Water color experiments

Hi Friends,
After a long period of fear of having lost my skills to paint with watercolours I can announce that I have  started to paint again. Here are a few of them.

waterlily

Beach view in LA

village scene

Thriveni sangamam Allahabad

Water Color Painting of Nesting Storks

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This is a painting which I started some time back in fact I had posted it in my blog too.http://nandadeviy.blogspot.in/2013/04/birds-in-watercolor-work-in-progress.html.Long time ago !
The storks are painted in watercolors and I used ink drawings for the tree and rest of the picture. I am really satisfied with the end result hope you too enjoy this painting .Do let me know your feedback.

Watercolor abstract painting decoupaged

Water color painting on rIce paper was pasted on a mud pot and several coating of varnish was applied.See the result the painting shines and colors develop beautifully. This was indeed a dream to create and use watercolor painting on a permanent style.

Mughal gardens at Srinagar in watercolors

The Shalimar Gardens was built by  Emperor Jehangir for his wife Nur Jehan in 1619. The garden is built in 3 different terraces  with fountains and canals lined with polished stones. On either side of the fountains are the huge Chinar trees The leaves of the chinar trees are just starting to turn yellow and fallen leaves yellow, orange and brown all beckoning  the autumn.The center canal runs through first the terrace for the public audience(Diwan e aam) and the next terrace is for private audience with the emperor(Diwan e khas) and higher to that is the terrace for the royal ladies. Since the summer was over and fountains being repaired the gardens did not look its best but I could imagine how it used to be. The best part is the mountains which is seen  in the distance . It adds to the calmness and romance of the whole place.  The lawns are embedded with bright colors of flowering plants  to enhance the beauty of the garden.

The black pavillion at the top of the garden  has the famous inscription in persian meaning' If there is paradise on earth ,it is this,it is this,it is this' written by persian poet Amir Khusrau.

My painting posted today is a small attempt to memorise that paradise  in my mind.

Pussy cat in watercolor

Pussy cat pussy cat where have you been?.Well finally I have recouped my painting skills.This picture is done with its base coloring in water colors and the hair's on the cat  in watercolor pencils.The tummy and chest portion of the cat is white and the back and head is having stripes. The actual painting looks better than the photo but still there is many improvements that I have to make.Do let me know your comments.By the way I dont like cats except this one.

Birds in watercolor-work in progress

An ink drawing I started a few months  back lie unfinished now for almost a month. Some how I could not go forward as something was missing.There was no energy or motivation for me when the picture developed.Anyway now  I thought I will paint the main theme the birds in watercolors freestyle. The whole picture made a turnaround as I put the colors in to mix and form the shape of the birds.I was  so delighted with the result that I could not wait to finish the painting.Soon I have to complete the picture with ink but until then do enjoy these birds.

Boxer -watercolor painting

14.5"x 11"

Hi everyone! Its always exciting to learn a new technique when you are not any more in school. Here is me all excited and thrilled that I could really do something out of the box and have excellent results. See what I did yesterday my second doggies painting. Gusti( boxer) is Thomas Jacobs pet dog. I borrowed a photo of Gusti for this painting. Gusti is very serious looking  dog and his face is very structured. I enjoyed painting this one in the same freestyle painting as I did in my last  post .The freedom this style gives is fantastic . Yesterday I completed the painting late in the evening and couldnot really predict what the outcome will be at that time. Never thought I can attempt to draw faces especially without drawing. Hope all of you like this one.Love you Gusti.

Freestyle painting practise in watercolors

My cousin sister Nisha and her daughter Rhea loves dogs.They are always picking  up stray dogs taking care and getting them homes.Since they live in an apartment they can't keep a pet .But this doesn't stop them from loving animals especially doggies!

Rhea loved the doggie painting in Jean Haines book Atmospheric watercolors ,I promised Rhea that I will send the picture after painting. So my practise of freestyle painting  is for Rhea.I need to practise a lot to learn this style, but the results look very interesting and different.

Adopt me!

Painting Exhibition Sales

Suprisingly I did make some sales  at the exhibition at Asset Zing ,even though many warned me not to expect any sales. And there is further some  enquiry for  three more of the exhibited paintings. More than the sales there was so much appreciation about my paintings and comments from total strangers like"simple and beautiful paintings for the common man" were so encouraging for a first timer like me.I have to keep in mind flowers are not what people expect from paintings its more of nature and other complicated stuff.I enjoy painting flowers and that is why it looks as beautiful as its subject. Looking forward for my next exhibition I should  be presenting a more varied subject for sure!! These are the paintings that are sold.Thank you to all those who visited my painting exhibition and also who loved to take one back home.

Tulips 

SunWorship

Gods own Festival

The Boat

Dahliahs

Flowerscape-The trumphet daffodils garden

This is the last picture I did for the exhibition. The large tree is the highlight of this painting . I worked with ink pen on the bark of the tree to enhance the aged look of the outer sheath of the tree.The white trumphet daffodils(narcissus) in the forefront  is done using negative painting Many people loved this painting and its one of my favourite.I am starting on my next painting today and hope to get it done this weekend. Enjoy!

Phalaenopsis Blooms

Hi there,  this one is my favourite flower painting.I took a lot of time to perfect it .I almost abandoned it when I thought the  half opened flower on the left was ruined . But when it finished I was really surprised   at the life like quality of the petals.Hard work does pay off! Hope my viewers do enjoy this.

Flowerscapes-Tulip garden

The landscape with tulip flowers as seen in the Netherlands was my subject for my next  watercolor painting.Many people appreciated this one at the exhibition .The red tulips in the front and then mixed colors and the white tulips made good composition. The grasses in reddish brown color enhanced the landscaping. I was very pleased with the short wall .It was real fun painting this one. Do enjoy!

