Portrait of Anushka

I wanted to paint a portrait for this year and feel very accomplished. I probably will tweek a little here and there on this painting still, but this is 99.9% finished. Hope you like it and do send me your comments:

Portrait of Anushka - 11x14 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Here is how the painting progressed:

Anushka - Stage1

Anushka - Two



Anushka - Three



Anushka - Final

Dew Drops Dream - SOLD

I am dreaming... Early morning as I stepped out in the garden, I felt a refreshing breath. The air was filled with a combination of fragrance from roses and morning mist. I wondered where all the roses are, couldn't see a thing in the mist! As I walked in the direction of the fragrance, suddenly SURPRISE SURPRISE !!.... I was greeted by this beautiful Red Rose bud on my path. I admired the dew drops on it. Extended my arms to bring the Rose bud near me to see the dew drops closely. OH NO!.. a thorn pricked me on my finger and I was AWAKE. The garden quickly vanished from my thoughts and I hurried to get ready for a full working day.

But here is the Rose bud of my dream! Isn’t it beautiful?
 

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Dew Drops Dream - 5x7 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

SOLD

This time I made sure to take pictures of my process:
Below is Stage 1 - the underpainting...

Dew Drops Dream - 5x7 inches, STAGE 1

 Next is Stage 2 - adding local colors

Dew Drops Dream - 5x7 inches, STAGE 2

 Stage 3 - Refining and adding variations to stage 2.

Dew Drops Dream - 5x7 inches, STAGE 3

Stage 4 is the final stage - adding more variations, highlights, I added the dew drops in this stage. See the very first picture of the final painting.

Mommy N Me - Strawberry Picking - SOLD

Mommy N Me strawberry picking says it all! I had so much fun painting this, brought back great memories. Best of all, this painting was sold even before I finished painting! It felt like magic.

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Mommy N Me - Strawberry Picking - 11x14 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel - SOLD

SOLD

Lac Philippe Fall

Excited to start a new session today for the Oil painting foundation class. This time the project is landscape and autumn is already around the corner! So here is a landscape of Lac Philippe with fall colors that I am going to teach...

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Lac Philippe Fall - 9x12 inches, oil on canvas panel

A walk around Lake Mission Viejo

I am going to enter this painting in "Paint the Lake" contest held in the city of Mission Viejo. The idea here is to go and do plein air painting on the lake. Or one can take pictures of the lake and develop a landscape in the studio. In this Landscape painting, I wanted to tell my story about experiences walking around the lake. So here it is a very non-traditional kind of Landscape: (do let me know your comments)

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A walk around Lake Mission Viejo - 16x20 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

 My story here is that for taking pictures, I walked all around the lake which is around 3 miles. There is a wonderful walkway below (Alicia Parkway). There are these shells embedded all along the walkway which attracted me. Lot of activities happen in the lake - fishing is a very big one and that day we actually saw a boy getting quite a big catch @ 6AM. In that morning hour, there was even sail boat and canoe etc. There are wonderful houses surrounding the lake on both sides. One other great feature of this lake was the beach, which I tried to highlight as if seen through a magnifying glass. On a typical holiday afternoon there are lots of people picnicing in the beach area and it is sooo fun to watch all these activities going around the lake. I wish I had an year round pass to this lake, so that I could also join these people!

Feeling Pink - Work in Progress

I made this a separate blogpost, just because I want to celebrate this progress in my painting journey!
This is the first time I have painted without critically sketching with pencil on the canvas. It feels like I have been able to express myself freely, fully and easily!
So here I am posting how I progressed through the different stages in painting this beautiful waterlily:
Final Painting:

Below is Stage 1. Stage 1 is just the first impression and marking the light and dark shapes in the flower.



 Stage 2: In Stage 2, I actually put in the shapes of the petals, specially the inside petals. I forgot to take a picture just when I stopped painting Stage 2. So below is the result of progressing a bit more into Stage 3 - specially the center part of the flower.

