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

Buddha

Buddha - Looks more like Neelkanth :)

My liking which started during beginning of the year became one of my strongest hobby and was always looking out for new ideas.. Parallelly my visits to shops like IDEE (www.idee-shop.com) became more frequent and started storing more canvas, paint supplies, thinners/mixtures etc (many of them I didnt even know how to use it) - By now, I had a collection of some good quality canvas (framed), canvas boards, acrylic papers etc... but no idea on what to paint !! 

From the beginning of this painting journey, I wanted to paint BUDDHA just because of the serenity, peaceful nature of Buddha face.. But never had that much courage to pick up brush and start it on a brand new canvas

In search of an easy to paint - budha faces, got to see so many great paintings of Buddha and finally chose the one in which I had to paint only half of the face.. somehow I got hooked to that picture and whatever I saw later were not that catchy !! 

Preparation of background was tricky, Photo which I was refering had a great background with multiple colors, I did try all of them but it wasnt looking good so smoothened it up with another, then  one more and yet another.. Finally I had a background which I didnt know how it came... Drawing buddha with a pencil and then painting it was first time for me (Never did faces except my first Yakshagana painting). Enjoyed it a lot.. Final outcome is this one..  

I was kind of intrigued with the tilak on forehead, original painting did not have it in red, it was just a circle.. I tried a red color on it... Many who saw this painting thought it was Shiva (Neelkanth) 

Overall, Satisfied with this one and now its in my living room.. Got good comments on this painting from many..

Lonely Tree

Lonely Tree - After a gap of over 5 - 6 weeks

After few of the landscapes and other stuff, decided to paint a lonely tree in a silhoutte of sunset.. I thought it would be easier to do as many videos were suggesting it as for beginners !! However.. it wasnt as easy because my background was not gelling enough.. First started with the crimpson red which was a big mistake, lighter colors were then getting reddish and light background which I planned was tough to come.. so gave up and rested the canvas for few weeks.. 

After several weeks, picked it up once again and started off on a Friday night.. This time I let the brush do whatever it likes to do :) and it worked.. clouds were not upto the mark initially but when painting finsihed.. they were looking good, brighter one would have made it look bad ! 

Tree - I love to paint such trees and while painting this one.. I did not correct anything, I let it go as it is and was almost in a meditative mind.. no thoughts about the office issues or anything !! Perfectly enjoying the tree.. At the end I thought let me paint that tyre in which I played when I was a kid !! 

After painting this one, my kids wanted it in our dining room so that we see that every now and then.. While I gaze at this one, It gives a sweet memories of childhood, child within us and still I feel like 'climb in that tyre and swing' ... May be someday !! 

Hope you like this one.... I aint give this to none ;) Somethings should stay with me... 

Strange Village

Village & A Tree - Not satisfied !! 

When I started this one, First of all had no plans of what to paint.. Had no prior thoughts in my mind, Had few pictures from here and there and set off to paint on a Saturday night after kids went to bed

All along I wanted to paint a scenery with a large tree and some great mountains in the background + some village stuff + some bushes here and there.. I think I underestimated the difficulty of making such a combination, Background wasnt coming good (May be I wasnt in much stress), Village was becoming messy, Tree was not coming good.. 

Somehow unlike earlier painting, I didnt have much patience to go on with this.. Finished it after 3 hours of starting this one :( 

Color combination of tree trunks are delicate ones, should have been more careful there and I should practice to have some patience

Still few gave very good feedback and one of my friend and collegue liked it very much.. Gifted it to him :) Now this painting resides in UK (London)