Portrait

This was done on the last day of my three month long painting class. So much learnt. SO much more to learn. This portrait has come out the best among all previous efforts. There is a resemblance!

Reproduction - Monet

Another Landscape by Monet. The original is in oil.

Reproduction - Boy with his dog

This is a portrait of a young lad with his dog. I am not sure who did this.

Reproduction - Monet

This is a Claude Monet Landscape. I took liberties with the colors. It was more spontaneous.

I think I achieved the freshness of watercolors for the first time to some extent.

Reproduction - Milind Mulick

This was lot of fun. I had always thought this was done on black paper with poster paints, but hardly the case. Instead the brightest part that is the interiors of the shop was left blank white. I was a little skeptic about getting the dark night in water colors but it was fine in the end.

Reproduction of a portrait - John Wayne

I have always enjoyed doing portraits esp in pencil sketch. So when my instructor asked me to do a watercolor from a book on portraits, it was a golden opportunity to learn something new. 'John Wayne' followed. The original was in color pencils and I took few liberties with colors in watercolor.

Watercolors - Kovalam

Recently during a trip to Kanyakumari and Trivandrum, I found time to sketch sitting on the promenade at Kovalam. This painting came out of it. My dad said its too bare and I have to agree. But it was good fun esp. the sea.

Reproduction - "wadaa", MM

Yet another old building by Mulick. This one has come out much better than the previous one. Its amazing how a simple theme like this one has been interpreted in such an interesting manner. The clothes hanging on the line lend life to the painting.

Reproduction - MM

Back to Mullick. This reproduction is of an old building typical to rural maharashtra- a subject that is recurring in Milind Mulick's works. In ruins, they still have a strong charachter.

Still life - watercolors

Another still life. The model was thrown in bright light. The toughest part was the plastic bucket. I tried to get the transluscency of the bright part of the bucket but didn't quite get there. Wish somebody could suggest how!

Still life in water colors on hand made paper

Hmmm... I am not too happy with this one. Particularly the steel glass. I have done better steel. For one, the viewing distance of the assembly was quite a lot. Of course doing it on handmade paper for the first time was a different experience. Still haven't figured out the medium.

Verandah - Watercolors on hand made paper

This is a painting of our Verandah. I did a quick pencil sketch which I reproduced later as a painting. The colors and light are from memory and it shows. I don't like it much. I can see room for improvement, almost everywhere. But I add this here because it was an important learning experience.

Watercolors - Back waters of Kerala

I moved to a new medium.. hand made paper. Its a different experience of painting. Easier in a way since water stays longer and I have more time to add layers. But I havent mastered it yet. This is a painting of a photograph we took during our honeymoon. I think it was at Coir Village, a resort in Kottayam.

Outdoors

This is an outdoor painting I did, The view of my mother's garden from the Porch. The second attempt is so much better then the first. I am getting better at doing plants and landscaping. Its satisfying to see improvement.

Reproduction - Adoration of Magi, Velaquez

Oh i loved doing this one. It took me 4 sittings of two hours each to complete the sketch and the painting. Its a beautiful painting by a lesser known Spanish painter, Velaquez who nevertheless is regarded as one of the finest.

Abstract

At home, I tried to create an abstract work. Its a splash of colors, not necessarily meaning anything. I did try to do some thing like " a face in the crowd". What do you think it is?
I experimented with stamping ( use different objects dipped or coated in color and stamp on the paper), I ran objects on the wet paint, used a baloon to apply colors.. Like I said, it is an experiment. I think acrylic or oil is better to do abstract.

Portrait in monochrome{

Back to art school, I did this portrait in monochrome. I felt that was a good way to learn the technique of painting... so you don't get distracted with colors and You are out of the midset to copy it exactly as it is. The instructor gave me a valuable lesson. Paint like it is hurting the paper! I need to work on showing eyes more correctly.

Reproduction - "Flautist"

I don't know who did this. Perhaps somebody can help. It was printed on a card and I loved the subject a great deal. I think I did this sometime in1995. I am not sure. It isn't entirely flawless. Notice that his feet is a little disproportionately small? And I used black directly. A cardinal sin for a painter... I now know better.

Reproduction - Milkmaid by Raja Ravi Varma

Taking time out to post two old paintings. This one here is a reproduction of "milkmaid" by Ravi Varma. I did that as part of a visual arts project in college. That was in 1995. Considering my knowledge of painting those days was elementary at best, it isnt bad! I was bad at backgrounds. And since the subject came out well, I didn't want to screw it up with a shoddy background. SO i left it plain with the lightest of washes in a safe color- yellow. Visually, it spreads easily.

Reproduction - Roses by Alfred Parsons

This looked dull almost boring and too easy when I started but it wasn't so. It was intersting to see the use of a variety of pink and yellows to caprture the beauty of Rosa chinensis! I added the blue background to make the roses stand out.