Canvas and brushes - 2

Presenting some of my latest paintings

1. Road to destiny - That's what I like to call it

A scenery with a road. That's a first one I have tried as a beginner and has a few technical aspects. It mostly involves perspective and didn't take much time to complete. This one goes well with a grey or a blue background. 10" X 12" canvas

Before framing

 

 And after being Framed!

2. Wine Galsses - Object painting

I have never been good at object painting and had always found it rather boring. Tried painting glass, metal and wooden objects for the first time and it did come out quite well! So am encouraged to do more of such subjects. 10" X 12" canvas

3. Sunrise in the mountains

Just felt like revisiting my younger days when I used to paint a lot of sceneries.

Mountains and a flower valley - An easy painting. The more details you add, the better it looks. But one should know when to stop and mark it finished :D

This one is a bigger canvas.

4. Butterfly in the wild - Still life painting

This is also a unique subject I chose to paint. Just a camouflaged backdrop with a few twigs and buds in focus and of course the main subject - butterfly. 12" X 10" canvas

Butterflies are wonders of nature. Where ever they exist, be assured the air is pure and the surroundings are still unpolluted.


#LockdownActivities

Easy Acrylic painting ideas for beginners

Madhubani Art - Mithila paintings

This genre of Indian painting is practiced by the women of Mithila region in Bihar. Madhubani is a small village in Bihar which is famous for this art form. It is a classic art.

It is believed that in ancient time, these beautiful and vibrant paintings were used to decorate the entire region to welcome Lord Ram's Barat !

Originally these were organic paintings, made from twigs and fingers and organic or natural colours. Bright geometrical patterns on subjects based on Ram-Sita marriage and other daily activities are made on silk or handmade paper without using any measurement devices. But now a days, people use pens and different types of paints to make these paintings.

Basic patterns are Ram-Sita varmala, women involved in everyday routine like cooking or grinding spices or selling. Animals like fish, elephant, peacock, plants, banana leaves, flowers etc. also form a part of these designs.

A dancing peacock

My daughter filled in most of the colours as she loved the pattern! :-D

The beautiful bond of mother and daughter.

 Fish seller lady

Kalpavriksh - The divine tree of Hindu belief

Other geometrical patterns and animals like Elephant, banana leaves, mortar and pestle (an integral part of every household in India) too are depicted in this captivating art form.

The entire sheet or cloth (walls/canvases and otherwise) is covered with patterns of brightly coloured objects and events of everyday life.

The borders form an integral part of the art piece. It defines the painting and the artistic bend of mind of the maker.

Apart from this, Goddess Durga. Yashoda and Krishna, Lord Shiv and Goddess Parvati too are painted with dedication. The Sun is source of energy which is worshiped and is also a major part of the paintings. This is the way Sun God is depicted in these paintings. 

Learn more about Madhubani here.

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Canvas and brushes - 1

(Canvas & Brushes)

Some idle time spent with a canvas and a splash of paint

-Flower Vase-

This is a slightly technical painting. I have used acrylic colours on a ready made canvas. An example of still life painting with approximate 14hrs of work.

On a white wall

Looks good on both dark and light background. Needs a spot lamp on top to enhance the shades of red.

Canvas size: 10"X12" (25cm X 30cm) 

-Cherry-

Cherry

Another still life acrylic painting. This one didn't take a lot of time to make. Understanding the technicalities was a job though. I have never really been good at object painting. This one I learnt from an online tutorial. It looks like a photograph from a distance.

 

Canvas size: 10"X12" (25cm X 30cm)  

 

-Flower Sellers- 

Flower sellers

This one has a lot of fine work. Approxlimately 12 hrs of work. Not much colour mixing or shading, just the fine tip handling was a challenge. Notice the eyes, jewellery and the print on the fabric.

Canvas size: 10"X12" (25cm X 30cm)  

 

-Colours of Holi- 

Colours of Holi

This one is painted by my 6 year old. She named it too. It is a very basic blow painting where the water colour droplets are blown gently at an angle on the paper with the help of a straw.

Canvas size: 8"X5" (20cm X 12cm) 

Another tiny one from those tiny hands :) She has named this one 'Garden'.

Timeline of a Painting

Hi there!
It's Holiday time and the new year is knocking on the door. Hence, I decided to finish off this year's tasks so that it's easier to start off the New year with a fresh list!

I just wanted to record the transition of a landscape painting. It's wonderful to see how a few strokes and some colour can change change what is on the canvas.

I will not start from the very sketch as this was a half finished painting, waiting for my attention sice past 7 years. Since it required my undivided focus, which was otherwise engaged with my lovely daughter, it lay ignored.

So this is the piece where we start from. All the basic colours are in place. The trees have branches, the river is blue, there are flowers and some greenery. No need to touch the sky as it looks alright with its shades.

The first set of colours I chose was that of brown, black and white to touch up the windows and shade the walls and the trees. The direction of the natural light in this painting is from the right hand side, so the shades are done accordingly.

Then I moved on to the other colours.
Crimson, vermillion, lemon yellow, cobalt blue, prussian blue, sap green, veridian hue(another shade of green) and some white again.

After letting it dry for a while, I added some grass under the tree and some more flowers on the boundary wall.

 Again I have used the brighter colours to highlight the flowers. Chrome yellow, orange, Vermillion & crimson. And have also shaded the gate.

After highlighting the boundary wall and the steps, I added some grass on the upper river bank. I think the lanscape is finally ready!

 What do you think ?

 Recycling is always a good thing to do and the results often make it worth the while! :)

Next up is a pixie garden for my daughter from an old unused planter!