Hampi- a view of Virupaksha Temple from Hemakuta Hill

Virupaksha temple viewed from Hemakuta Hill

One more painting from our Hampi (Karnataka) visit in February this year.  The Hemakuta hill is strewn with a large number of temples, archways and pavilions. The whole of the hill was fortified with tall wide stonewalls, the ruined remains of which can be still be seen. Virupaksha temple is the oldest and the principal temple in Hampi.This temple is located on the south bank of the river Tungabadra. This area in general has been an important pilgrimage centre for the worshipers of lord Shiva. 

Painted on Arches 300gms Cold Press paper 31x41 cm. Thanks for looking.

You never know what can inspire you!

My new painting (Watercolor)! I was inspired to do this painting, while watching a song from a Tamil movie on YouTube! Strange but this is how one is inspired! I liked the temple location which comes very early in the song and I froze that frame and sketched the scene. Transferred the sketch to painting canvas and finished the painting, of course it took a week.
If any one is interested in the source of the painting, here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppj_Ly9tkec
Thanks

Here is the painting, 35x50cm!

 

Early Spring in Hamburg

Sailing boats start appearing in the early spring season onwards on the Outer Alster in Hamburg. It is a very design friendly subject with the vertical sails crossing the horizontal lake bank foliage catching the attention very easily. It was a sunny day and the sky was peaceful and clear!

Arches 300gms Cold Pressed 40cmx30cm. Have a nice day!

A Scene from Luneberg

Luneberg is a town near Hamburg in northern Germany. A very quaint town with old time ambiance with lots of attractive monuments. The horse driven cart takes you through the landmarks of the city. The idea of painting this remained with me for a long time, but only executed now.

  It is done on Hamanuelle 640 gms rouch paper, measuring 53cmx35cm

Thanks for viewing and comments welcome!

The Französischer Dom (French Cathedral) in Gernarmin Market Square, Berlin

Different angle from my previous painting of the same Gendarmin Market Square, this time we have the view of the French Cathedral, seen from the German Cathedral diametrically opposite.

 Arches 640gms rough surface with W&N tube paints, 35cm x 52 cm.

Thanks for viewing!  Comments welcome!

Paintings from our trip to Hampi, Karnataka, India

We spent a wonderful few days last month in Hampi, a place of historical importance in Karnataka, India. The famous Vittala Temple is the most extravagant architectural showpiece of Hampi.The temple was originally built in the 15th century AD. Many successive kings have enhanced the temple campus during their regimes to the present form.

 I made two paintings from photographs I took which are also here to let you  have an idea of the place and to enhance the understanding of the paintings. When I take photos for using them as references for my paintings, I tend to follow some compositional basics so that I do not have to make much changes to them while painting, so much time saved in the composition and design stage! Here are my photos:


This is not the Vittala Temple but the view as you exit the temple from one of the right doors. The tree fascinated me a lot, 'golden arali' tree with an intricately designed trunk.

And here is my painting:

Here is the goddess temple on the northern corner of the temple:

And my rendition of this temple:

Both are done on Arches 300gms Cold Pressed Watercolour paper, 30x40 cm one in portrait and the other in landscape format just using 3 colours only!(Blues-Windsor and Ultramarine Blues, Red-Burnt Sienna and Yellow-Raw Sienna).

Thanks for viewing, comments welcome! Either post them here or email me! murugesan18@gmail.com

The Gendarmin Markt Square in Berlin is full of architectural wonders. The concert hall, the two churches on the sides make it a wonderful place for tourists. This is done as you approach from the main thoroughfare. Magnificent view! I did this on Arches cold pressed 300gms 12x16" paper. Thanks for viewing.

Town Council Rathouse Square, Hamburg

Rathouse Square, Hamburg

Watercolour on paper

32x49 Cm (Unframed)

 Using a photo reference from  June 2011, I painted this cityscape. This painting has been added to the collection of my paintings in the ongoing painting exhibition in Hamburg. Thanks for viewing. May be my next posting shall not be in the near future, at least till I come back from India by end Feb. Thanks for viewing!

