Mousebird Watercolor

9"x7"

A small work from this morning.First wash was loose and then I finished it up with some fine feathers!

Elephant Portrait ''Stalwart''

20"x 15"

I have been painting small for quite some time and felt that it was time to go big This one is as big as I can go at the moment, but I am quite happy with it.Shipping large watercolors can be a pain as I do not roll them into tubes but prefer to send them flat.It can be done but is extremely expensive. Anyway this "Stalwart" looks quite majestic on large scale, doesn't he? Painted in my usual style on Arches cold pressed paper.

Young Turk

8x10

Felt like playing with color today....this Young Turk did not even have a drawing underneath, I just started with a brush loaded with color and loads of water.

Recently got myself a new pink (W &N Opera Rose) this painting was a test to see its relationship with other colors.Its bright alright but no great chemistry with others.

Actually I have been trying to replace my old tube of  Fragonard Rose Tyrien which is running out fast!I had bought it in India a few years ago and I haven't see a color this beautiful since.....it pushes away every other color it touches and creates beautiful blooms.( Its not in the painting  above but you remember the cute bunnies and roosters I posted a few days ago..get the picture?!)

Problem is, I can't find it even online ..and haven't found any counterpart either --a pink that would merge with other colors as beautifully....any help would be much appreciated.

Water Lilies in a Pond

Water Lilies

Watercolors on Arches 300 lb NOT paper

14"x 11"

This is not what I do everyday...painting flowers!But I am doing it right now, round the clock.My sister decided that this year we will be having flowers on her calendar.I am so short of time that I could n't even do some trials to see in what style I am going to paint- we just started off. Now its 'free-style', I guess! I am on my eighth page today.Have to finish all of 12 by Sunday.I will be sharing them all here very soon.

We are not having much sunshine here lately, yesterday was very cloudy and it has been  raining again since last night.This picture was taken under the light of my table lamp.The colors look yellower than they actually are but its the next best thing I can do.

Opening Evening_ Art Show

We had a great opening of the show with so many people attending.I had dragged my son Arjun this time,along with my husband; (with a promise of Pizza party afterwards) He got bored very soon and I had to leave early.Next time I am not taking him!Husband is more accommodating, he cancelled his golf for my exhibition ;)
Here are some pics for you:

The Smiling face

Experimenting with darks here- I have been avoiding darker values in past, due to the unwanted muddy effect I get when I use more than two washes. This paper is different from what I have been using so far, and it held the washes well; more than I expected.So I used the washes quite liberally here, and was generally happy with the results.
Still, it could have been better if I was patient enough to let the painting dry completely in between! I finished it in one sitting, as I always do with my watercolors..in about an hour.
It was sketched freehand and the child looks a bit older than I intended her to be!
In future, I am going to try to give these paintings more time, and see if it makes any difference :)

Faith 2- Old Man Offering Prayers

Its the same old man whose sketch appeared on my blog sometime ago.This is another image, here he is offering sacred water to the SunGod, standing on the steps of the Ganga river. This ritual is observed by many devotees in Hindu religion.It comprises worshipping the rising sun with water from the Ganga, flowers and other holy items like kumkum, chandan and dhoop.One can See hundreds of people going through this ritual in the spiritual towns like Haridwar, Rishikesh and Varanasi.

This drawing was done on full sheet, my first in this size.Thus it took a bit of time- I couldn't calculate the hours ; I would say it took me about 7-8 days to finish. ..And lots of work:)
The photo is not very good as the paper I used had a yellowish tinge, it was to big, and there is very little sunlight today.Sorry about that!

Graphic pencil on paper, 30"x22"