My Pet Project!

One day I put my grandniece's photo as desktop background image and since then whenever I was in front of the computer, I couldn't resist the temptation to paint her portrait! I was very unsure as portrait is not my forte as I had learnt when I painted my wife a few years ago which she described as a 'witch'. I had to plead 'not guilty' at that time-putting the blame on my lack of skills! We visited the National Portrait Gallery in London last weekend and may be I was inspired to do a portrait and what more appropriate subject there can be than this cute little grandniece of mine! 


I had spent a lot of time playing with her around Christmas and the perplexed look on her face looking at the flashing camera was the moment I tried to capture in this painting. Alas, I lost that moment somewhere along the painting, but I am well satisfied at the end product. Here are the reference photo and the painting, measuring 37x28cm on Montval watercolour paper 300 gsm (NOT).

Comments will be much appreciated!

One more street scene!

This is  a sleeping street in Swamimalai town, very close to Kumbakonam, in Tamil Nadu (India) where we spent three days recently. We had parked on this street when we went to collect the Chola Statue(in  bronze) we had ordered. The art of making bronze statues is a tradition preserved from the 10th Century in these parts and we had a demonstration of it which inspired us to buy one. This street houses a few of the sculptors and their showrooms, the one we bought was from a cooperative of sculptors just down the road.

I tried to capture the sunlight in this street apart from conveying the general mood of this sleepy town in an afternoon. One lone scooter is speeding with a pillion rider, just enough life to indicate some activity. I did not make much compositional changes to the reference photograph I took except to crop off some portion of the left which is also here for you to see.

And here is the painting measuring 38x27 cm on Montval watercolour paper(140lb).

Comments are welcome, as always!

Happy new year!

Hi, folks, wishing all of you a very very happy, prosperous and healthy new year! It is quite sometime since I blogged! We had a wonderful visit to India (Chennai, Chidambaram, Mayiladuthurai, Thirukadaiyur, Swamimalai, Kumbakonam, Coimbatore, Udumalpet, Tirupur and finally New Delhi). The magic of India is still fresh with me, please have a glimpse of some of the places we visited by clicking this album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/murugesan18/IndiaVisit2009#


Though I went with my travel painting kit, never had a chance to paint, but did some sketches during the last leg of the visit. Some of them are here!

 

My first painting of this year, a village scene from Tamilnadu, India, using a photo I took near Thirukkadaiyur. I especially enjoyed working (for the first time) on the handmade paper I brought from India, which is very versatile and very forgiving! 49cm x 33 cm.

Comments welcome, as usual!

London Eye from St James Park

I desperately wanted to finish this one which was on my table for quite sometime, before I leave for India for a month! Feels good that there is no unfinished work to come back to! The sky was spontaneous and I like it. The foliage and the buildings also came good. But I had to work hard at the water and the reflections. Am I satisfied with the result? Yes, I can say yes, sort of. Anyway, here is it, and plese judge for yourself! Thanks for looking and may be there will be a break in this chain for sometime, planning to do some sketching in India. See you soon!

53 x 32 cm Saunders Waterford Rough 640 gms

Mellow mistfulness

London in a mood of mellow mistfulness! I tried a different technique to bring out this mood of London in this, lot of work, pouring, masking, pouring, masking, it goes on, till I get the desired results. Used only three primaries in this experiment. I won't rate it great but after working so hard, I thought I should share it with you. It is a love's labour, after all.

38cmx29 Montval cold press paper.

Comments welcome!

Brighton Marina

One more from Brighton visit. It is the same West Pier but with a different atmosphere! I included a family with children playing in the beach to show some activity. The sky is overcast but I cropped it to give a peaceful look. Thanks for looking. Comments welcome!

Ambleside, Lake District

The Windermere lake in the Lake District offers a very long cruise opportunity with lots of picturesque views along the route. We started the cruise from Ambleside village where we stayed this summer. It was a very cloudy day with typical UK weather. I tried to capture the misty conditions in this attempt!

Hollyhocks: A Floral

Did something different! A floral! Just for the heck of it! I used a photo from the image library of Wetcanvas Forum. Masked the drawing to do the background, floated washes very wet in wet, the result is not what I expected. When dry, removed the masking and did the flowers and the leaves.Some of the paper surface came off with the masking, (I should have used a different paper). Still not so bad, the leaves do not show very well because of the dark background, but the flowers stand out in contrast. May be I will avoid the pitfalls next time.Enjoyed the experience, though. 

