I love 20 min challenges!!!!

The Happy Plant on Nishka"s window sill! yet another 20 min challenge! I really love painting these!

Another 20 min challenge! The cactus plant has grown from a tiny one inch little shoot to a long 6 inch plant and giving out shoots of its own!!! Although taking photographs has its own charm...creating a picture in painting is also an amazing experience. One begins to observe so many details!

I find buildings a great challenge...so am pleased with how this has come out!
Today I went into town into the main street in the commercial part of Bangalore...and had to stop to take this picture! The pavements are full of shops....really annoying at times as there is hardly any space to walk....but then this is India, I guess....and one is so used to it. What was amazing was how this guy had set up his shop selling trousers against this beautiful old building, with its  iron gate!
I have used a very limited palette as I only had a tiny paint box with very few colours!

Journal Post....tree lined road in Bangalore

I am visiting Nishka  in Bangalore. This city is called the 'Garden City' as there is a lot of greenery around, big open parks and trees abound! Although Nishka does say that many trees are being cut  because of the metro rail. We stopped at a traffic light yesterday and I had to jump out and take pictures of the tree lined road we were driving on. Not sure what these trees were, but the branches were such a strong brown, with quite a 'light' leaf cover...and the branches seemed to leap out! So of couse another journal entry!
The weather is really cool and I am enjoying the quiet of Nishka's home!

The Blank Canvas

For the first time since I started painting last year I feel I am beginning to master some techniques of painting with water colour.  I have gone back to class at Jyoti's with Habib. This was a still life composition of brushes, palette and a blank canvas....but it has come out really well. I have got the soft and translucent look that I love about water colours...so am mighty pleased with it, as Jyoti would say!! I do have to be a little more patient and try and not rush to complete a painting in one sitting!!This took 2 sittings and I am really glad I took the time! We plan to do bottles next week!

Carnations....20 min challenge

Another 20 min challenge! Malu sent these carnations...and they looked so great in the Auroville vase that I thought I would do a 20min challenge. It was a mistake as there were to many  lights and shadows on the flowers. Besides painting white surfaces is always difficult! But great learning!

Journal Post...the golmohar tree

The Golmohar tree has just begun to flower. Inspite of Kolkata being such a crowed and cramped city there are many trees lining streets or even growing amongst shanties, and the golmohar is almost as common as the peeplal and banyan! It is one of my most favourite trees, as the colours are so amazing. There are still many leaves on these trees, but in a little while the trees will be only full of flowers and the tree will look as though it is on fire. No wonder its called the Flame of the Forest! The heat in Kolkata is exhausting at the moment but I guess the flowers wont be so vibrant without the heat. So there is some solace in that!

20 min challenge...peppers

I bought these peppers today, loved the colours and was inspired to paint a picture as another 20 min challenge. 20 mins using water colours was difficult. I found I couldn't get all the values or shading, especially since I had to wait for the washes to dry! The peppers were on a window ledge with a strong light falling on it, which made many highlights and shadows! A great experience though!

My Journal...Captured Moments

Another addition from my Journal which I started in Puri! Inspiration from Naf! Its a great day when one's children become the teachers!
It is so hot here in Kolkata, 38 degrees today with a 80% humidity. The light outside is so white it almost burns...and yet it is the right time for these amazingly coloured crouton leaves to flower. They look almost as though they are on fire themselves. I'm glad I took the time to sketch these in Puri! They are equally brilliant here in Kolkata!

Windows!

I am trying to get together a set of pictures of windows and doors! Part of this picture is from Jyoti's garden and part from a picture of a house built with cement and local stones! I loved doing the stones, and the reflection in the windows! Its the first picture that I started a while ago....let it be as i wasn't too happy with it, and finished it today! I am happy with it today!

Journal pics

Nafisa said to keep a water colour journal...went looking all over but couldn't find one which had water colour paper...so finally made one. The first few entries from my recent visit to Puri. Want to try and keep a regular update!

The hollow tree

During our trek to Roopkund in the Himalayas last year, we stopped for a breather in this little clearing. It was the first day of our real climb upto the Bugilas and we were beginning to feel the strain!!!There had obviously been a forest fire at some point so this tree had been burnt. The fire hadn't been able to destroy the tree though, as new shoots had started and fresh leaves were out. I love trees...and this one seemed so amazingly strong and indestructible. The colours were wonderful, browns and blacks...and then the amazing greens of the new shoots. I made a pencil sketch of it and have been wanting to paint a water colour of it ever since....finally did it today!