I am not really happy with this but I decided to stop here and not do anymore correction.

Reference: Online – I am still searching for where I got it.

7 by 5 inches on 140# Arches cp watercolor paper

I did a painting challenge after a very long time. I used to do the now-defunct challenge of Karin Jurick. But  I lacked the motivation to do the subsequent painting challenges that came later. This time, I decided to do the painting challenge in rookie painter. I loved how the watercolor paintings of still life looked like and I wanted to give a try. So, here it is.

Strawberries and  Stacked bowls
7 by 5 inches on Arches 140# cp

P.S : This is my 150th post .Yay!

It has been a long pause since my last post.I have been so carried away with my kid’s school and homework that this painting took me about a month to complete. And there is another incomplete painting before this too. I need to go back and complete that painting. Having said that the waterlily painting is the last painting for the year 2011.

I hope to do more figure drawings and then eventually figure painting for this year. I need to practice more on figure drawings. Surprisingly, I got a gift kit of a book on figure drawing and a manikin.I have been planning to buy one for a long time. I hope to include posts on my figure drawing practice with you this year. With continuous practice, I hope to progress from skeletal manikin figures to fully-clothed real life figures. As I write more about it, it sounds more and more like a new year resolution. Well then, so be it.

Waterlily Series No.9
6 by 4 inches on Strathmore 500 Series watercolor paper
Image Reference: Wetcanvas by macdragon

Exemoor is in U.K and I have never been to  U.K ; so I guess it is more in the country-side. I used a reference photo by Ray Lawrence but his photo taken  on an early summer morning. I made it an early autumn morning! I am glad I am able to execute my artistic license. In the foreground, there are no sheeps in the reference photo. I bet you will see sheeps all over the place in the country-side.

I am glad I tried out landscape in watercolors this time. I have been wanting to for a long time. I just did not have the courage to execute it.

P.S: I stretched the watercolor paper over the stretcher bar and stapled at the back. I need to spray 2-3 coats of fixative and then a few coat of acrylic gloss varnish. You can learn how to create gallery wrapped watercolor here.

Watch a video made by the watercolor artist Doris Joa to see how she makes her watercolor canvas:

I just finished painting this. It is late in the night and I am feeling really tired. It has been a while since I posted and I really wanted to upload this post before I retire for the day. I am so glad to have done raw bananas in watercolors. I have been wanting to do one for a long time. Banana is one of my favorite fruit and it is the most common one back in my homeland. We get all kinds of varieties and with different flavors. My dear and loved ones made sure that we get to sample each variety when we last visited south India. I am glad to have gotten the chance to relish the almost forgotten flavors of different varieties of bananas yet again.

7 by 5 inches on 500 series Strathmore  watercolor paper
Reference Image : Li Newton

I took a bit longer to finish the canna lilies painting this time. I wanted to finish it before this month get over. It seems like I can only do two paintings a month on an average. I would love to paint more often than that but with everything happening in life, I can only paint at this rate. I really admire other artists who can churn out paintings week after week. They must be super inspired!

Canna Lilies Series No.5
9 by 6 inches on 140lb cp Arches
Reference image :wetcanvas IRL by Rod

When I checked my paintings this year, I was shocked to see that I did only one watercolor painting before this. It is strange considering that watercolor is my favorite medium. I purchased a few colored pencil sets this year and that must have kept me occupied trying out and getting to know new medium.

After completing Luzy painting, I missed doing watercolor terribly. It was choosing a subject to paint that took me so long. I finished the above painting in one sitting. Probably because the size was small. I tried out masking fluid for the first time here.

6 by 9 inches on 140 lb cp Arches paper
Reference image : From morguefile

9 by 12 inches in colored pencils on Ampersand Pastelbord

I am back home! We had a fun, lazy vacation back home in India. What I have noticed is that the cityscape is changing year by year. I had a hard time trying to compare my memories of familiar places with how those places look now. Besides, my home city became more crowded with buildings,people and traffic. Now back to the post. The art bug caught me within a week we arrived here. Once I gathered all my art supplies, it happened to be colored pencils on Ampersand Pastelbord. It looks like the surface accepts colored pencil media. I believe I may have to seal the finished painting.
I got the inspiration from a painting on Luzy done by a CP artist, Leslie Hawes. She frequently uses the reference from Google Maps to paint places from around the world. A nice concept for artist who cannot afford to go to places around the world and use them as references for their painting. France seems to have a lot of picturesque locations when you take the virtual tour using Google Map Street View. I hope to visit France one day. Especially the country sides and the vineyards. I am glad with the progress I am making with the painting. After uploading the picture, I have noticed that the perspective on the buildings are a bit wrong. I can easily fix that with low tack putty. I think I have achieved a loose rendition of the painting to a certain extent.

I am taking a brief break from painting this summer. So I will resume blogging in late summer. See you then!