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 :)

For Amgele Ashray (Our home)

Amgele Ashray

After 20 days of superb vacation at home (seriously this was one of the best vacations ever as we didnt do anything :) we enjoyed family time all the days and complete Shrusthi at Anantheshwar temple after many many years) it was time for us to packup and start back to Berlin.. I was feeling bad that I did not paint one for our home which my mom has been hinting since the first painting, I said I will do it once I am back in Berlin..... But could read my Mom very well, she wanted one painting before we start to Berlin..

30th evening was our flight from Manglore, All bags packed.. only my painting kit yet to get into the last bag, 2 big canvas left (from my first day shopping in school book company), somehow I was not feeling good about packing painting kit without painting one for our home.... Surprisingly, Mom who is always eager to get packings done... was also supporting that idea.. so I started one on the biggest canvas board I have ever painted..  

When I shared this painting with some of my good friends who provide valuable feedback, one from UK said few great words about the meaning of this.. and I do agree with him.. While looking at this painting what it signifies (at least its my version and its my painting so ;) I do have a say) is that 2 birds are you and your spouse.. Your parents very near to you right on upper branch.... and the birds which are flying out are those whom you have helped, nurtured, thought how to fly and mentored all along.. they arent going too far, they are going to acheive something just like what you did years ago.. Bench is the place where you sat with your kids sharing them life lessons, teaching them how to be humans than being a rich person, sharing great stories from our rich culture... 

When I finished.. Amma and Aanu (Dad) were so pleased and very happy to give this painting a prime place in living room. Took around 90-120 minutes for this one (may be) let all brushes dry and packed them in bags and we were off to Berlin in few hours............ 

It is framed and resides in Amgele Ashray (Amgele = Hamara, Ours in konkani) Ashray is name of our home ! 

Lusiya, Lake, Sunset and A Big Tree...........

Movie and a Painting.... 

There is no explaination for the sense of satisfaction and greatfulness you feel when you are with your entire family.. Parents, Brother (whom I met with family at home after many years), 2 great cousins who are nothing less than own brothers, Mhaave all under one roof in Amgele Ashray.. What else you can ask for.. Eating great and delicious food from my amma's kitchen, laying around and then eat again and chat chat and chat all day..

One of the evenings, we decided to watch Lusiya - A Kannada crowd funded movie and I thought is it not a great idea to paint while we all watch a movie.. 

So picked up all my aayudhas (arms..) and set off to paint on a canvas board 40x30 with only acrylics and no other experimental stuffs.. 

Used Orange and yellow extensively and paused many many times to understand most complex movie in Kannada (at least whatever I have seen so far) and also to listen to nonstop comments (in favor of director) from my brother who happens to be one of the crowd funder of the project.... Sun came very well and tree could have been bit better, however ended it just when movie was coming to and end.. 

My brother framed it and took it to Banglore, Now its in Banglore.. I liked it.. and only few more days left in India and want to paint one for our home - Ashray, something which has deep meaning in it.. 

Some failed attempts !! No regrets though..

Failed Attempts ! 

These are 2 paintings which tried but did not get favourable result.. It was a learning on what NOT to do next time and doing it again ;))

1. Half Moon & Lake

This is purely from a youtube instruction, Instructions were so good and I thought it can be done easily.. While I could get somewhat good lake.. Moon and clouds were messy, I later realized that I shouldnt have used so much of gesso rather should have used acrylic paint itself.. However it was a failed attempt and goes into a box !! 

2. Full moon & Lake

While on vacation in India, Tried it again.. this time thought of making moon smaller (In India you dont get to see LARGE moon :)) Few major mistakes I committed are 

- Did not prime the canvas, Quality of Moon was bad ! didnt work on creating crators !! 

- Clouds were too bad, not sure why I was not able to get clouds right.. 

- Acrylic was not sticking to canvas and getting dry too fast because I left cieling fan ON (it was warm day)

- And may be many more.. which are unknown to me too.. 

But my brother says he liked it.. he took it !! He better keep it in cellar or some box !! 

Super Moon - 2nd try

Super Moon - 2nd Try.. 

We travelled to India for our vacation and wanted to carry some of my paintings to my home but didnt plan properly so was not able to pack them right.. so took all my armories (brushes, acrylic paints etc) so that I can paint at my home while on vacation.. 

School Book company in Manglore has excellent variety and great collection of canvas and painting supplies, so bought series of different size canvas boards

My Mhaave (Doddamma/Badi Mausi) was having her birthday in few days, All decided to give a surprise party to her.. She really liked my Super moon painting which I finished just before starting to India, so thought let me make a similar one but on a large canvas

So here it is.. took around 2 hours to complete this, one of the challenge I faced while painting at home was, Acryllic was getting dry too fast.. I couldnt smoothen the paints as easy as I could do it in a dry weather of Berlin, however learnt how to maneure those and could paint few during my vacation.. 

At least my Mhaave liked it very much and that gives a sense of satisfaction.. 

:) Bench comes again.. 

Super Moon..

Orange Moon.. 

