More Pictures!

More pictures, just sketches really, basically time spent in my art class. These are really experiments and practices with colour palettes and none of it takes too much time. I just don't seem to have the time to sit down and concentrate on some serious painting. Life just  takes over sometimes and at the moment that's what seems to be happening to me and I seem to be constantly running to catch up. Anyway I'm pleased that I am doing a little something almost every day,  and keeping up my resolution for the year! Once Naeeda's wedding is over this month, hopefully I will have some quiet time to catch up.

WC Jan Challenge!

One of my resolutions this year is to try and participate in the monthly WC challenge! I managed to finish this by the skin of my teeth on the 31st itself, but have only managed to post it today! I tried to remember the importance of the COI in a picture,  that Ona had taught me and made the boats my COI! I didn't give too much detail on the houses, but tried to get the blue of the water and the mixture of sand and sea!

This is the reference picture

A sketch on my birthday!

I painted this today, sitting in the sun, looking out at the hills and just being content. We are in Coonoor, up in the Nilgiri Mountains, the blue mountains as the name suggests! Viveck planned this as a birthday treat  and I am really happy that we took this time out. Trees fascinate me, and I can never have enough of looking at them, there is so much strength in them, and for me a they create a sense of continuity, of history and of course beauty! This tree stood at the edge of the lawn, the trunk in interesting shapes and I have tried to capture the wonderful lights of a winter sun! I think I should have painted the hills at the back a little bit darker!

There is no pollution here, so I guess the sun shines brighter. We went for  long walk up to Sims Park, full of a wonderful variety of trees, the oldest being 150 years old, the sunlight peeping in and out among the trees, creating interesting colours, lights and shadows! New leaves have begun to sprout, and the colours are amazing, from lime greens to translucent pinks and reds! I have taken a lot of reference pictures and hope some more sketches will come from this wonderful holiday!

The beetlenut tree

I created this picture from a number of different pictures. Its not my usual style and preference of using a loose wet technique, but I thought I would push myself outside the box a little!. I remembered Ona's lesson about focusing on the COI, and thus have exaggerated the beetle nut tree a little as it has an interesting bark. I have also put more detail in the mustard fields in the background and used a fine brush to do so. Certainly a first for me as I much prefer a broader brush and a looser style. This is a very typical scene in rural Bengal!

More Practice!

What with going to work,  trying to finish bits of needlework I have started, and just regular everyday responsibilities, I never seem to get enough time to paint. However my new year resolution has been to paint a little bit everyday if I can. That one has already been broken as I don't seem to be able to do a painting everyday, but certainly some amount of regular painting is happening.

Happy New Year!

We're already into the 6th of January and I have only just had the time to look into my blog! So before anything else....a very very Happy New Year to everyone! I sketched this on a recent visit to Kalinpong. I was looking after Sufi as she slept and looking out of the window was thinking of yet another year ending and a new one starting, how I felt peaceful and content in this continuity, especially as I looked at our little grand daughter so fast asleep, another generation growing up! The view outside framed by the old wooden window made a lovely picture, and seemed apt and suited  my contemplative mood. So I post it here to say 'all the very best for a wonderful and fulfilling New Year!

The girls and their hubbies/ to be hubby and Sufi were all here for over 10 days! What a magical time it has been! So much laughter and fun and such precious memories! So although I have been doing some painting have not really had any time to post anything!

The following pictures were part of art class in early December. Finally I have a tutor who seems to understand what I want to do so has been encouraging me to practice practice practice!!!! I am beginning to realise this is the best way to get a better control of the medium and understand how to work with varying values of colour! These are just quick pictures, each has taken about a half hour, and the ideas were taken from pictures by other water colour artists.

The next 3 pictures were done in plein aire. The first is a tiny temple in the resort Anantara in Hua Hein in Thailand where we had gone for a few days to finalise Naeeda's wedding plans! The poinsettias  were painted during our recent visit to Kalinpong. Their colours were so bright that I tried to capture that brightness!

Practicing different techniques

I have had very little time to paint of late, and now with Christmas around the corner and the children all arriving possibly will have even less time. I have decided that I need to practice a lot more than I do, so instead of doing elaborate pictures, will try and do a few every week using different techniques. My tutor in my weekly painting class thinks this is a good idea and will support my work, which is a great feeling!  This first one was worked wet on wet and I put into practice some of the lessons I had learnt from Ona about increasing the strength of the pigment and COI!

The next one was painting wet on dry and again using pigments with different values. Both pictures were done quickly and the experience was terrific! There were no reference pictures but just images from my head!