Desert Tune

Imagine warm, but crisp fresh air... a Desert Tune being played... and far away there is a caravan of camels crossing the desert in this sand dune setting! And now look at the painting... don't you think you have already reached your destination!?

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Desert Tune - 11x14 inches, Oil on canvas panel

 By the way, I got the reference image from the weekly challenge on Wetcanvas online artist community. Click on this link to see reference images and the challenge if anyone is interested in following:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1321114
It was hard to choose an image for reference since all of them are so good. But I setteled for this sand dune, since it reminded me of the trip to Jaisalmer, Rajasthan on sand dunes. We had sooo much fun there, there was no sign of any vegetation and everywhere there were big and small sand dunes. We spent hours climbing the sand dune and then rolling down and then back again. Fun fun...
Normally I should have posted a picture at 2 hours into the painting, but I lost track of time as I did a little bit in the mornings over three days. I believe it must have taken me about 6 hours.

Blue Camas Lily Fields

I haven't seen the real beauty of these fields in person. But the photo was so beautiful that I was tempted to paint it. I found the photo reference in Wetcanvas Reference Images.
This feels like a perfect place to go and relax or have a nice picnic or go on a hike!

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Blue Camas Lily Fields - 11x14 inches, Oil on canvas panel

Daddy's Little Driver

Father's day is just around the corner and this painting is perfect gift!
I painted it from one of the old pictures of my daughter. She used to ride this Jeep on the street in front of our home, and the way she handled it, it felt as if she was flying!

Daddy's Little Driver - 11x14 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Secret Revealed

Now here's one with two ladies and dash of masala talk - sharing secrets... They are Rajasthani Ladies - its a beautiful native costume. I am born and brought up in Rajasthan and so this painting speaks a lot to me...

Hindi Title: Mai to laaj ke mare ho gai paani paani

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Sharing Secrets - 16x20 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

I posted this on FB first and asked for suggestions for Title of this painting. Got a lot of responses - here are few:
- Mai to laaj ke mare ho gai paani paani
- sub logone sunlee meri kahani
- baat nikal gai baat baat ma.....
- Two ladies and dash of masala talk
- man kyu bahka re bahka aadhi raat ko
- sakhi ri mera man ulaze tan dole
- Mirch Masala

I am still looking for Title suggestions, so looking forward to hear more in your comments.

Leaning Over to see Myself

As I leaned over, it was a pleasant surprise to see myself – my reflection was beautiful! All this time I thought of myself as being quite ugly, being surrounded by murky water. It was a miracle to realize the beautiful world and all the wonderful blessings!

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Leaning Over to see Myself - 11x14 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Garden Reflections

Title: Down beneath
I haven't been able to think of a creative name for this painting. Any suggestions? Let me know.
We always draw and paint regular paintings, but this was fun to do upside down.
What is your impression - does it look like a reflection or an upside down painting?

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Garden Reflections - 24x18 inches, Oil on Hardboard panel

With this painting I have graduated myself to a little larger size. The most I have done so far is 20x16 inches, on readymade canvas board. This is 24x18 inches, this size was not available, so I bought hardboard in home depot, got it cut to this size. To prepare the board for painting, I primed it with 2 layers of liquitex gesso, both front and back. This is also to protect the board from moisture etc. It was a great experience to paint on this surface. I think I prefer this to premade canvas boards.

Down the Shady Path

I painted this from Susan Sarback's book titled - Capturing Radiant Light & Color. It had been long time I had not tried out any demo from this book, so it was fun doing it.
After finishing and signing the painting, I felt I should have painted the first tree on the right, a little more shady; Painted a man sleeping under that tree with a basket on his side; and a few monkeys on tree with caps on. It would be a perfect illustration of the story "Cap seller and the Monkeys". Do you know this story? Ok, see the painting first and I have the story below it for you to read.

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Down the Shady Path - 8x10 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Here's the story:  Cap seller and the Monkeys
Once a cap-seller was going to sell his caps in a village market. He was going through a forest. He was carrying a basket of caps on his head. It was very hot and he was tired, so he lay down under a tree to take rest. He put his basket on the ground. He fell asleep.
There were monkeys on that tree. They came down and took the caps. Then they climbed on the tree. When the cap-seller woke up, he was surprised to see that all the caps were gone from the basket. He looked up on the tree and saw monkeys were wearing his caps. He became sad. He thought of a plan. He threw his own cap on the ground. The monkeys also threw down their caps. He collected his caps and went away.
Moral: Wit works where strength fails.

Bird Enjoying Spring

This bird is sitting on a rock and singing spring time song! I painted this landscape for my Oil Painting Class I am currently teaching.
Artisans Winsor and Newton - water mixable oils are used in this painting. I was fun to use a limited palette from the beginner's set - U. Blue, Ali. Crimson, Yellow, White. 

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Bird Enjoying Spring - 14x11 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel



Rainbow in Foothill Ranch

This is a result of one day "marathon" painting session. I had lot of fun doing the sky. I loved the contrast of light and dark in this painting and the inspiration photo too. And most of all I wanted to try paint a rainbow which I had never done before and did not know if I will have success painting it "wet in wet". I think it would have been easier if the underpainting was dry and then paint the rainbow over it - but I might try this next time. I am happy with this wet in wet result too. Everytime I put color in the rainbow, I thought I was going to ruin the whole painting... so I feel very accomplished after doing this.
I was in a time crunch too, since I had to submit this painting before the deadline time... I have submitted this painting for Viewpoints: Orange County juried exhibition, and keeping my fingers crossed until the results are out next Monday!