I started one painting back in October, Wanted to paint Super moon and a big tree which covers it, Wife saw a photo in National geographic and asked me if I can paint it.. Started it with great enthusiasm.. but not sure how, was not able to concentrate beyond a white moon and didnt have any clue to move forward with it.. 

Rested that canvas for well over 2 months.. until first weekend of December to complete that unfinished one..

I would consider this painting as original as I did not follow any youtube video, did not see any instructions nor any painting as such.. even introduced a Bench which I would like to take it into every (at least most) of my painting and have it like my signature ;)

Personal learning - Painting a moon at this size was not easy, getting those craters in a yellow and orange combination was not easy, Background had become too dark blue and my earlier experiment on this canvas was hindering some of the things.. 

But at the end, here is what it became and my kids do not want this to be given to any :) Best compliment a dad can get.. My brother's comment was best 'Superb location..we just need to find that bench now, sit there and talk for hours' 

This adores our living room now :)

Moon lit mountains..

Moon lit Mountains..

After a long break of over 2 months.. restarted my quest towards making my paintings better.. 

My new theme was doing a night sky, searched for an easier one and came across one in which Moon was shedding light on mountains.. was very interesting one, Knew that its difficult but there were loads of help available in youtube on how to paint it.. 

Winter was kind of making its way to Berlin and on a Friday night after a stressful week (almost all the weeks earlier were also the same.. enough issues at work !!) picked up a canvas board (first time, as I did all paintings on framed canvas before) of 50x40, primed it and set off to paint which I thought wouldnt come good.. 

However, after few hours it was coming well and didnt think of any more possible improvements I can do... Here it is..

Wish (fingers crossed)- I would some day go to Himachal and view Himalayas in moon light, may be I have to wait for some more time...... havent had courage to do that trip yet !! 

I plan to gift it to one of my good friend and collegue and now its framed and awaiting to be gifted.. Hope our friend likes it..

Mystic Forest

As I posted earlier, my stress and frustration level at times makes good paintings :))

It was wednesday 11th November, I was working from home as I had several calls and not much of client meetings etc.. Day was going good and around 2PM had series of escalations and what not.. man.. I couldnt ask for more that day ! Addressed things to an extent and was losing patience on number of things.. Rather than venting it out in emails and getting into HR isuses ;) thought of venting it out on a black acrylic paper and some acrylic paints !! It was a good decision...... 

Earlier month, I went to Idee shop in search of new things and found a thick acrylic paper black in color, Paint retarder etc.. So picked that sheet, cut it into 50x40 shape stuck it to a newspaper and started this..

Background was a tricky one, I used a kitchen tissue paper to make that hazy look and with simple brush strokes came trees.. grass was also easier. Used a mix of paint retarder and blue to give a bluish shade to tree portion and retarder+yellow to get that grassy look for other portion

So far this was the best one -- my family said :) So its framed and hanged in the room.. 

Hope you like it ! I painted this in almost an hour ! used hair dryer to dry layers.. 

Cottage & Clouds !!

A Cottage for a pleasant weekend? 

Each time when my paintings were finished and signed, I used to take a picture of that and share it some friends and families.. Seriously their comments were my big trophies and each morning (as I used to finish paintings late in the night, used to send them and then go to bed) would eagerly wait for these comments.. some say excellent ! Some say.. not as good as earlier one.. some said 'Why are you in IT field' and so on and so forth.. 

One of my close friend (Professional and personal) bought a big mansion in US.. When he asked me if I could paint one for his home ! Man.. I was overwhelmed.. Really.. do you want a painting from me !! So I thought let me paint best (As much as I can) one for him.. 

Learned painting clouds through youtube and while I finsihed sky and clouds and some mountains below... Didn't quite like it ! It was looking bit boring... so thought of doing something different ! How about a small cottage and some trees.. 

Here it is.. and now this painting resides in Detroit ! Thanks to my friend... He and his family liked it (at least that's what he told me ;)) 

Hope someday, I own a cottage like that somewhere around Manglore (India).. go there and spend peaceful weekends (or may be weekdays.. after retirement) and paint another painting there.. 

Speed Painting Trial..

Green Forest.. Speed painting experiment

Note: Even if I call this as a speed painting, In the actual sense its not.. Its indeed a speedy one for me as I did this within half an hour to 40 minutes.. 

My Aunt (Doddamma), Cousin and his wife were visiting Berlin.. All through those 5 weeks, did not get into painting as we were busy roaming around and having fun with our dearest doddamma's family.. My Mhaave (doddamma/Badi mausi in Konkani) liked my paintings so far and expressed that she would like to have a painting for their home :) Man.. How can I say I cant :) So thought of doing something which I have done in the past and do it in a speed way as I didnt want to spend whole night doing this.. 

This is done on framed canvas (40x30) and did it when all were taking afternoon nap after a heavy konkani jevan (meal)

Overall, I was satisfied with the outcome but satisfied myself with a comment 'Comeon it was done within half an hour.. ' so here it is.. 

Now this painting is in Shanteri, Kulai, Manglore