Stage 3: Don't have a picture of Stage 3 either. But stage 3 is about creating more variations in each of petal shapes and the background.

Stage 4: This is the completed painting with final touches and highlights.

The inspirational photograph is below. Thanks to Wetcanvas community for posting these wonderful pictures and hosting monthly challenges.

Feeling Pink

I am feeling pink today and this Waterlily is perfectly what I want to see!

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Feeling Pink - 11x14 inches, Oil on canvas panel

Here's something interesting - Popular phrases that include pink:

Tickled pink: to be happy

In the pink: in good health -- this phrase hasn't always had this meaning. See what it originally meant

Pinking shears: scissors with serrated blades

A pink elephant: term to describe hallucinations during intoxication

Pinkie finger: the smallest finger on the human hand

Pink slip: notice that employment is ending

Pink collar: refers to a particular class of jobs once only filled by women

Light at the other end

Here's my second one for the theme - Art with Architecture. I browsed through lot of buildings and photos. I found this one very interesting - again the building was in shambles but light shining at the other end does bring thoughts of hope and joy!

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Light at the other end - 11x14 inches, Oil in Canvas Panel

Rose

I painted this as part of the project for teaching Foundation Oil painting class for Adults which started yesterday!
I enjoyed using brushes only and with Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil and very limited palette: Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, French Ultramarine, Phthalo Green (BS), Yellow Ochre, Titanium White.
The painting is ready to hang, no frame required!

Rose - 12x12 inches on Gallery Wrapped canvas



Rose - sideview




Rose - sideview



Beauty In Shambles

Friends, this is a place in India - city called Bundi, near Kota, State - Rajasthan. The city of Bundi is known for its ornate forts, palaces, and stepwell reservoirs known as "baoris". The beauty and serenity of this ruins captured my attention. Hope you enjoy it!

Beauty in Shambles - 11x14 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

The Vibrant Banana Blossom

There is something very intriguing about a Banana Bloom - such large flower and stunning colors! Growing up we had a banana tree in our backyard. Not only did I enjoy looking at the blossom, but the banana blossom curry is a delicacy that we enjoyed occasionally.

The Vibrant Banana Blossom - 11x14 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Ganesha - SOLD

I am a big fan of this elephant headed deity called "Ganesha". He is popularly worshipped as the remover of obstacles. All ceremonies and rituals begin with invocation and worship of Lord Ganesha.
This was my first sketch on canvas in this year and finally got to paint and so happy to have finished this painting!

Ganesha - 12x12 inches, Oil on Gallery wrapped canvas

SOLD



Since this is gallery wrapped canvas, I was able to paint all the sides too. So there is no need of a frame, it is ready to hang. Below are couple pictures of painted sides:


Ganesha - 12x12 inches




Ganesha - 12x12 inches

Hey Look - There's an Owl on the Tree!

This painting comes in continuation of the Fleamarket painting. Just across the road from the Fleamarket, there are trees in line all along the sidewalk. On the sunny afternoon it felt nice to walk in the cool shade of these trees. Just then, I happened to look up an spotted an owl on the tree. Quite a good luck on that day!

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Hey Look - There's an Owl on the Tree! - 11x14 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

A Chat in the Flea Market

In the morning it was a cloudy day, but by afternoon it became bright and sunny. I knew I would enjoy my visit to the Jamestown Village Vintage Fleamarket in Old Town Tustin. It is the joy of strolling alone in such places. I throughly enjoyed window shopping the antique shops and walking around among the people in the flea market. It seemed that these people in my painting met after a long time, had lots to catch up and had a gr8 time chatting!

Hope you all enjoy the painting!

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A Chat in the Flea Market - 16x20 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

A Glimpse of the Beach City

The air is sultry, noise level is high, hustle and bustle of people, and gray atmosphere could make someone dizzy. Nevertheless, against all odds, this is a city of opportunity – the commercial and entertainment capital of India – Mumbai. To balance out the “dizziness” there is this vast ocean where one can take a deep breath, look at the horizon and feel the promising air – a definite assurance of a bright future! So friends here is an attempt to capture a glimpse of the beach city.

