Drummer..

Folk Drummer.. 

In Feb this year, I decided to persue second chapter in my professional career.. This thought of 'change' has been going on for too long.. was going back and forth in terms of should I change company after this long span of 15 years or not was always lingering, Somehow felt lets 'change' and resigned TCS which has been my home (seriously, I have zero complaints or grievances to this splendid organization) with a heavy heart.. It has not been an easy decision to leave a company which has pampered, challenged, allowed to risks and learn so much in this vast IT industry !! 

Along with that, I was on my way out of the current customer where I represented TCS for past 3+ years. In these 3 years I was so closely working with the customer who is really a tough one to manage.. Over these 3 years I learned a lot (specially from one of the very senior person in the customer organization) and I couldnt plan anything other than a Painting to gift him as a 'thanks gesture'

I didnt want to paint some naturistic stuff which I was used to, so thought of painting something which has an Indian touch to it, Came across a photo which had this folk drummer.. Thought let me give a try (didnt tell my customer that I was going to paint one.. :) Wasnt confident that it would come out good), Picked up a 40x30 cms canvas board and set off to paint this on a calm Saturday evening.. 

Painting this was not at all easy.. Background was clumsy and drew anatomy of person with a pencil and had no clue how to get the right tones for skin, drum and dress.. somehow I had nothing to lose :) So did this.. 

I specially liked the right arm which I felt has come out very well.. Wasnt having enough courage to spend more time on face.. so left it where it was :) Finally it was somewhat satisfying one and my FIRST of human anatomy based painting

Hope you like it !! This painting was then framed and gifted it to my customer whom I will always be indebted for teaching (through tough times though) how to manage most strategic transformation programs that too in Infrastructure which I didnt know before I started managing this account ! 

He and his wife liked it ! I am satisfied :) and now I have courage to start some more of such paintings... 

Buddha & Aum

Buddha & Aum.. 

Another of AUM series, Had seen this in one of the posters sometime back, Thus decided to paint this one.. Nothing special to say in this painting.. Pretty much similar technique and there wasnt anything unique while painting this..

End result was a peaceful one and now it adores my living room.. each time I look at this, get a glimpse of peacefulness :) May be I need it... 

Its done on a 30x20cms canvas and of course still in Acryllic :) 

Dreamer..

Dreamer in the silhouette of Sunset

So far, I have never tried to paint which has human anatomy in it, Always my paintings were more or less nature, plants and trees and mountains etc, which does not really matter with respect to aspect ratios!! 

This time, I decided to paint a sunset and this painting was much faster than my earlier ones, I could finish the overall background with the tree etc within 60-80 minutes, Then as usual planned to put a bench, green lush grass etc and overall that also went well.. 

Naman - My son is a real life dreamer ! I at times visualize him in this posture so thought of painting a boy who is dreaming in his own world.. and here it is.. 

To my surprise, next day morning.. Naman got up (he always gets up first on weekends much before us) and said.. Dont you think its ME !! Yes.. it is indeed my Naman..

So this painting is named 'DREAMER' 

AUM

AUM 

I painted my first AUM few months back, Since then I wanted to paint a better one which has a very clear AUM (pretty much like RSS - Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh AUM) in a circular canvas.

IDEE has good collection of round canvas boards and picked this up which is 50cms in diameter and set off to paint something which I have always seen in posters :)

Vermilion & Orange made most of the outer edge of this painting and blended it with Yellow and some Titanium white, Background was ready.. Just to add some effects, stuck some streaks of cello tape and painted yellow on it, It indeed gave some good effect (which not seen much in a photo, rather seen clear when you see the painting as is) 

My wife searched a good AUM from google images, drew that with pencil and used RED to paint it evenly, It wasnt easy as I generally do rubbing technique and not that comfortable with smooth finish by brush ! However.. came out well.. Whitish shadow was added later.. 

Very good friend of mine who was leaving for India from Germany wanted this, So gifted this painting to him and hopefully now it resides in a peaceful valley near Himalayas (somewhere near Kangda - Himachal Pradesh) He was very pleased to have it !! He wanted to put it in a yoga room.. Hope it gives some support to those who want to meditate and get some piece (peace) of mind :)

Peaceful Homestead..

