VanBrugh's Grand Bridge

I took the reference photo of the Vanbrugh's Grand Bridge while visiting Blenheim Palace (W. Churchill was born here). The sprawling park outside the palace offered many scenic views, this bridge being one of them. My painting below is an attempt to present the still water and the reflections with the freshness of a watercolour impression. The foliage was my main challenge and I am happy it has come out well. The still water and the reflections were achieved easily as well as the foreground grass with the help of liquid frisket. The sky was left simple so as not to divert the attention as lots of things are happening below.

Cornwall Coastline

The Cornwall coast offered some magnificent views for painting. 

The first one is off the Lands End coast. Boats provide some link outside the elements of nature which these two paintings depict. It was fun doing the water, mountains, cloudy sky and a bit of the sandy beach..

  The second one is off the peaceful village of St Agnes. Hope you like these paintings. Thanks for viewing.

On homeground!

Distant hills and coconut treeline setting up the background, green paddy fields forming the middle ground and and a lonely furrow in the foreground is an ideal subject for this portrait format! Taking the eyes into the painting and holding them there are the big shapes of the fields and their varied angles. Deliberately kept the trees taller than they should be to give that vertical contrast to the frame  when all else is horizontal! I put elements from different reference photos to create this exercise in design, without loosing the spontaneity of a simple subject. Thanks for viewing! Comments welcome!

(Half sheet Bockingford 425gms NOT surface, W&N tubes-lemon yellow, ultramarine, cobalt blue, burn umber, manganese violet, rose madder)

Kyrenia, Turkish Cyprus

Kyrenia, Turkish Cyprus is a harbour town busy with tourists with an old castle on the beach. Last December we were there and it was a nice sunny day. You cannot miss the sunlight in this painting done on a half sheet of Arches NOT paper 300gms. Thanks for viewing and comments welcome as always.

Church of St Leonard, seen from  the Charlacote Park, near Stratford upon Avon. 51cm x 33 cm
This was based on my photo taken last year when visiting Stratford upon Avon. The Charlacote Park, a National Trust property, is outside Stratford upon Avon and at a distance from the sprawling gardens of that property looms this beautiful church. The sky in the photo was a gloomy one which I transformed into a  dynamic one, the accidental blooming just above the Church roof adding to the liveliness. Thanks for looking and comments appreciated!

One from Rajasthan!

Rajasthan always evokes emotions of bright and bold colour and exotic expanses of landscapes which are unique to this western state of India. I tried to combine both in this landscape with the focus on the colourful ladies fetching water. The lonely and bewildered goat acts as an eye-stopper and also as a contrast to the blithe group of colourful ladies. Done on Indian hand-made paper, 71 cm x 52 cm. Thanks for looking and comments welcome!

Portrait of my wife and a landscape of a scene from India

I did a portrait of my wife to mark our wedding anniversary which passed by recently. I selected a photograph taken a few  years ago which was a favourite of mine. Here it is, 37 cm x 28 cm CP watercolour paper 140 lb.

 The second painting is a landscape very close to my hometown, it is a river called 'Chinnar'. I tried  a style called as 'bio-mimicry' by the Artist Joe Dowden while doing the trees and the foliage, its a tough thing and time consuming procedure, but I liked the end result. It is done on Waterford rough 640gms watercolour paper, 52cm x 34cm.

Your comments welcome! Thanks for looking!

Hovis Hill (Gold Hill) of Shaftesbury, Dorset

Not been able to paint for while what with our holiday in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Isle of Wight, some of the most beautiful places in the UK and a busy Ester period thereafter. Alas the weather was not our ally but we were able to cover most of the important places we had planned to see. The famous ' Hovis Hill(Gold Hill) street of the village Shaftesbury is one! I remember having participated in a challenge to paint this quaint street last year in the Wetcanvas forum. This street is made famous by the Hovis bread ad, have a look!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFLBvLxLJMI 
After visiting this place, I really was motivated to do a little painting of this scene. Here is my version. I did this on a watercolour canvas and I liked the surface. I did this small since I am new to this surface. May do more, bigger ones soon! Comments welcome! Thanks for looking!