Hamburg Painting

A very  busy thoroughfare in the Hamburg city centre (the street is called Ballindam) along the inner lake area is painted here. I purposely avoided any life in the form of rush hour traffic and multitude of human activity to create a contrasting mood. I tried many floated washes of primaries to obtain a granular effect on paper. It is an experiment with pigments and I loved doing it and the end result is to my satisfaction. Hope you all will enjoy looking at it too!

Ballindam, Hamburg

Watercolour on paper

35x53 Cm (Unframed)

53x73 Cm (Framed)

Endless Waiting! Come Soonest!

The wait continues! My plans to do some snow paintings remain unfulfilled, the snow not showing up so far! I had to dig out last year's photos to do this one, again a painting of Tor Haus, just a stone's throw from where we live along the Alster stream. 'Painting snow' is a misnomer, I did not do anything but let the white of the paper represent snow!

Tor Haus, Hamburg

Watercolour on paper (Arches 640 gms Rough)

33x51 cm 

 

Happy Pongal to all!

(due on 15 Jan 2012)

Happy viewing!

Thanks everyone for your support throughout the past year which was very fruitful experience-wise! Before bidding the year good bye I wish to share some of the paintings done in the last quarter of last year but not published in this blog! These were mainly done to reinforce my artwork for the ongoing exhibition in Hamburg and I am happy to say that some of them are SOLD! 

Happy viewing and wishing all of you a very happy, healthy and prosperous NEW YEAR!

KERALA SUNSET

JUNGFERNSTIEG, HAMBURG

AUTUMN IN ALSTERSTIEG, HAMBURG

BRANDENBURG GATE, BERLIN

BENARES, INDIA

Exhibition opening at Hamburg

With family before the start of the exhibition

Visitors arriving

With Mr Kaufmann, Mr and Mrs Horst

Drinks courtesy Courtyard Marriot

Chief Guest talking toSakamotos of Japanese Consulate

Listening to the song of Mayumi Sakamoto

Audience

Ms Alice Kaufmann delivering vote of thanks

With Julia and Dr Hill, Cultural Secretary, Hamburg Govt, the Chief Guest

With Pathaks

Mayumi Sakamoto with Julia from the Ministry of Culture

With Mr Ahuja, CEO of Courtyard Marriot, the sponsors of the event

Audience

With Indonesian CG

A cross section of the visitors

Some of the visitors

Welcome address by Mr Ahuja, CEO of Hotel Courtyard Marriot

Audience listening to the speeches

Dr Hill, the Chief Guest inaugurating the exhibition

My latest painting exhibition took place last night, along with two Hamburg artists, Alice Kaufmann and Iva Wallace. It was a grand evening with lots of visitors and everybody had a great time. I sold four paintings in the opening evening, that was great in these days of recession! Some of the pictures of the evening are here! Thanks for the support of all of you!

The Eternal City

I had never laboured more than on one subject, the eternal city of Varanasi (Benaras). After many failed attempts, I decided to start one more go at it on this Diwali day! (It is believed that a dip in the Ganges at Varanasi on a Diwali morning is very auspicious.)  I finished this version after several days of struggle and two abandonments! I am not sure I can claim I have mastered the subject but I let you be the judges! I can say I am getting nearer to capture the mood of this dynamic subject!
( I used Indian handmade paper which was stretched before painting on it and it behaved differently than when it was not stretched, I shall know better next time)

Thanks for viewing. Please post your comments or send them to 'murugesan18@gmail.com'

See you soon? When?

I made this painting just before leaving Delhi in the first week of October 2011, a parting gift to a colleague with whom I spent 3 months! More than in one way it is symbolic, I am happy I made this painting for him.

Two views of Qutub Minar, Delhi

In the series Delhi and its monuments come the twin paintings of Qutub Minar, one of the notable landmarks of Delhi. I had sprinkled salt in both the paintings to get some texture, usually a trick to depict snow in watercolour. Here are the paintings:

 Here is some info about the Qutab Minar:
Qutab Minar is among the tallest and famous towers in the world. The minaret is 234 feet high and the highest individual tower in the world. Other towers in the world are the Great Pagoda in Pekin, China and the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy but these towers are not as high as the Qutab Minar in Delhi. The tall minaret was constructed in 1192 by Qutab-ud-din Aibak, and later completed by his successor Iltutmish. The soaring conical tower is an exquisite example of Indo-Islamic Afghan architecture.

Thanks for viewing, have a nice day!