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Rainbow in Foothill Ranch - 14x11 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Here is the inspiration photo. I cropped the original picture in the painting.. This is from the back of my office, on a rainbow day. The picture was clicked by my friend - Marilou:

Rocks And Stream

Last Saturday - March 2nd, I participated in one day Watercolor workshop by renowned artist - Geri Medway. It was organized by Saddleback Art League. It is the first time I have taken watercolor class and I was so very happy. I came to know the importance of using good paper. I usually use Strathmore paper which is easily available, but the supply list strictly mentioned NO Strathmore... But after using Arches, I realized how wonderful the experience was using this paper, even though my brushes were not up to par! Good watercolor brushes are very very important as well.
There were 2 projects to choose from - Yellow Rose with lots of droplets and Rocks n Stream. My first impulse was to choose Rose, since I love florals. But I decided to use Rocks n Stream since there were different techniques to be learnt here. In the Rocks project, there was a great deal of negative painting and learning to create textures using resist, splattering using toothbrush, spray etc. I must say that my resist did not work quite well, so I could not get the water splashing against the rocks. In oils I would have done that as a last thing, but in watercolors the first was getting the watersplash right by using the resist. I am still very happy with the result. Below is my finished painting.
Now that I have professional watercolors and paper etc, I hope to indulge into watercolors whenever possible ...

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Rocks And Stream - 11x14 inches, Arches Watercolor Paper

Chillaxin Seagull at Sunset

Its been a while, had taken a short break from painting. I am so very happy to have finished this painting. This is a scene from Dana Point beach. The photo reference is from Wetcanvas library.

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Chillaxin Seagull at Sunset - 11x14 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Mommy N Me - Strawberry Picking - SOLD

Mommy N Me strawberry picking says it all! I had so much fun painting this, brought back great memories. Best of all, this painting was sold even before I finished painting! It felt like magic.

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Mommy N Me - Strawberry Picking - 11x14 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel - SOLD

SOLD

Lac Philippe Fall

Excited to start a new session today for the Oil painting foundation class. This time the project is landscape and autumn is already around the corner! So here is a landscape of Lac Philippe with fall colors that I am going to teach...

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Lac Philippe Fall - 9x12 inches, oil on canvas panel

A walk around Lake Mission Viejo

I am going to enter this painting in "Paint the Lake" contest held in the city of Mission Viejo. The idea here is to go and do plein air painting on the lake. Or one can take pictures of the lake and develop a landscape in the studio. In this Landscape painting, I wanted to tell my story about experiences walking around the lake. So here it is a very non-traditional kind of Landscape: (do let me know your comments)

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A walk around Lake Mission Viejo - 16x20 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

 My story here is that for taking pictures, I walked all around the lake which is around 3 miles. There is a wonderful walkway below (Alicia Parkway). There are these shells embedded all along the walkway which attracted me. Lot of activities happen in the lake - fishing is a very big one and that day we actually saw a boy getting quite a big catch @ 6AM. In that morning hour, there was even sail boat and canoe etc. There are wonderful houses surrounding the lake on both sides. One other great feature of this lake was the beach, which I tried to highlight as if seen through a magnifying glass. On a typical holiday afternoon there are lots of people picnicing in the beach area and it is sooo fun to watch all these activities going around the lake. I wish I had an year round pass to this lake, so that I could also join these people!

Light at the other end

Here's my second one for the theme - Art with Architecture. I browsed through lot of buildings and photos. I found this one very interesting - again the building was in shambles but light shining at the other end does bring thoughts of hope and joy!

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Light at the other end - 11x14 inches, Oil in Canvas Panel

Beauty In Shambles

Friends, this is a place in India - city called Bundi, near Kota, State - Rajasthan. The city of Bundi is known for its ornate forts, palaces, and stepwell reservoirs known as "baoris". The beauty and serenity of this ruins captured my attention. Hope you enjoy it!

Beauty in Shambles - 11x14 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Hey Look - There's an Owl on the Tree!

This painting comes in continuation of the Fleamarket painting. Just across the road from the Fleamarket, there are trees in line all along the sidewalk. On the sunny afternoon it felt nice to walk in the cool shade of these trees. Just then, I happened to look up an spotted an owl on the tree. Quite a good luck on that day!

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Hey Look - There's an Owl on the Tree! - 11x14 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

A Chat in the Flea Market

In the morning it was a cloudy day, but by afternoon it became bright and sunny. I knew I would enjoy my visit to the Jamestown Village Vintage Fleamarket in Old Town Tustin. It is the joy of strolling alone in such places. I throughly enjoyed window shopping the antique shops and walking around among the people in the flea market. It seemed that these people in my painting met after a long time, had lots to catch up and had a gr8 time chatting!

Hope you all enjoy the painting!

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A Chat in the Flea Market - 16x20 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

A Glimpse of the Beach City

The air is sultry, noise level is high, hustle and bustle of people, and gray atmosphere could make someone dizzy. Nevertheless, against all odds, this is a city of opportunity – the commercial and entertainment capital of India – Mumbai. To balance out the “dizziness” there is this vast ocean where one can take a deep breath, look at the horizon and feel the promising air – a definite assurance of a bright future! So friends here is an attempt to capture a glimpse of the beach city.

Enjoy!

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A Glimpse of the Beach City - 8x10 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Common Coot with its Young

With this painting I have a riddle for you all. The young one of Duck is called Duckling, young of Hen is called Chick... Now here is a Common Coot - whats its young called? You can post your answers in the comments...
Spring is fast approaching, in US the official start of spring is on 20th March. So as you must have guessed, spring time is the inspiration for this painting.

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Common Coot with its Young - 16x20 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel