For You, Sherry!

Its a portrait of Sherry, a fellow blogger and a dear friend :)
The reference pictures that she sent didn't reveal much of her character, each one of them being different- so I relied on my instinct and painted her as I perceived her!
I do hope you like it, and you recognise yourself in this portrait, Sherry! Enjoy :)

Midnight Rose

Here I have been trying to create an artwork combining both- the abstract and the realistic approach...(without much success, it seems!) I have also used some negative painting here.
The experiment with darks still continues...I am posting it here even if I am not happy about it - keeps life from getting boring :)
watercolor on paper
12" x 9"

Radiant

A watercolor study of a friend -- beautiful, young, and vivacious.The reference photo was taken recently at Bournemouth beach, UK.
Watercolor on cold pressed paper, 9"x12"

The Intense Gaze

I have been working on this sketch during past few days. I guess total time involved was around 10-12 hours.

This lady  happens to be a devotee who was busy reading her holy book at the 'Ganga Ghaat'( At the shores of the Ganges) in Rishikesh.She looked up when my husband clicked her picture but didn't mind much! Her gaze was intense and deep, so I was fascinated by her face.
Hope you enjoy this.
Pencil on paper, 16"x12"

Coconut Water

I have been missing doing portraits..so first thing I did when I sat to paint, was this boy :) - its an old reference photo taken from the net..(just a practice painting) He is enjoying coconut water straight from a green Coconut, as it is popularly done in southern parts of India.
The paper is 90 lb and it didn't take the washes very well ; just soaked up all paint I applied on it...
watercolor 9"x12"

Arrived...

I have arrived and in process of settling down in United Kingdom..The weather has been beautiful here in Basingstoke since my arrival on Thursday.The town is pretty, the view is very nice from my seventh floor apartment and I am loving it here!
The picture above was painted a few months back; just thought it would be nice to share it again; more so,as it shows my current state of mind--looking out for new avenues  and adventures!
I have been missing you all and I hope I will have something new to post here soon :)

Waiting - Portrait of a Young Woman

A watercolor study ..this one is more refined, added some details..wonder if its a good thing or bad!
12"x 9"

Blues..Once In a While

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 watercolor on paper , 12"x9"

Mates

Some more of my work from yesterday's session...
A watercolor study, about 12"x 9"

At the Farm

 A study of a cockerel ...I  have been watching Jean Haines paint so many of them and I used to think, what's so special about these cockerels? But painting one myself was a revelation! I did  this one and then went on to paint another set immediately afterwards....there's something about them-I loved splashing color all around ( In case you are squinting to find some here,wait for my next post!)
BTW, I took this one after a photo of Sandy, another blogger friend. But for the second, I didn't need  a reference.I guess that's what I loved about this subject!

Waves

A fun painting of  my nephew. I took this photo on the Lido beach at HongKong,as the little one watched the waves rush to his feet.
I have been away from my colors for  long time, so I did this painting just to get my brushes wet again-- but I guess it turned out well enough to share with all of you!
Watercolor on paper, 12"x16"

Autumn- The sketch of mom

 This is my mom...the sketch was sitting on my drawing board when I left for my vacation. I can say my hands were itching to complete it - and that's what I did last night! Although the 'finishing up' took more than five hours....I am generally happy with it.What do you think?
Pencil on paper 30cm  X40 cm

The Sketch

A practice sketch - I have used a light weight paper for this one and completed it in about half an hour.
I was trying to see if the quality / thickness of the paper made any difference...My conclusion? Once you master your trade, paper will cease to matter - till then, its practice, practice, practice!
 14"X10" 110 lb watercolor paper

Little Girl and the Butterfly

This is my niece, a chirpy ten year old. She has a shy smile that I love to bring out on paper.I have tried working in layers on her face this time, hoping to achieve the right skin tone-but  the choice of colors for the butterfly went wrong, as it now seems merged with the wall...should have used lighter colors on it :(

watercolor on paper, 16"x12"

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"

The Brown Horse in watercolors

I painted big this time...30"x20" to be precise.My elbow is hurting again and I am not spending much time on my computer these days.I have seen some very beautiful posts by you all in last few days but am yet to comment on them.My apologies.

Thank you all for responding so positively on this horse painting;I have decided to add some more to this post...Recently I visited a renowned artist of Delhi and asked his advise and opinion on my work.I have started thinking about putting up an exhibition in near future- and I need all the help I can get!...He liked my work but he also advised me to paint on a bigger canvas.As I have been mostly painting on 16"x12" or lesser sizes, I decided to paint this one on a full sheet. And judging by your response, it was a good move!
His other advise was to pay more attention to my pencil art, he liked the pencil artwork very much. I am thinking about it- an exhibition of my pencil artwork...sounds great!Lets see how things evolve.

I like horses, they make such fine subjects.White, black, brown..they are all so beautiful.I am thinking of drawing one in pencil, too.

watercolor on paper, 30"X 20"

Koi

Always wanted to paint Koi fish someday!I enjoyed this painting immensely.It was created using 'wet on wet' technique and I was happy with the results.Took me about an hour to concieve, draw and paint it.No reference photo here.
Hope you like it too.
20"x14", on 140 lb cold pressed watercolor paper

The Couple

This watercolor is based on a photo by my friend Fred Walsh who is a brilliant wildlife photographer and an avid bird enthusiast. Those are Great Egrets and you can see the original picture here. I loved this photo very much and tried to give it another dimension. Thanks Fred, for letting me use this image.

Watercolor 16"x12"

From my Balcony

'The world looks beautiful from here'--This painting is based on my son's photo while he looked down happily at something from the balcony -though I cropped it too close, and lost a portion of the railing in the process! Still, the mood is happy and I love painting happy faces :)

Watercolors on paper 14"x10"