I did this yesterday and am 'mighty' pleased with it, as my friend Jyoti would say! We have been doing still life paintings as Habib says the more we master still life the better we will be at everything else. He insists we observe details and try and be as accurate as we can... When I compare my pintings from when I started, I can actually see improvement...and what is even more fascinating is that I seem to be developing my own unique 'style'! Jyoti did the same picture and the way she represented it was so different to mine!

Its been 6 weeks since I started my painting classes. Its been an amazing experience. I look forward to the classes and am making time during the week as well. I come away from each session totally relaxed and definitely feeling all's right with the world!!I am learning to concentrate and observe..see shadows and lights in everything around. Unconsciously I seem to look around to see images I can paint...think about how reflections and movements can be captured on paper. I think water colour is fascinating as it is so fluid, and yet certainly difficult to actually work with, but then thats the challenge...
I have taken Naffy's advice and carry a drawing book in the car with me and try and draw things as I spot them... Its certainly helping.
I enjoyed doing this one, as I tried to capture the shine on the brass, and the colours of te brass itself. Its facinating how many tones each image has.

I am learning to use colours, trying to get the exact shades by mixing colours

Learning to paint in water colours

This is my latest fascination...learning to paint using water colours. Again something I have been wanting to do forever. I love the softness of pictures painter with water colours, the transparency of the medium..There are 3 of us in class, which is held in my friend Jyoti's (a practicing) art gallery. Its a lovely space in a quiet part of Kolkata, and certainly inspiring.
This is my first attempt...a sprig from a bougainvillea plant, and I felt very pleased when I finished it. Habib, the teacher, is a gentle soul and spends his time telling me not to be afraid to experiment and that I need to practice. So lets see where this takes me....

Beginnings......

Its exciting to be starting this blog. Seeing my children creating their own blogs, or introducing me to others which are so amazing, creative and moving....I have decided to start my own.
Its the age I'm at, a point when the girls are grown and I move on to the 'introspective' phase of my life.... a point when I do want to be quiet, and think through those moments which were my very own...those bits of needle work I did, the drawings I made, the recipes I created which added a fullness and made me grumble that I never had enough time to do all I want! In retrospect, though, I have given quite a bit of time to my 'creative' side.