Iris garden

Iris flowerscape

When I started seriously doing watercolors I wanted to concentrate and  excel in one type of subject before I ventured into more complicated paintings. This was how I started painting flowers. Now you may notice that I have started on landscapes mostly having gardens . This painting Iris  flowerscape(I like this word!) was part of the painting exhibition. There are yellow  irises too in this ledge of irises.A few mistakes like the two fence  for climbing plants went out of propotion and the slabs at the left hand corner should have been straight. Well I am glad I learn from these stupid mistakes. I loved the way the iris flowers came out and overall many liked this painting too.

Please also look at my Iris painting in an earlier post which had the highest views in my blog.

http://nandadeviy.blogspot.in/2012/06/irises-in-water-color.html

A Motor boat in watercolor

This watercolor painting was done for the exhibition but  I had selected mostly floral paintings to keep a  theme . This one came from a picture in a travel magazine reviewing  Mauritius as a holiday destination. Mmm .. good spot for my next holiday!. Painting the boat was fun  but somehow the view of the sea didnot   match the photograph.I love the color of the sea and it looks shallow that one can walk to the boat.Do enjoy my painting and let me know your views.

Do check out my other boat painting which is a real hit at the exhibition.This one I have done long back  when I was learning watercolor painting and it is done on hand made paper . 

Watercolor paintings exhibition

Its been an eventful week and a whole new experience  with the opening of my exhibition.There was news in the local newspapers about the exhibition and television  coverage too. Past few days many of my colleagues came to see the paintings and their comments and feedback were really encouraging. I was also able to meet some old friends and made some new friends too. Together with me their were other two artists Ms Anitha Kartha and Ms Bindya Rajagopal . Anitha   Kartha specialize in mural paintings  and her oil paintings of nature are very detailed  and pleasing .Ms Bindya  is a professional contemporary artist ,she is an art academy award winner and she also has her own art gallery.

These are  some of the paintings I have   exhibited for the show. The phalaenopsis (orchid ) painting is one of my favourite.

        
  

Landscape in watercolors

 Hello all my artists friends and  visitors to my blog .Wishing all of you a  successful year with lots of colors and creativity.

My new year  resolution   ought to be one painting every day. Now I am able to do one every three days only.Some one warned me that the quality of my paintings will come down if I try to do it in such a rush.Well I disagree  each  one is giving me a lot of insights on  what I could have changed for the better.Well some  of the paintings are coming out well and I think painting everyday  is the real experience .

This is a simple landscape painted a few days before to submit for the creative everyday challenge. I had used silver color for the pebbles in the water. Silver and golden color was in a japanese watercolor paint set I received from a japanese friend.

Working with watercolors make you put more and more color  and sometimes you tend to overdo and you wish you had stopped a little before. This is what happened when I painted the mountains and the trees in this painting. But I still like the picture overall.Do visit my blog and let me know your comments.

Dance drama in abstract

Recently I had an opportunity to spend three evenings  watching a drama ,baul artiste and bharatanatyam dance. The performance of parvathy Baul was soul searching and mystic. The baul songs are devotional songs.To know more check out  this link http://parvathybaul.srijan.asia/

Dance with spirituality ,divine music and a story to tell inspired me to do my next painting.

This picture was in the news recently about the dance drama Jalam by Samudra centre for Indian contemporary  Performing arts ,Kerala. My painting in watercolor  is just a variation from the original photograph,with my version of a story.. Some one who is always there to catch  hold of  your hand and pull you to safety  when you  are falling falling into  nowhere. Hope my visitors will like it and your comments are welcome.

never letting go

Crochet and watercolor practice on sunday

A lazy sunday  gone by . I took up an easy picture to do for  watercolor practice  . A picture from a greeting card. My boat misfired!

I also went to an art gallery  in cochin to see a watercolor painting by two graduates from fine arts college in town. It was a nice show ,inspired me to take up my painting more seriously. There was also an exhibition by a 7 year old girl in acrylic colors. With no basic training her paintings were very good.

You may be wondering about the title yes I did crochet a neck scarf  its the fun part in my life  when I get an artists block .

Harlequin phalaenopsis in watercolor

The new PADT (Paint and Draw Together  ) challenge is flowers of harlequin phalaenopsis orchid  in a shallow vase.I was excited to do this challenge as this is a subject close to my heart and also producing phalaenopsis plants of such varities is a part of my job.Always glad to see blooms of my tissue plants anywhere.In this variety the flowers are true to their name comic and colorful .Color splashes over their white  petals. I have a name for them monster  phalaenopsis!!(personally I am not a big fan of this variety,just like you guessed)

Lela(PADT) did justice to put these strange looking orchid flowers in a beautiful vase.The vase has a clear  design  / pattern   which brings out the shape much in contrast to the flowers with smudges.I think nature went freak on these flowers.

monster orchids size 15"x 10.6" 

I loved painting this challenge in watercolor on Fabriano watercolor paper 300 gsm .First I painted the colorful vase and then darkened the background around the flowers. The same colors  used in the background was diluted to very thin color in the areas were the petals are shaded.The spots on the underside were made dull by using tissue paper to absorb the brightness . I am so happy with the results.Lastly I again gave another coat of paint to right side of vase to high light the roundness of the vase. My painting is now complete and I am eagerly waiting to photograph and publish this painting. 

 Thankyou Lela for this challenge. I have to admit that with every challenge I am learning new techniques and my silly mistakes also.The photograph came out very bright and vibrant ,thankyou sujith your photographs excels my paintings.

This painting is available.Please contact me for details.

Wild tulip in watercolor

This is one of my earlier post  which  is not there in my blog now. A simple tulip flower found in the wild  and this was done in watercolor.I was pleased with the effect of the veins on the leaf and the petals.