Darren _Watercolor Portrait

This is Darren, Oakley's big brother..another commissioned portrait.His two pretty cousins will soon be here to accompany him :)
Watercolor on paper, 9"x12"

The Guitarist

This morning's work.Not a great photo as the skies are overcast.
Watercolour on A3 paper

Baby Oakley "How I wonder..."

Its a watercolor portrait of Oakley, commissioned by her grand ma and my blogger friend Sherry. I am thrilled that she likes it.
I hope that you all like it too.Isn't she gorgeous!
12"x9"

'Vulnerable' Portrait Watercolour

I have been away from painting and blogging for more than a week- had been working on a job in animation.This morning my laptop just 'hung up' on me and I was forced to take a break...and I am glad I did! It was a TV grab, which I had earlier printed out in black and white for value study.But this morning I wanted to do something in colour- so I put colour in her face myself, and I am quite happy with the results! She is beautiful, but her expression holds a certain amount of vulnerability which makes her even more attractive.
watercolor on seawhite paper, which is 350 gsm,not as good as Arches- but cheaper than that and good for practice.

Buddies

My son with my lovely niece.They have been best buddies since long.I took the reference picture while they had fun in a pool, while holidaying together in HongKong.This picture was in my 'To do' list for a long time; but the details were a bit intimidating- so I kept postponing it ...until last week! This is about 9 hours of work spread over 3 days...
Mechanical pencil .7 on A3 smooth paper.

Charcoal Sketch of a Pretty Girl

Trying to establish a relationship with charcoal...
A practice sketch , A3 size, willow charcoal sticks.

From My Sketchbook

Lately I have been studying a Richard Taylor book about drawing buildings.Posted above is a page from my sketchbook.Drawing buildings is so different from drawing people.More lines, more angles, almost no curves.Especially when you are not using any ruler!But its interesting, and I am going to work some more on it; to achieve correct perspective and straighter lines.
Graphite pencils B, 3B on A5 sketch pad.

Family

A single coloured pencil sketch from a photograph that I took on an outing.The older couple sat with their daughter,looking happy and contended, while the granddaughter took this picture.. These three made a nice family portrait.Didn't they?
Just a practice sketch, not much drawing going on lately....
I have not been doing much art lately, this was a small practice sketch to get back into the mode.

Smiling Black Haired Girl- Portrait in Pencil

This is one of the 12 sketches that we used in our our 2012 calendar.This is an asian girl, probably Srilankan; with gorgeous hair and beautiful eyes.
A3, pencil on paper.

Waiting for the Spring - Watercolor Tree

Trees all around are sporting the 'bald look'.The beautiful mass of these entangled little branches attract me a lot.I have taken a lot of pictures of these beautiful trees in winters.This watercolor is a tribute to these tiny soldiers braving the winter!
Watercolor on Cold pressed paper, 12"x9"

Mom , I am tired...Charcoal Portrait

We went to see the harbour city Portsmouth last week.Arjun doesn't like walking around very much and by the afternoon, he was tired...You can imagine how tough it was to drag this guy along!
I drew this last night from a photo that I took of him that day.I would call this " Mom, I am tired!"  :)
This is a 15 minute charcoal sketch on normal printing paper A4 size; all I could manage whole last week, as Arjun had his half term holiday and hubby had also taken leave from his work!

Self Portrait

.........
This is a second time that I have done a self portrait; first one was about three years ago!
The reference photo was taken by my husband in summers.I always thought it was too strong,too close- as I tried to stare into the setting sun....But today as I thumbed for subjects, I came across this one and thought- "why not!"
Today being cloudy and dull, the photo didn't come out great; sorry about that.
Watercolor on A4 sized cold pressed paper

Snippets of Life, in Watercolor

Winter and summer..together, hand in hand! I was unable to find a subject to paint last week.This is what I did instead- small watercolor sketches from my old photos.Bottom one was done first, then I decided that 'less' was 'more',and did the top one with very light  amounts of color. I like that one better!
All these were different photos, I just put them together.

Snippets of life-1

This is what I did last night ...from a photo in my phone; taken some time ago.These two were heading towards the buildings across the street while I was standing on the pavement, down the stairs.
Thinking of working more on buildings now.
sketchbook 

More Greens...

Here are two more studies of leaves and trees...I have been trying to find out how can I paint them most effectively.Trees and leaves look good in loose bold patches of paint ...good for small studies.But what happens when you go Big? Like I did on the top one!It was b-i-g, and I was determined to make it work.I tried watercolor pencils to draw leaves around the doorway.It all looked splendid ...till I dipped my brush in water......and managed to get everything muddled up!
Actually I did not finish the door after I was disappointed with the greenery.It was left as a basic wash.
Thinking of using waterproof indian ink next time....its all experiment, experiment!
watercolor on paper
upper one A3
Lower  one postcard size

watercolor Studies

It has been a long time since I posted here.Have been busy with my animation work lately..
These two tiny studies are what I did this morning.Top one is an old door set in a brick wall surrounded by bushes and vines..I took this snap in the courtyard of the local church building here and have been wanting to paint it for quite some time.The reason of putting it off- all those leaves making me nervous!
This is a postcard size study- just to see if it can be developed into a bigger painting.
Second one is a shot from our neighbourhood park in a bright and beautiful morning light.This was a little challenge- combining the light of sun with the dark of shadows.This one is also on a postcard.
Hope all of you are doing good...its time I paid a visit!
Watercolor on postcards

The Boat

My resolution for this year is to work more in watercolors. This boat was a new subject for me and I enjoyed painting this.These boats are very popular with the tourists who visit Nainital, a small valley in the foothills of the Himalayas in India; which boasts of many beautiful lakes. Recently one of my friends visited Nainital and I borrowed one of his holiday snaps!
I finished it in three sittings, total time spent; about 4 hours.
Watercolor on paper, A3 sized

Miscellaneous

This is another  practice page from my sketchbook..  my own hand in different positions.I have filled three pages so far.Next, I will be targeting feet!

The cute Birthday Card that my son made for me;complete with a pop-up cake and a funny message inside.I think he more or less made up for his dad,too; who didn't get me any!Anyway it was a great day, lunch with friends and a movie in the evening.Thank you all my friends who sent their wishes.I am so blessed!

And I look so pudgy in this picture that was taken yesterday.....May be its time to start the exercise and Yoga regime again :)

Shoes, Jacket ...and Oranges!

Days have been sunny, lately-- a real treat in this time of the year.I took some pictures of the jacket and oranges to study the values and tones.The feet, however belong to mu husband and were captured in artificial light...I drew them all together last night while watching TV!Yes, I was 'watching' a movie with a sketchbook in my hands because 'just' sitting and watching TV feels like a waste of time to me :D........... Hubby hates it, of course!He is a TV buff.....I have my vices!!!
Today I celebrate my birthday ( of course, the two guys in my life very conveniently forgot to bring me any cards, flowers or chocolate....I wish I had a daughter!) Later we plan to go out for lunch, it looks like a great day outside.
Happy Sunday!

A Beautiful Start_2012

This is one of the 12 sketches that appear in the Desk Calendar 2012 of my sister's company 'MediaGuru'. We did it last year,too; with my 'Faith' series. This year she commissioned me to do a series about children, youth and dreams.I have spent two months on this project and I am happy that its finally out! Waiting for my copy, though...will share it with you once I receive it.
This time these calendars have become something like a collector's item; everyone wants one!
Have a Happy New Year, all of you :)

Pencil on paper
A3 sized