Pictures from my Retreat

I have spent 3 weeks at a Naturecure Institute near Bangalore. It was a time to bond with Nishka and both of us address some health and weight issues....It has been a wonderful experience, tough as the regime was very strict, but rejuvenating and so exhilarating, especially since we have come back so well and full of energy! I had taken my painting stuff hoping to do lots of painting, but just didn't get down to it. The place was beautiful with amazing tree lined walks and space where one could be quiet! I did manage to wet my brushes twice though and these are the results. Just quick sketches. Its Monsoon time so the trees were full of leaves and the colours of the plants vibrant. This is the path I walked on everyday

 A wonderful clump of tall elephant grass which was in flower. I was fascinated by the colours which seemed to change with the ever varying light at different times of the day

Painting in monotone

This is my 3rd picture for Fiona's class: 

We are going to be looking at 2 COIs. I have been thinking about it and decided that the house can be the main one and the snow covered mountain at the back be the second. 

Before attempting the main picture I decided to paint a smaller monotone sketch of it first, 9”x 6”, just to  get a clearer idea of colour values. I used Payne Grey and made a value chart.  My own criticism of this picture is that I should have used more colour on the whole. I think I was nervous that I may mess the picture. I started with the walls, but realized that I should have possibly started with the snow covered slopes at the back. I also needed to give more contrasts for the snow at the back I think. It took me about 2 hours to complete this sketch. I waited for paint to dry and painted in layers….another first for me! This is the result:

Boats revisited!

This is the 2nd picture I have worked on in Fiona's class. We used the earlier lessons of deciding on the COI and also the palette and colour values, to get ready to start this painting. I give the reference picture first:

Ona suggested I mix greys from other colours and put me on to a link at Wet canvas. So I practiced some greys and made some value strips, which looked like this:

After this I made the value strips of the colours I thought I would use and that came out like this:

I then drew the picture on Cansons 300 gsm paper (rough) 15 X 11"

I then painted the first picture which looks like this:

I wasn't too happy with the picture because I felt I hadn't got the feeling of distance as well as I wanted to and the misty feeling was definitely missing. Ona shared 'a technique you can use is to glaze over everything in the distance apart from your COI with a clear wash of water a couple times, letting it dry in between. You could even add a glaze or two of a pale blue again after this if it still needs a bit of misting. Washes over the top of detail help to soften the edges and create a more misty/smoky/distant feel'.
What an amazing technique....as I did just that and the final picture has come out as I wanted it and is given below:

Tulips

This is a sad time for us. We are here for Ian's funeral. After the shock of such a sudden passing, I guess there is some solace in the fact that he wont suffer any more. The house is full of flowers as is the custom here in England. These are wonderful yellow tulips in a blue vase that sat on Seetha's dining table. They were the right flowers for Ian, he was so full of life and so very happy.  So I thought I would do a 20 min challenge and keep it as a reminder of Ian! I painted quickly, and challenged myself even further, by trying to get in as much detail as I could!

Grin!

I did this on my flight to UK yesterday. 7 hours from Dubai to Manchester through the night was really something. I was looking through the inflight magazine and came across a picture of this little African girl from an advert from a funding agency, and was touched with her smile. It reminded me of the grand daughter of the lady I stayed with in Jamaica during one of my work trips so many years ago. She was always grinning, in and out of my room and fascinated that my hair was straight!!!! So I decided to paint the picture. Its the first time I have painted a portrait as well. I can see some of the flaws in this picture....for example the eyes are not quite at the same level....but as a first its not bad! I wasn't thinking too much as I painted, just kept the feeling alive. I see how crucial memories are to the success of a painting. if you don't get a strong feeling for the subject, the painting will possibly never come alive, no matter how skilled you are as a painter!

Learning about Values and Colour

I have never really been to any painting class as such and have painted what I see the best way I see it. But I was feeling the need to understand things about colour, how to get perspective in my water colours and such likes! So I signed up for Fiona Kingdon's online class. Fiona is a tremendous artist whom I met through Wet Canvas and I feel privileged to learn from her (http://www.emotiveexpressions.com/). Bless the net, as it has made these classes so real and so immediate! I have an independent learning plan based on my needs and we have started with a bang.
The first thing I have learnt is about colour and value. First I had to practice a great deal on understanding colour value. Below is an example:

It was really quite difficult to grade a colour from its deepest shade down to almost white on a scale of 10. Once I was able to do that with some degree of proficiency (I still have to practice a huge amount) we moved to my first picture.  The aim was to learn to identify the center of interest (COI) in a picture and then paint that. The picture Ona chose  is one that we took on our trip to Roopkund and is given here:

In the first picture the COI was the door frame and the door and it came out like this:

I used the darkest  colour, and the brightest and the most contrasts on the door way high lighting the carvings of the door posts. I left the inside with almost no detail and Ona told me about giving it ultramarine blue washes so that it receded....and it did!
In the next picture the COI was the inside of the house. This time I kept the colours and values of the door frame light with little contrast in values. I added detail to the insideof the house, focusing on the sack at the top of the stairs, the wood panel on the walls and the stairs it self. The picture changed totally!

I am really excited about being able to create the difference, and realise how important it is, and what a difference it makes to a painting!

Wan

I have a clear memory of sitting on a rock at Wan, just before we started the first day of our trek to Roopkund, and sketching this path and these houses at the beginning of the village. I remember the amazing greens of the trees and how the sun light shone through the trees and the play of light and shadow. There is something really special about a clear sunny day at 11 thousand feet!!!! I remember the day so well, we were up really early and woke up to hot tea and biscuits brought by our ghursavar while the excitement of starting my first serious trek into the Himalayas built up. We had to wait while our pack ponies were arranged and walked up a little to take pictures and sketch a little.