It's all about colors and light

Last post

2008-10-05T19:43:00.001-07:00

This blog is no more active and has been moved to http://nisthaonweb.com/art/

A House in Winter

2008-08-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

Its again a practice picture on 5.5 x 7.5 Fabriano 140 lb cp watercolor paper. After my last 2 ptgs had dried, I realized that watercolors lose a lot of intensity on drying. So u need to prepare a darker mixture than what you want it to look on paper. And I like the effects I got in blue this time, the color tones look just fine. I am really enjoying the practice lessons on 'Lets get started'. I would totally recommend it as a reference for beginners like me. The advices given on what kind of brushes to use is great, I would not have got this much control just on my own. So, I guess its a good idea to start with a book rather than random articles on web.

Happy learning!

Watercolor 101

2008-07-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

I have found watercolor to be a much more challenging medium than oil for obvious reasons (at least to the artists). To non-art people, watercolors might seem more like a kinder-garten medium; however, once you try water, you know the hurdles it poses. One got to be fast with watercolors and it is more daunting a task if you try them after working on oils. Oils take ages to dry and give you ample time to correct the mistakes. Secondly, oil are opaque colors which means you can redraw with each new layer. But water doesn't give you any of these liberties. Watercolors being transparent, stay permanent on your paper. Even the lowermost layer keeps revealing itself to the viewer. So if you needed a white portion leftover in your paper, you better make sure, you dont wash over it by mistake.

For all these reasons, one may find it difficult to adapt to the quick and transparent watercolors. However, they do give you some bonuses - easy cleaning, time saving and cheaper raw materials. For all these reasons and the mere fascination of trying another medium, I am giving a serious try to watercolors. These are my first two attempts on artist-quality watercolor papers (Saunders rough 140lb). They are not great but I've got enough boost to try more fun stuff.

I was practicing flat wash and did a decent job with the background grey. So, I thought to add more stuff and make it a stand-alone painting.

I tries working on a design for my second attempt. This one is from Jack Reid's 'Lets get started' book examples. I changed the composition and was playing around with really bland mixes. Actually this was just from the left over of the first one. I did not realize it would be so dull after drying up. So, heres something that I learnt too :)

Vermont's covered bridge

2008-06-22T08:31:00.001-07:00

covered bridge of Vermont
14x11 oil on paper

(bad scan quality)

Foliage

2008-03-04T18:22:00.001-08:00

12x9 oil on canvas

Inspired by Larry Seiler's demo!

sketching eyes

2008-03-04T18:21:00.001-08:00

Fall colors - finished

2008-02-05T06:42:00.001-08:00

(20x12 oil on canvas)

Pink Rose

2008-01-15T21:14:00.001-08:00

pink-rose
(10x10 oil on hardboard)

I always wanted to paint a decorative piece with creative background instead of still-life. This was a 2 days project and missing small details are pretty apparent. However, I still love this one the best so far.
The rose design is taken from one of Doug Braithwaite's pieces.

rainy day - final

2007-11-17T09:09:00.001-08:00

calm

2007-11-16T21:45:00.001-08:00

A Rainy Evening

2007-10-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

As I was returning from the office on friday, the rainy evening inspired me to capture the reflections on street onto a canvas. And thus was brought up the idea for my second painting.

first halt

rainy-day (9x12" oil on canvas)

This is the final version and is still to dry. I was too impatient and so putting up this bad photo. I didn't get the reflections the way I wanted and signature came out too big and funky but overall, I really love this one.

This was completed in little more than 2 days precisely. I am still not very good at getting the layers correctly in single time and therefore need to wait between the layers to dry up to correct my mistakes, otherwise this is probably a one-day project for experienced artists.

my first one on canvas

2007-10-03T15:17:00.001-07:00

I thought I would never get it complete but finally I have.

hibiscus

I have looked at it so many times by now that I cant even make out if its good or not...but I am just glad that I feel its complete now.

I have just started playing with the colors and it seems I have already wasted 24 years without them..but never too late.

overcoming the initial hitch

2007-10-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

I loved sketching and drawing as a kid but somewhere down the years, as happens with a normal indian kid, I drifted completely apart from what I did for simple pleasure to something that my mind was programmed to do - get in IT. Getting back hasn't been easy and lack of a formal training tends to lower one's confidence to get started. But all the efforts to overcome this glitch have been worth it.

Formal training can teach you techniques but fine arts is something that is more to do with an innate inclination and natural endowment. I did not even know how to prepare a canvas or what surface is ideal for different kind of paints. But there are resources out there ( aah cmmon I m talking google) and you can find information if you are desperate enough. With my job, I cant afford time for regular arts degree. So I am what you can call self-learner. And one thing that I have learnt is that once you stop thinking that you are competing against the people with degrees and long experience in formal arts, and start enjoying the activity just for your own sake, it will be a priceless experience.

Someone has said, painting is nothing but the understanding of lighting on a subject. It is not merely a way to capture nature on a piece of canvas, it is going one step ahead and making the nature's picture more colorful with your imagination for what can beat the combination of nature's beauty and creativity of an artist's imagination. So, here's to the artist that dwells in each one of us...

oil painting

2007-09-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

We lose few of the passions in life as we move along and get busy in the routine work and daily responsibilities. But its a pleasure for me to get back to one of my lost passions - painting and sketching. I hope to do justice to my newfound enthusiasm in this field.