Bluebird

Sullen

Rounding off the year with this skull post. I have always wanted to paint one. This was a quick 2 hour sketch; more like a stretch during a long day of live model figure painting. I am looking forward to taking a deeper dive into painting in the new year. The best is yet to come. 

Loving Vincent

A few weeks ago, I was at Gdansk, Poland to audition for Loving Vincent, a stop-motion full length feature film based on the life of Vincent Van Gogh, being made by an Oscar winning production company, Breakthru Films. Making the movie out of real paintings is a brilliant idea and I was more than excited to have been invited. A few years ago while I was in Paris, I had visited Auvers, and specifically the room where Van Gogh had last lived and the sites that he had painted. So I could kind of relate to the story of the misunderstood genius. The movie in the making is a humongous effort and it has been rightly called 'a labor of love'. 

The audition lasted three days and required us to create multiple paintings translated into frames in Van Gogh's style. The painting posted above is the first in the series and also the first frame of my animation. It was draining to say the least. As tiring as it was, I was kicked to see the end result. With a new bout of motivation, I was hoping to get a couple of more frames done, when the time ran out. I am glad I worked through the logistical issues and made it to the audition, though I don't get to take on the next level. For me it was a great experience and I am eagerly looking forward to watching the movie! Am pretty sure it will be spectacular. To round it all up, I decided to fly to Brussels the next day and then went on to Amsterdam before I came home. And oh, I managed to visit the Van Gogh museum (among other things!) while I was there. It sure lived up to all the hype!

At my work station, starting the series of paintings.

Four paintings. Eight Frames. Less than a second of animation!

Raven Undone

I just got back from a workshop with Michelle Dunaway at the Village Arts of Putney in Vermont. Its a beautiful and an inspiring place to say the very least. The format of the workshop was perfect in my opinion. We worked on figure the first day, portrait on the second and a two day 'model in an environment' pose in the next couple of days. I wanted learn how to turn the form in a realistic manner and came away with a good understanding on how to do so. A few simple things made all the difference. My goal with the painting posted here was to achieve luminous skin tones and to subtly turn the form. And I think I was able to scratch the surface on that one! Am now waiting to push the limits (read colors!) and see how far I can go. 

Back to the Basics

I used the brush only to lay down the ground and also to map out the contours of the apple. The rest of it was done exclusively with a palette knife. The idea was to get familiar with the kind of stokes that are possible. It was easier to control than I had thought and I liked the texture of the paint that went on. I'll probably start using the palette knife more often than not! 

Baylands

I had been to the Palo Alto Baylands a couple of times to do some plein air painting and it took me a few attempts to get the value scale right. This time I was mindful of keeping the colors bright, as they tend to look duller indoors. I think I'll try to go easier on the darks the next time around. I hope to make it a part of my weekly routine!

Painting Branko

Branko gave us an assignment to explore and push color and we chose to make him our model for it. It was so much fun that we painted way past midnight, despite having an early flight to catch the next morning! The weekend at Laguna was perfect. We walked to the beach, hiked to the 'top of the world', lazed on the patio gazing at the ocean, happened to spot some whales swimming about but also managed to paint and talk all things et art! Inspired. 

Songs of Silk

It was a painting marathon of sorts. I woke up and went straight to the easel and spent most of the day doing this. Surprisingly enough, I liked how this turned out at every stage. That rarely happens! I took time to work on this one but with a deadline in mind. Today I mostly used the Rosemary masters choice brushes as opposed to the Ivory line and I liked how they could hold a lot of paint and how easy it was to maintain a sharp edge! And now am tempted to order more! Posting some progress pics:

 

    

Playing the blues

I had started working on this a few days ago and waited too long before I got back to it. The under lying paint was too dry and I almost had to start over fresh. I played around with the background a lot before deciding to go with what I have now. I also decided not to put in much detail on the models face. 

Wings of Fire

This is the first in a series of figurative paintings that I am planning to do. I posted a picture of the painting earlier, though I felt it needed some more work. I added some variation to the background, upped the value scale on the figure and increased the details on the scarf. After the round of tweaks, I think its done!

Dream Dive

Coral Sea, Australia

Diving the Great Barrier Reef was really a dream come true. I panicked for the most part, but looking back at it has me in a total state of awe. It took me three attempts to calm my nerves and get a hang of things. But once I did, I was so inspired! I remember thinking - 'I've got to paint this'. And I did, propped on the rocking boat, soon after I got out of the waters. I even forgot about my sea sickness for a little bit there. To me, this was the best way to relive what I had seen. The reef is one of those majestic, beautiful things that puts everything into perspective and makes you feel at peace. Getting certified has become a part of my to-do list for the year. And I have Jen, my dive instructor, to thank for guiding me through this world unseen! This was my thank you note to Jen, and she loved it ! 

Managed to kick off day one of the year with a dive and a painting. Pretty special I'd think! And with travel sketching having reached a whole new level, I plan to invest more time and effort into creating art from life experiences. And here's wishing that this will be a revolutionary year for all! 

The Londoner

I started off with a pretty rough lay-in and I was convinced that I had forgotten how to draw. I soon realized that a slight change in the shoulder placement is all it took to make it look right at the very least. It started to read better once I started building up the values and pushing the scale. It came together in the last few minutes! Well, you never really know what works until it just does! 