W&N Artist Watercolour paper 37 x 30  cm

West Pier, Brighton in sunset

The iconic West Pier of Brighton was devastated in fire in 2003. But the remnants offer a beautiful subject on a backdrop sunset. I remember the warm evening I spent recently with the sun disappearing slowly in the horizon when I spent a long time walking up and down the shingled beach.

I tried to capture the atmosphere of the place with some warm colours and added some human interest. I hope you like it!

(51cm x 32 cm Saunders Waterford 645 gms Rough)

Thanks for looking and comments and criticism welcome!

Brighton Pier

Painting piers is every painter's dream. It offers challenges like the sea, sky, people, buildings and ships. Perspective also plays an important part of it. Am I ready for it? I Just gave it a go. My first wash of the sky was lighter than I wanted but I went over it a second time. It was risky but paid off. The beach area was actually shingles but I simplified it by making it sandy. I enjoyed doing this one. Hope you do the same looking at it.

 Here is the referene photo:
 

 Here is the painting: 52 cm x 31cm Saunders Wateford 640 gms Not surface

Comments welcome!
Thanks for looking.

Painting Workshop by Joe Francis Dowden

Yesterday (7 Oct 09) I made a long (lonely) journey in pouring rain to Sompting, West Sussex with only the  amiable satellite navigator for company, to attend a painting workshop by Joe Francis Dowden. Here are some of the photos of the workshop, the empty table on the second photo is mine.

 

The first painting was the demo done by Joe.

  

 This one is my output in the workshop.

  

Not satisfied I tried to redo the painting at home this morning, trying to recollect the steps we went through yesterday but alas I could not attain the mastery of Joe!

 

He was magical!  A great teacher and a fantastic person. Came back home again in torrential rain which stopped only as I entered London. However a day well spent, learnt a trick or two! Thanks for looking!

Jack and Jill: Twin Windmills near Brighton

Last week we were in Brighton and surroundings. It was a Sunday and may be the 'last of the summer days' for this year, sunny barbecue weather like no other seen so far. We chanced upon a picnic spot on top of a small hill with two windmills next to each other! It made a lovely sight what with farms full of sheep and a few horses not to mention cows. I managed to do a sketch or two on the spot of the windmills and the animals. I hope you will like the paintings I made later, using the reference photos I took, all of them are here for you to see and comment. Thanks for looking!
The first one:(Photo)

The Painting:
70cm x 40 cm
Bockingford 420g/m Rough



The second one:(The Photo)


The painting:
51cm x 36cm Arches 300g/m Rough


Cheers!

Autumn Years

Yes, it is not an autumn painting! The title refers to the the people who are the focal point in this painting. The background foliage is still green at the Green Park, the scene of action here. May be a week or so they will be in 'flames'. May be I can repeat the scene with autumn foliage then! The painting is done on Saunders Waterford 645gms Not surface measuring 50cm x 34cm. Thanks for looking!

Of horses and cows

Before I pushed off for a weekend painting workshop, I had started a painting of two horses in a West Yorkshire farm which I had photographed on a visit in August. We were returning from a guided tour of 'The Last of the Summer wine Locations' in the quaint village of Holmefirth. When we saw the horses in the field, I was reminded of ' the White Horse Pub' which had featured in the longest running comedy serial! I took many photos, this one stood out asking to be painted. Here is the photo and the painting. Used Bockingford 425 gsm Extra rough surface, 51 cm x 34 cm, with SAA Artist paints.





This was done on the first day of the painting workshop. The Saturday weather was so good, we did not want to keep indoors painting the sketches we did in the forenoon, so we pulled out our tables and chairs and sat outside the Newbiggin in Teesdale village hall and started painting the glorious scene in front of us after a brief stint of sketching them. Made a few compositional changes, herding the cows to the right. Same materials as above. The size of the painting is 49 cm x 32 cm.
Comments and criticism welcome!

One from my hometown!

Falls at Thirumoorthy Hills, Coimbatore District (Tamil Nadu, India)


This is a very nostalgic painting. This is a small waterfalls very close to my town where many a Sunday afternoons were spent in college days. Just stand under the falls and the thudding water gives you a very good massage to your whole body, it has medicinal values too. It is real heaven sent on a very hot day(which usually is), you just do not feel like leaving the water! I thought I should revive the memories of yore!Have a look at the reference photo above.

Here is my version in painting, followed closely to the reference, without any composition changes.
Half sheet of Bockingford 425gms rough surface (good for the rock texture). Used a credit card to scrape out the rocks when the paint was wet. SAA artist paints used. As always, comments and criticisms welcome! Thanks for looking!