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 

Lake in Mountain range..

Calm lake in mountains..

Just few weeks back, we lost our mighty soldiers for a natural disaster in Siachen, Our soldiers were guarding the highest battleground in the world and nature struck.. brought a big avalanche which caused martyrdom for 10 Indian soldiers, One of them fought well but finally gave up after reaching hospital.. 

Since that incident, I wanted to paint one as a tribute to them (best I could do apart from some donations to those families which I am still searching how to do) who guard our boarders and provide a safe country to live in.. 

Thus thought of painting the glaciers and an Indian flag with some soldiers, Picked up a large canvas board and set off to paint it on a valentine's day ;)

While I have watched many videos of painting snow-clad mountains with palate knife, they all have been Oil paintings and they weren't Acrylic, As I said earlier.. I have not yet started Oil as it requires a separate room to paint and I aint have one yet ! Thought I can do the same technique with acrylic and started off with a lazy background, Now when I look at the painting, I feel bit sad that I did not pay much attention to those clouds.. It looks like a small child has painted it.. However my all concentration was on mountains and may be I need to think more towards background in next paintings.. 

However I set off with greyish mountains and then with my cheap palate knife (which is plastic yet..) tried to get the feel of snowclad mountains, tried multiple times with different textures etc but it wasnt coming.. may be I spent over 2 hours just on mountains and it wont come good for some reason, I lost count of how many times I tried those same damn knife techniques.. but it aint come man !!! Finally picked up my brush.. smoothened the whole surface back to greyish and then using a normal acrylic brush tried to paint the snow as best I can.. 

Once mountains were in some shape (I had lost my patience by then to make it any better), realized that good half of canvas was still empty and I had no clue how to get so much snowy terrain where I can depict soldiers and camp etc.. So decided to make a lake instead :) and then pine trees and so on and so forth.. Went on with and enjoyed every bit of lake and trees so much that I literally forgot that I wanted to make a painting which looks harsh climate and not a serene lake view :(

Once It reached condition, I decided not to go for soldiers and flag as it wont make justice to the real harsh condition where they live in Siachen.. It may look like they are living in a Hakuna Matata paradise! So left it there and signed the canvas.. 

I am satisfied with the lake and trees etc, however mountains could have been better and my search for better painting techniques for snowclad mountains in acrylics continues.. May be now its time for me to search for a teacher who can get me on right track :) Youtube cant get you everything !! 

Hope you like it... 

Constellation - Night Sky !!

Vibrant Night Sky

Not sure how and what to write about this one.. It was a pure experiment with no intention, no expectation neither any plans on what I really want to do. There is a reason behind it.. While browsing through videos for cosmos or night sky, have come across many and by just looking at how its painted.. I never thought I would even try that.. mostly they were Oil and as I do not have a separate room for painting, I havent started Oil yet ! Secondly they were too tough even to follow ! Saw a video and was inspired again to pickup brush and draw a imaginary constellation on a black canvas

Still, One of the thursday evenings.. Picked up a 50x40 Canvas board and a picture for reference (found through google) and set off to paint a Night Sky painting. My daughter and son were interested to help me in painting, so took their help to paint a white canvas with Black & Gesso and set it to dry for few hours.. (Now both claim that this painting was done by 3 of us together)

I used a lot of Ultramarine & Phthalo Blue for background, Wanted to give a dark bluish still a blackish background with a clear hint of violet (used red and green mixture as I didnt buy violet paint till that time).. Then it was time for the central structure (which I dont know what to name as) I tried to be ON MY OWN to paint this one.. Did a streak of white & used bluish on the curves to give it a twisting feel.. Base was the toughest one and worked on it for at least half an hour and moved up and up to the top..

Stars was the easiest to do :) Used my daughters used brush.. dipped it in titanium white acrylic and sprayed evenly.. and it did give a good effect 

At the base, I wanted to draw a straight cliff and some pine tress on it.. All in Black, However the remaining part of the canvas was lot and it would have looked quite ugly if I had painted 40% of the canvas in black.. Cant do anything else too because in night sky, you may not see anything other than a black cliff :) 

So thought of painting some high mountains with a brownish and black shade, Fortunately mountains came well in first attempt (I am not good with mountains, somehow I dont get it !!) wanted to go on and on with some improvements but my first reviewer of paintings (my wife) opposed that Idea and advised not the screw up the one which looks good now ! 

So here is my first ever dark night painting ! 

AUM

AUM 

Long Awaited AUM on a canvas..

Even before I started this journey of painting, Always had a wish to draw a AUM which I can eventually use for meditation, Have read many books on meditation, have been to few sessions etc, but could never sit idle and do NOTHING !! 

When we were in India, I went in search of a sticker of AUM which I planned to stick to the canvas, paint around it and then take it out.. I didnt want to paint that rather paint the whole surrounding, Somehow did not find a big one.. so I had to paint it by myself

I did this on a 50x50 canvas board.. Primed it with Gesso & Titanium white, let it dry for few hours and started off with a clean orange across the canvas.. Then it was time for deep yellow to blend it with orange to give a glow ! Used a pencil to write AUM and once I was done with first round, it did look good but there was no 'grande' look.. As this AUM is now going through somewhat rough time in India (birthplace of Hinduism), Why not have it bit vibrant:) Thus.... here is what it became at the end.. 

I personally love this painting, It eminates a serence yet vibrance through mix of colors as well as sheer power of AUM

When I shared it with friends, one who lives in Frankfurt asked if he can have it :) Its hard for me to say NO to great friends and thus its now waiting to be framed and gifted to a great friend..  

Also happens to be my 21st Painting :) Good that it was AUM.. 

Pencil Drawings..

Pencil Drawings

I used to do pencil drawings right from childhood, if not very good.. I was doing it time to time and just as a time pass, never been serious on that and thus I even do not have those with me now :) which I did before marriage, After marriage.. my wife has been caring for those and here are some which I did to infuse interest of drawing to our son Naman.. these were done from 2008 onwards.. Simple pencil and drawing paper.. mostly A4 sizes.. 

I do plan to restart the pencil drawings once craze of paintings mellows down :)