Life is Wonderful

Looking at this fresh rose bud, I remember the quote by Albert Einstein:
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

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Life is Wonderful - 8x10 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel 

Fiery Sunset on the Pacific

The sunset came on the Pacific with kind of a fire in the sky. Interestingly it lasted for barely a few minutes and the sky was dark. I felt lucky to take a picture and then paint at home at my leisure. One day I hope to do plein air i.e painting live outdoors.

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Fiery Sunset on the Pacific - 9x12 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Ducks at Sunset - SOLD

Friends, here's another one from few weeks ago. Again the photo really doesn't do justice, the actual painting is much more bright. This one was painted as a wedding gift and absolutely fun to paint!

Ducks at Sunset - 16x20 inches, oil on Canvas Panel

SOLD - Commissioned painting for wedding

Wedding Unity Candle Set

Something different... I made this Unity Candle Set a few weeks ago.

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Wedding Unity Candle Set

The Unity Candle Ceremony is a relatively newer custom in weddings in the United States. It symbolizes the union of two families - the Bride's and the Groom's families. The above is a slightly different version, but most times there are 3 candles - 2 taper candles (also called as starter candles) and one central large candle. During the ceremony, one representative from each family lights the taper candle. Then the Bride and the Groom light the central large candle together using the 2 taper candles, symbolizing the union of 2 families.

In my set, I used 2 large pillar candles ( 3 inches diameter and 6 inches height). Painted the candles using Acrylic paints and a protective coating overall on the candle. Rest is just putting it together using decorative maretials. Hope you liked it.

The Parrot Fish

This is an underwater beauty - the Parrot Fish! I wish one day I could see such sea life in person. But this one is painted from a picture that I got in wetcanvas reference library.

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The Parrot Fish - 16x20 inches, oil on Canvas Panel

About Parrot Fish from seaworld.org:
Parrotfish have thick, heavy bodies and large scales. They are found in tropical waters throughout the world and appear in a wide variety of colors, which may change depending on their sex, status, or maturity.

Dazzling Agave (pronounced as uh-gah-vay)

Now here's my new experiment with colors! I took a simple green succulent and wanted to make it look abstract. Hope you like my fantasy -  

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Dazzling Agave - 12x16 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

I tried to take the best picture here, but nowadays I feel its a challenge to take a picture of my painting. In person, the painting looks a bit different since one can see the depth of color and its variations. The camera doesn't really capture all of it.

About Agave: These kind of succulents are found in abundance in southern and western United States. It was considered sacred plant by Ancient Mexicans. It was a belief that the liquid from this plant purified the body and soul.

I thought this will be interesting for you all to know that the juices from the agave after fermenting, leads to the drink called tequila.

The District in Moonlight - SOLD

Here’s my second entry for the “Scenes of Tustin” juried show. This is a marketplace in Tustin called – The District Tustin Legacy. The beauty of this place is really at night, there is beautiful lighting with different colors.

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The District in Moonlight - 11x14 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

SOLD

My inspirational photo - as you can see I changed around things in my painting, let me know if you like it!

Lastly, I would like to say the taking the photo of the painting was very challenging, I did my best. But I still feel painting looks better than the photo of the painting. Let me know if you have any tips to take pictures of paintings.