Enjoy!

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A Glimpse of the Beach City - 8x10 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

The Blossoming Dahlia

Flowers bring hope, happiness and inspiration in our life. Look at this blossoming Dahlia - bright, cheerful, and gracefully unfolding each petal!

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The Blossoming Dahlia - 9x12 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Common Coot with its Young

With this painting I have a riddle for you all. The young one of Duck is called Duckling, young of Hen is called Chick... Now here is a Common Coot - whats its young called? You can post your answers in the comments...
Spring is fast approaching, in US the official start of spring is on 20th March. So as you must have guessed, spring time is the inspiration for this painting.

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Common Coot with its Young - 16x20 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

MetroCity - Mumbai Coastline

It always amazes me - tall buildings right next to ocean... This is an attempt to capture Mumbai coastline from a distance.

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MetroCity - Mumbai Coastline - 8x10 inches, Oil on Canvas panel

Did you like it?

Dog Portrait

This is what I first learnt in Meet the Masters in Feb 2012, then taught a 4th grade class. Meet the Masters program is about teaching kids in elementary school about different famous artists and teaching different styles in art. This month's artist was Rosa Bonheur. She was famous for painting realistc Animals. So the assignment was to teach kids - how to paint realistic Dog portrait. It was fun doing this exercise and then teaching the kids!

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Dog Portrait - 9 x 9 inches, Oil Pastels on Construction paper

This dog portrait is painted using oil pastels (all in about 45 mins). Teaching the kids took me about hour and half to get all their work completed. The emphasis for this project was to teach mirror drawing technique while adding texture, symmetry and details, so that the dog appears realistic.
The drawing was done using a guiding template provided to each student and painting by imagination. My dog came out with a sad and worried expression. nevertheless I enjoyed this exercise.
This is my first dog portrait and next time I look forward to painting a dog portrait using oil paints and a real dog picture reference.

The Beach, The People and some Fresh Air

A walk on the beach, that ocean breeze is always refreshing. And when you meet your friends there, it could be all the more fun. You come back home light hearted!
I have been trying to get a crowd of people on the beach for some time. Here is another attempt...
Hope you like it!

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The Beach, The People and some Fresh Air - 8x10 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

1...2...3...JUMP

I almost titled this painting as - Life is for having fun or Life is for enjoying! but 1..2...3...JUMP is the best I liked. There are lots of participants in the making of this painting - the jumping teenagers, having fun and someone who clicked their photo! Thanks to you all.
It was as exciting and fun to paint this as much as these friends jumping in the sand.
Let me know if you like the painting.

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1..2..3..JUMP! - 16x20 inches, Oil on Canvas panel

Tulip - Pink or Purple? - SOLD

Here's a miniature experiment - 3 x 3 inches oil painting. I thought I will finish this painting in a breeze. But no.. I realized that it is in reality harder to paint on such a small surface and so takes quite some time. I completed this in about 2 hours. And yet could not do it "alla prima" (- i.e wet on wet painting that is done in one single session). I could not manage to get straight 2 hours sitting time. I am itching to try this technique sometime...

click on image below to view larger (although you may then see it larger than its original size :)

Tulip - Pink or Purple? - 3x3 inches, Oil on Canvas

SOLD

Sipping Cool Coconut Water

How cool it would be, if on a hot summer day you could cool off on the beach, sipping some Coconut water and that cool ocean breeze! To me it would feel like paradise on earth!

Enjoy!!

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Sipping Cool Coconut Water - 14 x 11 inches, Oil on Canvas panel

The Boy’s gone fishing…

Greetings everyone and Happy New Year!

Looks like this boy is fishing in solitude. Seems like he is throughly enjoying himself amidst the shimmering water.  Hope he does get a good catch!

I chose this reference photo on Wetcanvas weekly challenge.

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The Boy's gone fishing - 5 x 7 inches, Oil on canvas panel