Garden chores

Its still in progress. I am just about done with filling the canvas with the overall colors in the painting. Yet to build it all up and finish it off. I'll be sure to post when its done.  

David

From an open studio costumed figure session at the Community School of Music and Arts. It was a good change to paint from a live model. I plan to do it more often. 

The Exhibit

The subject lends itself well to studies, good for drawing and exercising the value scale. I want to aim for more finesse and varied brushwork the next time around. 

Dressed Up

I started with painting the face and then moved on to the head wrap and the dress. A few tones of color and a hint of a shadow were just about enough to suggest the intricate neck piece. I had initially planned not to include the flower, but did so as an after thought. I think it works well to balance the composition. 

The reference picture is from the Watts Atelier program. 

Poised in Pose

I was a little too excited to render the Silk in the costume that I painted all of it first. I realized that the high value contrast is what makes it shine! I struggled quite a bit when I finally got around to painting the facial features. The scale was too small for comfort. I'll remember to go big the next time I am painting the full figure. This is meant as a gift though and I thought 5x7 would be a good size. 

Budapest

I spent a lot of time trying to complete this painting. Funnily enough, the most appealing part to me is the shadow of the main tower! Transparent red oxide is quickly growing to be my favorite color to have on the palette. The Chain Bridge is what I remember most from the trip to Budapest. We lived on the other side, across from the Parliament Building and we probably walked this bridge a million times before we discovered the convenience of using the metro. Duh! Budapest is beautiful during the day, breathtaking by night, historically significant and home to a great cuisine. Whats not to love? 

Setting limits

Why I haven't been using transparent red oxide is beyond me. It is going to be a constant fixture on my palette henceforth. The depth it adds to the shadows with it's transparency is truly unmatched. For the most part of this painting I used a limited palette consisting of burnt umber, transparent red oxide, terra rosa, yellow ochre and white of course. Color mixing turned out to be much less of a hassle and it was easier to maintain the color harmony.

White Dress

I hadn't thought about what I wanted to paint next; and so decided to rework an unfinished under-painting from earlier using the puddles of dried paints that I had left on the palette. This was an effort to reduce waste and an experiment with inventing color from a black and white reference. An exercise to get better at understanding values. I am happy with how it turned out and hence pretty pleased on many levels! :)

Spectacled

A simple sketch, just to get the paint juices flowing. This is a scene from union square on a bright sunny day and she had comfortably settled in with a book. I added the tree as an after thought and moved it around to add some balance. I am not sure if it was necessary for the composition! Hmm. Btw, can you tell that she is wearing glasses? 

 

 

Ms. Murphy

The one thing I have learnt from trying to paint portraits is to not give up! And it feels like a real achievement when at some point the sketch begins to look like the person you are trying to paint. Every small shape and every little curve is so important to achieve the likeness and to me, painting faces is the most difficult thing yet and that is why I love it so much too! I am also posting a desaturated version of the painting above; gives a good perspective of the value scale. I gave this sketch to E as a Christmas gift, and I am of course elated to know that she is happy with it ! :)

A peek at Queenstown

The other NZ sketch in acrylic, done from inside a cafe which had glass walls looking out to the Wakatipu Lake. It was a windy day and we were glad to be inside shielded from the elements while I painted and my friend settled in with a book and ordered multiple rounds of coffee and cacao to show our gratitude to the staff that let us laze inside. 

The sketch is now proudly owned (i'd like to think!) by a hitchhiker we had offered our help to earlier. He mentioned that he collected art as souvenirs and that he'd like to add this painting to his travel diary. I was more than happy to oblige! :) 

Nuggets by the Sea

Nugget Point at The Catlins, New Zealand

The blog has been very quiet and how time flies! Every time that happens, I wonder why I let time slip given how much I love to paint. This time on my vacation to NZ, I decided to paint and paint I did! This is one of the first nicer sketches en plein air using the acrylics kit that I had picked up in Auckland for the sake of convenience. I did struggle with the medium a few times and the surface used here is meant for water colors and hence the texture. I am back after two incredible weeks of flitting around in the mesmerizing world away from home, unwillingly so of course, and I plan to do some rigorous painting to beat the blues! Here's to the new year and a new beginning! 

   

Vignette in White

The second attempt at painting roses with a slightly different style as compared to the previous one. We had them in all colors. After trying the pinks and the oranges, I decided to work on the white ones where the temperature, I think, becomes imperative. I didn't think this looked like much until I moved a few steps away. Squinting and stepping back is almost becoming second nature now and I know why!

And I am off for a dose of vacation! I have been planning on doing a whole travelogue of paintings. I am not carrying paints this time but am sure I will be back with oodles of ideas! Well.. what they say is true, all roads lead to Rome!! :)

Daniel J. Keys

Rosy endeavors

A day dedicated to roses. The paint consistency, how much and the way the it should go onto the canvas and of course the shape, color, value and temperature; a whole slew of things to think about before putting down every stroke. This had to be the brightest pink rose I have seen, the color was very difficult to match. And building up from a block-in approach completely threw me off track, but had to try the method of the masters! 

Plum peaches

And that's day one with Daniel Keys at the Sadie Valeri Atelier. Getting the still life fix! Daniel is precise in his suggestions & critique. His stark colors & crisp brushwork make his paintings exquisite! Looking forward to working on a large still life painting in the next few days. Hopefully a complex composition. That would be fun, and his forte of course!