A Barnhouse

By this time, I had done several of the nature related paintings and I have to admit that I still do not have courage to start a portrait or something which has human anatomy in it, Its not just difficult.. its bit challenging even to think of, so may be few more nature related landscapes and then I will venture out into next phase of my painting journey

After lot of mountains, lakes and tress etc, Tried this one which I call as 'Barnhouse', I had seen one similar to this in my good old friend Doug Hanner's (Columbus, Indiana) house and searched all over the internet for a reference photo, Found one through Alexander (A famous Oil painter) and started off on saturday with 40x30cms framed canvas

By looking at final one, I wonder why I spent too much time on sky, but I did spend too much time on sky and used a palette knife to draw the barnhouse, it wasnt easy as acrylic doesnt come that easily off of palette knife ! Still tried various angles and thickness and texture to bring it to this stage.. 

Garden or bushes next to house and in front were tiring, I tried painting some lilly flowers with violet etc, somehow it wasnt blending with overall painting and ended up making it just greener and yellowish.. pathway and then my sacred Bench :) 

Did get some good reviews of this (One was - Windows are too bright !! true.. didnt realize that) and this looks better for naked eyes than a photo taken from a iPhone ;) Sneaky way of saying.. I am satisfied with this painting.... 

Hope you like it !! Its now stored along with many other finished paintings of mine ! Soon I need a bigger box or a rack to store finished ones.. 

Starry Night Sky !

Constellation or Something :)

One of the saturdays, we had called our friends home for dinner.. While we were chatting post dinner, One of them asked if I can show how I paint.. It wasnt usual as I dont consider myself a good painter yet !! Still didnt take risk of painting something tough one rather thought of a starry night sky.. 

While they watched the whole blending of blue, green, black and white colors on a black canvas, I tried to keep the center light (or constellation or whatever) come out slowly while I continued to blend the colors to look like norther lights or something similar.. 

Surprise factor was the stars.. while it looks like a tedious job, its the most simple one, Took one of the used toothbrush, dipped it in diluted titanium white and just spray it.. we all have done it during brushing.. so same technique and stars come alive and gives life to the painting

Small cliffs with black and some grass or some trees in that horizon, these things dont take time... After that as usual, Bench should come (Its my painting..) and here it is.. 

I took about an hour to paint this one :) A Satisfactory one.. 

Tribute to Indian Army @Siachen

Tribute to Brave brothers

On 3 February 2016, an avalanche hit an Indian military base in northern Siachen Glacier region, trapping 10 soldiers under deep snow.. the avalanche struck the camp located in the northern Siachen Glacier, at a height of 19,600 feet, in the early hours.. Over the years, India has invested heavily in procuring high-quality equipment. The Army has streamlined procedures for better acclimatisation, and this has helped to cut casualties. However, all that is no guarantee against the avalanche of the sort that hit the camp on Wednesday. On an average, India spends Rs. 5 crore a day for maintaining troops on the glacier

It is a sad thing to happen, those sons of Bharat mata who were just doing their duty just because of enemity between 2 countries lost their life due to this natures wrath !! As usual we all get into social media and write so many things about them.. Not sure if anything really gets done at the end to those poor folks who lost their son/dauthger, However I am one among them and sitting miles far from the country couldnt do much apart from donating some to the account which one charity started ! 

I felt let me paint one which I can call as 'Tribute to our soldiers' and set off to paint this one on a 50x40 cms canvas board, earlier I started one which turned out to be so serene and peaceful which I didnt want to call as siachen glacier :( 

Painting a glacier with acrylic is bit difficult as paint doesnt come that smooth when you use a palette knife, So was searching through internet to see instructions on how to paint such snow clad mountaints without a knife and with Acrylic, Found one very informative old video and followed it to do the mountains.. Didnt come that well, however I was satisfied with the outcome ! 

Bit wierd part of the painting was, I had almost half of the canvas empty when I was done with mountains, may be my calculation of how much space mountains would take was wrong.. Thus decided to paint snow mountains and it was bit hard ;) as it had to look like snow mountains and not sand dunes ;) Then it was time for 2 soldiers and their small makeshift place and beloved TRICOLOR of India... 

Here it is.. RIP Our beloved soldiers ! Thanks for guarding our borders so that we can live safely in our magnificient country