Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Devotee

Charcoal and pastel on toned paper
12"x16"
Glad to share another drawing with charcoal and pastel pencils.Intended to be monochromatic but I could not resist some color and ended up doing a colored drawing instead of a tonal sketch.I must say I am getting the hang of my pastel pencils after all.I am loving building up the color stroke by stroke..just like oil paints.One more thing I like about this medium- I can use white for highlights!So much fun after watercolors' worry about leaving the paper white for highlights.
Please do let me know what do you think of this effort.

The Mall Galleries Visit

Yesterday I was in London for some work and with some extra time at my disposal, decided to pay a visit to the Mall Galleries.It was my first, since I don't go to London that often.The Lynn Painters-Stainers Exhibition was on...and what you see above was a workshop on portrait drawing from life which was in progress when we reached.
The exhibition itself was beautiful, it was a great experience.I hope that next time my work will be among the ones hanging there ( High hopes!)Bonus was the Wapping Group Exhibition, which had some really good London-Thames paintings.Great time spent.

Working on a new sketch with charcoal and pastel pencils...hope to share it soon.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Charcoal Sketch_ Bearded Man

Inspiration struck late at night! I sketched this on toned paper, using white charcoal pencil for highlights- working from 10 pm till 12 pm, just after I posted the flowers.
For ages I have wanted to do this...Not a detailed one, but at least its a start. More to come...hopefully.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Primrose


Have been trying out a few things lately.Pity that most of the attempts did not turn out as expected, thus, not shared here.One of them is town scapes.I would love to have the ability and flair to produce a beautiful looking towns cape.Britain is full of natural beauty as well as man made structures that catch your eye every now and then...it feels such a waste if you can't lay it down on your paper! I have been trying without much success....at the moment, it seems like a tough task.I do not know where am I going wrong-I just have to go by instinct...but I do hope that with time, and a few more attempts, I am going to find the magic key...

Meanwhile, you may enjoy these Hawthorn flowers.Spring is around the corner, we had a few really nice and sunny days last week. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Young Monk

Soft Pastels on Canson Paper
20"x14"
The long awaited pastel painting...I am not very happy with this,though.It will take a lot of time to be able to tame this medium.I think I used too much pigment...should have kept some background color showing through.May be..I am so new at it- I just don't know what should I do! Artists use this medium in lots of different ways and I will have to find out what appeals to me the most.The core problem,however, is,how  to store these works.I don't want to spray them with fixative too much for the fear of spoiling the color.Will I need to frame each of them? Advise anyone? Hilda?...

Friday, February 8, 2013

Winter Sun

22"x 15"
This week I found some old issues of International Artist Magazine at my Art Club. Among some others greats,there was an article about Joseph Fettingis .I loved this artist's style! Inspired by his art, I came up with this piece.It is slightly bolder than my usual style, isn't it? I have tried to loosen up and 'leave something to the imagination of the viewer'..(though not quite there,yet)!I am trying to find a style which actually works for me.I would love to hear your opinions on the matter :)
BTW, this was created from an old photo from my India trip.In UK, sunlight seems to be a luxury..so I don't get to click good reference pictures that often for my watercolors.I needed sharp sunlight for this kind of portrait, so I dug it out from my archives.

Have a great weekend!!

Monday, February 4, 2013

Proud _Black Swan

                                                                      watercolor, 9"x7"
A proud looking swan, I like these birds -they are so beautiful! I have loads of reference pictures as my husband loves to take their close ups...this is from one of his pictures.After three days of not painting, I felt compelled to paint something last evening.Another portrait is on my drawing board but that will take time- this is like a chocolate bar in between meals, quick burst of energy!
Also visited the library this morning and found some pastel painting books.Still unsure how to go about using my new  'mi-tientes 'pastel paper, I won't know until I decide about what am I going to paint.Soon,soon....