Temple goes to West Coast

Thanks to my facebook  id 'muruarts' created by Srich and his hard sell, two of my paintings are crossing the seas to the West Coast of the USA! Raga and Greg, are going to be the proud owners of the following paintings, which though are already sold, have been recreated for them. In my fourth attempt at the Shore Temple, I arrived at a close proximity to the original version, but I like the other three attempts also which convey stronger atmospheric moods.

The Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu

The other painting, 'Winter in Pirohova'  did not tax me too much, the second attempt coming good. Lesson learnt-recreation is not easy, even your own paintings-water colour is a great leveler! 

Winter in Pirohova, Ukraine

Thanks for looking! Comments welcome!

Sunset in God's Own Country

This one is from Kerala, God's own country. I had a photo of the coconut trees and some boats in the backwaters. I wanted to add some drama by making it a sunset scene, so that I can play with colours. The distant row of trees is a device to give depth to the scene. The horizontal boats balancing the vertical trees. The coconut foliage was the difficult part of the painting. I enjoyed doing the water and the reflections. Hope you will like the painting-done on Arches rough surface, half sheet.

  Comments welcome, or just let me know your reactions just with a click.

Thanks for looking!

Village Street

Trying to get out of a painter's block! Was unable to focus on anything! Forced myself to do something not too demanding to break the deadlock. This is from a reference photo from our visit to India (Tamil Nadu) last year. We were coming out of an ancient Amman temple (Goddess Periyanayaki) which was adjacent to the famous Darasuram temple near Kumbakonam and this street beckoned us. The blaring sunlight made us squint our eyes becasue the temple precincts from where we  were stepping out were poorly lit and were rather dark. So what struck me in this was the sunlight which I tried to portray as the main attraction in this effort. Made on Arches Rough surface measuring  20"x14".
Comments welcome! Thanks for looking!

My loved one/s!

Blue and yellow - two of my loved primaries, close to my heart, are the basic colours in these two paintings! The yellow roses I wanted to finish on Valentine day but could not and the blue one I finished today . The roses were from a demo in a magazine, just wanted to loosen up, the ship painting is a repeat of my earlier study which I wanted to do on a bigger sheet of paper, just to re-experience the joy I had while painting the blue sky and the water  for the first time. Thanks for your time, comments welcome!

Many Splendored thing!

To borrow a line from Emily Dickinson, like love, Hyde Park is a many splendored thing. It has got immense variety, ever changing colours and moods! Just cross the Serpentine Bridge and the Kensington Palace Gardens offers no less! Living close to these sisters in bloom, it is no surprise that I have done many paintings inspired by these two parks. Recently I did four paintings, each from a different angle showing different feelings. Hope you will like them! If ever you visit these places, try to locate these amazing scenes!

 

This is the Lido Restaurant, Hyde Park.

This is a view of Kensington Palace in winter!

Sunrise on the serpentine bridge !

Another view of snow-laden Hyde Park.

All done on half sheets, rough surface.

Comments welcome!

Fairy Queen

I was doing some scenes of Hyde Park when I suddenly came across this majestic vessel in an old travel magazine I was going to dump. Dropped everything to do a quick study of this beautiful ship. Quite satisfied with the impact this made against the cool sky and the rough sea. Hope you like it too! Thanks for looking.
Quarter sheet of Montval cold pressed paper.

My Pet Project II

This time it is the turn of my grandnephew, Pranav. He is four and a half years and cannot stomach the fact that I painted his sister and not him. His sister's portrait is in hiding till now and it can be made public only when I paint her brother! Now that I have accomplished that, my grandniece's portrait can be shown to all now!

I am happy that this has come out nicely, hope he likes it when he sees it, it is waiting for him.
Comments welcome!