Sunflowers: a painting

Sunflowers

Title: Sunflowers

Watercolor on Handmade paper
Original size: 27 x 36 cm
7.1.2012

I thought painting flowers is simple. Why would it be difficult its the same petals all around?!! I was so wrong in my thinking. It is pretty difficult to control the colours from flowing into wrong places.

I laid a wash of chrome yellow mixed with white on the whole paper as an under-painting. The idea of depth was created with smaller size and poor definition of  flowers at a distance and play of color contrast in the foreground. Green stalks were added in form of negative painting to bring the flowers forward.

My family was thrilled looking at this painting. They think brightness of the painting is reflection of my happiness about life !

Train in the fields: a drawing

Train in the fields

 

Title: Train in the fields
Charcoal on Cartridge Paper
Original Size: 28 x 34 cm
30.12.2011

I bought an Easel in Hyderabad on 29.12.2011. It costed me about Rs 2400/- [ about US $ 50]. I also bought some handmade paper and cartridge paper in the same shop. These are not available in Vellore, the town that I live in. I saw a charcoal stick which was being sold for Rs 15/- .I could not stop myself from buying it. What difference would that make when you have already spent a lot of money !

At home I could not keep the easel packed up. I opened it and set it up. I was happy at my decision to buy charcoal stick as I could use it right away. Sketching does not need props like painting!

Trains are an exercise in perspective drawing. I like the subject of trains. A large country like India is bound together with a large network of railways. I enjoyed train journeys in my childhood as it made me meet different kinds of people. Although, as a doctor in tertiary care hospital, nowadays I am overwhelmed with people from different backgrounds !

I found a railway timetable and decided to draw the train on the cover. Incidentally this is my second drawing with charcoal. The first drawing in charcoal was done using charcoal meant for barbecuing chicken in a party in 2007. It was in the house of our Professor Dr Deepa Braganza. She told me that she had got that drawing of ‘ships in a harbor’ framed as a memoir of the party. I was so encouraged that I restarted art work after few months.

Charcoal drawings are very smudgy and prone to loss of detail. I do not know how to fix the charcoal. I have now found that there are sprays available. What I did is that I diluted fevicol [ a synthetic glue] in water and painted that over the drawing using a 1.5 inch household brush. The reason for the lost edges should be apparent now! :-/

However this is a landmark drawing for me personally[ First use of Easel, First use of Charcoal stick ] . I would try and find out how people fix their charcoal art and improve next time.  Anyway I hope you liked this one

City street in the night: a painting

City Street at Night

Title: City Street in the Night
Watercolour on Handmade Paper
Original Size: 36 x 27 cm
25.12.2011 [the afternoon of Christmas day]

Cityscapes are frightening topics to paint. There are too many subjects in the field of vision.

I learnt a principle in recent times that every painting should have a focus and that detail is not important everywhere. I also learnt from blog of Frank Eber that little is much if we could succeed in giving an impression of the subjects. This painting has elements of keeping things loose in the background only giving impression of a busy road.

I used acrylic white for highlights. This helped giving an opaque white effect. random strokes and dots of white gave the impression of busyness of a street.

I had posted this painting in facebook few days ago and I am glad it was liked by my friends. Hope you like it too.