Sketching in Bangkok

I am now in Bangkok with Naeeda and David. They have just had their first baby and I am being doting grandmother again! So there is a lot of time to sketch, and of course I am using the iPad. The Bamboo paper app is really great as it has a water colour and charcoal options as well. I use my finger and a stylus! Just love the fluidity and ease. The colours are rather restricting though! 

Painting on the ipad!

Its been 6 months since I posted anything here. Its been such a chaotic time and I have just not been in the mood for painting. Re locating from Kolkata to Bangalore after 40 odd years, and hoping to settle into our new home was a challenging, but exciting decision...But of course nothing goes according to schedule so here we are into May with little hopes of moving into our own home till July!!!
Anyway a recent trip to Matheran, in a wonderful house in the middle of an un spoilt forest, surrounded by wonderfully old trees, brought on the urge to paint. Since I didn't have my paints, decided to use the APP on my iPad. I am hooked!

Rickshaws!

I have done this for a friend, a farewell present since we are relocating to Bangalore. Rickshaws are so symbolic of Kolkata, and what most people associate almost as a symbol of this city! This was done from a photograph I took while on an early morning walk into the old parts of the city in North Kolkata!
As we get ready to leave this city after almost 40 years, there is some sadness and a lot of nostalgia!

Beautiful ruins!

Finally I have broken the hiatus of not having touched any paints for the last 2 months....becoming a grandmother is certainly full time business!
So this is from reference pictures of a church I saw in the Ukraine a very very long time ago. Its a painting for Sujoy's 40th birthday. I have used a handmade paper, which was difficult to work on, but well worth the effort! Lets hope Suj likes it!

Sketching in Ko Lanta!

Naeeda and David's present for Viveck's retirement has been this amazing week in Ko Lanta in Thailand, a wonderful sea side resort. We had our own little self catering cottage over looking the sea, from a cliff! Of course a painters paradise! The interesting thing was that every day the colours of the sea and the sky, the lights of the sun, changed, possibly because the rainy season is starting and the storms were so dramatic! Just a few photographs.....

And my sketches. Wonderful to paint plain aire too....I get so little opportunity normally! These are of Kantiang bay, the bay that was 'ours'! Our cottage overlooked the bay and I loved painting the views! The black rocks are basalt rocks according to my geologist daughter!

A fallen leaf on a clump of bamboos!

Vegetables!

We have done a HUGE shop for a dinner party we are hosting....the tray of vegetables were just crying out to be painted!!! A quick picture before Nishka decided she wanted to start cooking them!

My First Art Exhibition1

What an amazing experience....my first art exhibition!
https://picasaweb.google.com/brinda.crishna/CapturingMomentsInWaterColour?authkey=Gv1sRgCLvj9r68m6K76gE
I don't know how to hyperlink this, so please copy the link onto your browser if you want to see my paintings.
My friend Jyoti and I had a joint exhibition of our water colours. Its been a learning process for the 2  odd years we have been painting together, and finally we felt it was time we 'showed our work' to the public. The exhibition was for three days and we decided to donate the funds we raised to the NGO I work with, VAANI, Deaf Children's Foundation, www.vaani.in.
Here are the paintings all displayed in my sitting room, the night before I put them up in the gallery!

Hanging the pictures took a lot of time, as we tried to group them so that they complemented each other specially since I had a variety of subjects. My daughter Nafisa said, 'Mom you have some great pieces, and since they are all linked to some sort of personal memory, do you think you will let them go?' Yes I did let them go....and am glad that my special favorites went to people I know....

 The Blue Bottle, a picture I loved doing as painting glass was such a challange!

 Bamboo scaffolding outside my room, knots so amazingly tied that builders climbed up and down with such ease!

 Boats in the backwaters of Kerala! I manged the lights and darks well here!

A doorway in Wan....besides the beauty, it was taken during my firs long trek in the Himalayas, an experience I will never forget!

3 days later I am feeling delighted as I sold 23 out of 30 pictures, and VAANI will be able to start its early intervention programme!