Turning White in Spring

I was flipping through books in the library looking for pictures for a painting that I'm now working on and stumbled across a teeny-weeny picture of this tree. To be honest, the fine brush-work that painting this might involve struck me first and then the white flowers. And then the thought, "Gosh - and I thought Spring to always bring colour!"

It was one of those moments when a picture demands to be painted! I finished it in an hour, with the phone between my ear and my shoulder, catching up with everyone while I was off for the latter partof last week on an excursion. While I initially thought that would be a distraction, I was surprised to realise that the painting seemed to flow on its own to progress. Maybe a little lessthought helps. Maybe a little less of the consciousness about the end result ensures the painting becomes what it's meant to become, and not what it's intended to be. (Is that too much of a random word-jumble? I mean it :) )

Cryptically Curvilicious, Majectically Magnificent...

There are some days that you don't snooze the alarm-clock. There are some days that you wake up with a tickle, smile on your lips, a song in your heart. I woke up humming Denver's "Country Roads" and withing an hour, took to the Valley's country roads, with my drawing book and art-supplies in tow!

I've walked these roads earlier - but never in sunny mornings, and never ever with a satchel of drawing supplies. As promised to myself, I'd stopped at the first instance that something caught my fancy - it was this tree. I've simply not been able to do it's curves the justice. It wasn't luxurious or majestic - simply elegant.




What was majestic, though sparse, was this scene, replete with the famous "Three Sisters" rocks (see top-left corner), extremely beautiful rock formations and the ephemeral play of sun-and-clouds and light-and-shade. What could be more inspiring! A set of 12 colour pencils initially made me want to reach out for the oil pastels box like the previous one, but the lure of the softness and the precision that pencils give was too much to trespass. I wanted to capture the shadows of the clouds on paper - the darker patch on the left hill is a vain attempt at that. It was a great learning experience in elimination of certain details for the sake of the larger picture.

The big black ants got used to me after I brushed them away 50 times. I must confess, the smiles of the passerby villagers was intriguing - thank God I still don't know what to make of those grins! As the first one, the final outcome does not do justice to the beauty and the serenity of the place. But you know what? I'm grinning from ear o ear for the sheer fact that I did my first "outdoors" today!

Cherries

Ribboned Waters

In response to the innuendos of the sky to call it a day, the city flickers for "just a little longer". While the day sees the grey of citiscape, it is the dusk that glimmers to an oft-colourful kaleidoscope of various hues.



It's a drawing that just had to be made - regardless of the medium. In line with the flavour of the day, I ended up putting 60 minutes of crayons in spite of my doubts about the final piece. I won't say I'm delighted - but I'm certainly happy that it's as colourful as it was meant to be, nearly as vivid as desired and that the 60 minutes have been as tiring as a good walk at the end of which you simply know you've shed half a kilo!

Light-tickled still waters maketh many a citiscape memorable, isn't it?

Pastel Scribbles

It's been years that I last made a drawing in oil pastel. While early years at school saw us excitedly rubbing colour sticks from a array of 48, it's been intriguing me if my box of 15 would suffice for a reasonable piece.

Thanks to my inquisitiveness about the outcome, I went on the overdrive, certain since today's sunrise that it had to fulfil two conditions...

1. I didn't want to touch the pencil. It had to be ALL pastel - with no scope for errors (rather, huge scope for honing my cover-up skills!)
2. It had to use ALL of the 15 sticks

While the first drawing had me focussing on what flowers I wanted my "Spring Walk" to have, keeping in mind a colour balance (on both sides of the pathway), the second one had me dealing, additionally,with light effects and distance.

What fun it's been! Right from dirtying my fingertips to peeling off the paper cover over the sticks; from letting colour be the determinant for object to letting contrast be the guidepost for colour... it's been quite a compensation for the burnt-out after-taste of my filter coffee decoction this morning :)

Forgotten Pots

There's something about painting ruins. Ageing signs on the skin of walls has been quite rivetting for a while now. To the point that it's so far seemed intimidating :(

So when I came across this particular picture, it seemed like an opportunity to make a small start. I particularly liked the sense of conversation that these empty flower pots seem to be having - almost in envy of the wild and green bush nearby!

A study of using oil pastels as resists... a handy lesson for making the yellow hibiscus. The final result wasn't close to what would have my collars high up, but this was fun, nevertheless. Especially painting a slight shadow of the protusion on the window panes!

Staring Wide-Eyed

I don't remember how long it was that I downloaded the reference photograph for this painting. Just as I don't remember how long it has been that I felt as satisfied as I did upon completing it!

There's something about flowers that's particularly atractive. Is it the tenderness of the petals? Is it the ethereal blend of various colours within a single flower? Is it the intricacy that's hidden within it's innermost recesses? Is it the alluring elegance shared by the petals - almost like the poise of young ladies who wouldn't spill the beans on a secret?

It's all of those, I guess. Most significantly, it is the seeming-fragility of the sheen of water colours and the sheerness of flowers that makes them seem to apt for each other - and that's what re-energises the adrenaline rush when I eye a close-up picture of a flower.



This particular painting has been special. For a change, I wasn't teaching myself another lesson in water-colour but applying some of the earlier learnings. For a change, I let myself decide which elements of the reference picture to eliminate and which ones to magnify. For a change, I let myself sit and study the reference - and ponder over the colours, the media options and the sequence of painting each element.

I'm happy.