In the Woods - SOLD

Here is one more water color magic experiment. I used lot of salt and alcohol for the texture in the background.
As I walked, each step was making sound - krrrr.. krrr... krrr... due to the dried leaves that had fallen on the ground. And looking up, the sky was lit with colors. Enjoyed the hike throughly!!

Now I am itching to do oil paint, have been away from it for quite a while...

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In the Woods - 81/2 x 11 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper - SOLD

SOLD

Glowing Branch - SOLD

I love to try out different mediums. Here is my latest, experimenting with Watercolors. I find watercolors a magical medium. This time I tried out spraying water on the painting to create the background effects. If the painting is too wet, then the water spraying did not work quite well. I darkened the background colors once again, waited for it to dry a little. You can tell how much a painting has dried by looking at it in at an angle and observing how much it shines. The shimmer is quite less as it dries. This is a perfect time to gently spray water and it creates magical texture on paper. Had fun with this piece. Hope you like it!

Glowing Branch, 81/2 x 11 inches, Watercolor on Arches paper - SOLD

SOLD

Dancing Ganesha - SOLD

Painting a Ganesha has been on my mind since last few months. Finally I finished it today!! It is little different than my usual style and medium. It is painted in Acrylics and not quite impressionist style.
It is interesting how I came up with this dancing pose. I love dance and saw multiple images of Dance poses to figure out what best pose will fit my Ganesha. After having shortlisted couple of poses, I sketched on paper first in very small scale to get the proportions right. Once I finalized the pose and the best fitting Ganesha, I sketched it to a small scale on drawing paper once again, so that it would be easy to transfer to the bigger size hardboard. This project has been moving very slow about 2 months, on and off as time permitted. Finally, it is DONE!! It feels accomplished!

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Dancing Ganesha - 24 x 36 inches, Acrylic on Hardboard - SOLD

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Here it is installed in a beautiful niche:

The Red Trolley

If you have been to Laguna Beach, California, you must have sure seen one of these Trolley's. Laguna Beach is a beautiful city with scenic beaches and an awesome artist community! During summer and special events during the year, these Trolleys run from Parking Lot to the popular visitor spots in the city. On one such evening, after having a ride on this Trolley, I took lots of pictures in the city - for the Laguna Beach Banner Contest. The best I liked was the Red Trolley picture and decided to use it as a reference. The actual size of the banner is 4 x 16 feet (vertical) and it attached to the lamp posts during summer months. If you walk along the main roads, you will be able to see banners, each with a unique design.It is quite a visual treat! So this is my second year entering my design in the contest, lets see how I do this year. For the contest, I need to provide my design on 4 x 16 inches scale, here it is:

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The Red Trolley - 4 x 16 inches, Acrylic on Canvas

Plaza Fountain - SOLD

Few weeks ago, I went to Chapman University in Orange CA and passed through the downtown in Orange. It had been long time since I had been to this place for plein air painting (painting outdoors on location) - about 4 years... I was quite a beginner, but it was fun to stand out there in front of the fountain and paint. This time though, I took my camera along and clicked a lot of pictures around the fountain since I wanted to paint it again. After browsing through many pictures I chose one that I liked best and painted in studio. Here is the result and I am very happy how it turned out.

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Plaza Fountain - 14 x 18 inches, Oil on canvas panel

SOLD

Rainy Dark Night on El Toro Rd - SOLD

I had in mind for a long time to do a night scene and that too when it is raining. Last time when I had the urge to click a picture of such a scene,  about an year ago, I did not have my camera on hand. About couple weeks ago, as I was returning back from the First Thursday Art walk from Laguna Beach, I got a perfect opportunity to click pictures. It was dark and rainy, but I was driving. I pulled out my camera from my purse, and clicked many many pictures while driving. After coming back home, I uploaded all pictures on my laptop and sorted through until I found the best picture I wanted to paint. Here is the result:

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Rainy Dark Night on El Toro Rd - 11 x 14 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

SOLD

This picture is clicked as I was slowing down at the signal at the intersection of El Toro Road and Rockfield.

Looking back - 30 paintings in 30 days Challenge Jan 2014

Looking back at the month of Jan - first can't believe that the month is over!! I started the year very excited about doing this challenge a second time. The last I did was in September and had really finished 30 paintings. This is what I expected from myself this time too. But guess what... turned out that I had not anticipated that this month will be so busy. Sometimes feel like saying "the damn life came in the way". But on the other hand, I learnt that there are other things that can take priority and had to let go of the painting for that day. Also learnt that I had to catch up with some good sleep to get some fresh painting ideas and to be able to enjoy my painting process. I could not finish 30 paintings, but I still accomplished 17 paintings which I consider still a SUCCESS!! All of them are oil paintings except 2 are watercolor florals. My aim in doing this challenge was to paint something new that I have not done before - different subjects like the pomogranate and pear that I had not painted before; different materials - like cloth, glass, ceramic, silver, gold (couldn't get to few others that I had thought). To think about it... it was very interesting to start off with a blank canvas and come up with a finished painting. Here is a collage of all 17 paintings I finished this month.
The best I liked are pomogranate, onions, carrots, peppermint candy, the watercolor floral (floribunda), and the grand finale - Peanut M & Ms.
Which ones did you like the best?

All in all I had a WONDERFUL experience - will repeat the challenge once again..

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