the ones I will use. I think this a good way forward really! It gives me space to think through what I want to convey in the picture and  experiment!
The reference pictures are from our trip to Cochin where we saw the Chinese fishing nets! They are only called Chinese fishing nets because they were originally brought from China by the Portuguese who first introduced them to this part of India and now they have become indigenous to the fishermen on this coast!

Out for the day!

I was driving through rural Gujarat! We stopped at a level crossing, it seemed we were waiting forever,  as the train took its own time to amble by!  It was mid day, hot and very dusty and I was definitely feeling a little cross, so I got out of the car to walk around. It was a typical railway crossing, out in the middle of nowhere, with hardly any shade anywhere, miles of barren fields baking in the hot sun. Suddenly I noticed this group of women, who had obviously climbed out of broken down jeep (the only other vehicle there), sitting together, laughing and chatting, dressed in   brightly coloured clothes, bangles jingling, enjoying a wonderful moment. The  heat or dust didn't seem to bother them at all, and seeing their sheer enjoyment of the moment my mood lifted! Thank goodness I carry a sketch pad and paints, so  I did a quick sketch...hoping to capture a moment that was special. I have taken a few reference pictures and am sure will definitely lead to a much larger painting!

Boats on the Hooghly.

I haven't been painting for a while, well not serious painting that is! But have decided to give more time to it now. So I did the woman in Ladakh, and now this one of boats on the Hooghly! The reference pictures are from pictures Viveck took during a weekend visit to a friend's place on the river. I have changed the picture qyite a bit from the reference. I wanted to capture the light of the early morning sun, when it has fully risen and the light is bright, and think I have managed that quite well!
This will definitely go up in my exhibition planned at the end of the year.

Making rotis in Ladakh!

My young friend Shahshank sent me pictures of his trip to Ladakh. This one of a woman making rotis in a little roadside dhaba brought back memories of my own treks and drives into the Himalayas. The picture also moved me as it had captured something special, possibly the resilience of this woman and a calmness of the whole scene while she continued with her cooking under such harsh conditions.
It also made for a great reference picture. I decided to  use it as my last picture for Fiona's online painting course. It has been a real challenge though, and it took me a while to paint it and be happy with the result. I thought it would allow me to practice all that I had learnt. So far I have been doing small paintings, but decided would like to make a larger version of the picture so have painted it on a half sheet. Fiona also felt I was ready for it! I first did a pencil sketch of the picture, just to make sure I got the perspective right and also that I had had understood the lights and darks, and where they should be in the picture. I have found that this is a very useful exercise.

I then painted the picture. It has come out much better than I expected, as the darks were really difficult to do'. I now feel that maybe this was not the best subject for a water colour, as getting solid darks is really difficult to do, especially if one wants to maintain the translucency of the medium.