Delightful Orange Rose

During my last Art showing in Allergan Holiday Boutique (Nov 30), a lady came up to me and asked if I have an Orange Rose painting. She wanted Orange Rose specifically because her mom used to love Orange Rose. After I came back from the show, it was on the back of my mind to create an Orange Rose. Luckily we had been to Huntington Gardens in Pasadena recently and I had ample photo references of Orange Rose. That was my inspiration to create this painting!!

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Delightful Orange Rose, 6x8 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper

Code# PK_16_023
Available - Click Here

My First Poinsettia - SOLD

I haven't posted since August!! Didn't realize that it was so long.. For a while I was busy sharpening my sketching skills. Then for about a month, I was training for the Century miles bicycly ride to San Diego. Then after that, just about a month focused more on the Kathak Dance recital coming up.

Now finally back to my studio and in the spirit of Christmas, pulled out a Poinsettia photo reference to paint. The first couple days I found it hard to sit, but quickly got into the flow as I was about half way there. Loved doing the light effects and how each leaf unfolded. I feel each leaf has its own dance and yet they all stand together as if in a dance pose !!

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My First Poinsettia, 8x10 inches. Watercolor on Arches paper

Code# PK_16_022 

SOLD 

An Art print can be made available on request, 

contact me - preranap@hotmail.com

Desert Yellow Jewel

I had taken a picture of this bloom in spring break during a bicycle ride with my daughter. These cactus blooms are amazing in our area and they come in different colors too. I like to call them desert jewels because really they make the raw scenery of the desert so charming !!

The speciality of this piece is that I have the painting is on watercolor paper,  pasted on a board. I will be varnishing this to protect the painting. Then it can be mounted and framed without glass, just as any oil painting. Normally watercolor painting is always framed with glass and either you have to buy an expensive non glare glass with the frame OR just be happy with bit of glare. In this case the painting will be seen without glass and I think it adds to the beauty. I have some deckled edge on the paper too, it will look fabulous in a floater frame!!

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Desert Yellow Jewel - 12x12 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper

Code# PK_16_021

 Available - contact preranap@hotmail.com

Joy of Kathak - SOLD

Painting is my passion and Kathak is my favorite dance form!! So it was a double pleasure doing this painting.
This is a commission Portrait painting of a young dancer - Anushka, doing Kathak Dance.
Kathak is an Indian Classical dance form - more about it - click here.
The painting is done from a picture of Anushka performing in Anaheim Convention Center during BMM 2015 marathi convention. In the painting I loved doing her costume. I must say that most challenging for me was to get a good likeness to her. After about 3 passes, I finalized the painting and her parents are very happy with it too.
So its a SUCCESS !!

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Joy of Kathak - 16x20 inches, Oil on canvas panel

Code# PK_16_020
SOLD

I would love to do a custom painting from your photo - your favorite vacation spot, or your home or your pet, or portrait - contact me - preranap@hotmail.com

After presenting few framing choices for this painting, we all loved the Cherry colored frame with carving on it. Here it is framed - 

Joy of Kathak - 16x20 inches, Oil on Canvas. Framed size ~ 24x28 inches

Desert Jewel

First of all I love painting flowers and second, I love desert flowers!! Every spring we have wonderful blooms on the cacti in our neighborhood, on hikes specially. They look like jewels growing on the cacti plants. Here is an attempt to capture one such jewel. Can you feel the heat on these blooms?

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Desert Jewel - 16 x 12 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Code# PK_16_019 

Available - contact - preranap@hotmail.com

Dancing Joy

It was a joy to create this painting - my favorite Dance in combination with my favorite peacock feather!!
Many thanks to Sampada Deshpande for providing me photographs and allowing me to paint from her photographs.
For those who don't know this is Kathak dance - one of the classical dance forms of India. Click here to know more about this dance form on Wikipedia.
The speciality of this painting is that it is mixed media piece with peacock feather and stage painted in watercolor on arches paper; and the dancer is painted in traditional Oil paints on canvas panel.

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Dancing Joy, 16x12 inches, Mixed Media on Canvas Panel

Code# PK_16_018

Here is how I did it: I first sketched the dancer on canvas panel. Then traced the dancer outline on tracing paper. Used carbon paper and tracing paper on top to get the exact outline of the dancer on Arches Watercolor paper. Next I cut out the dancer shape from arches paper. Pasted the arches paper on canvas panel carefully matching the cutout to the drawn dancer on canvas panel. Once the paper was attached to the panel, I let it dry overnight with weights on it. 

I first painted the watercolor part i.e peacock feather and stage.  Once I was happy with the watercolor part, I let it dry throughly before starting with oils. Now the figure was painted similar to traditional oils but I always paint with palette knife, which is what I chose to do for it too. 

I am very happy with the piece and it is my very first mixed media painting!! Love it!

Meal Preparations - SOLD

Thank God it is Leap Year and I managed to do at least one post on the last day of Feb. 2016!!
I have been working on this for sometime on and off.. This is a custom painting requested by a client. She gave me few pictures to select from. I picked one and talked to her about the changes/color scheme she wants in the actual painting. At the end of our discussion on the painting, we decided to split the picture to 2 paintings. I showed it to her in the initial stages and towards the end. Incorporated couple more changes and made it final today!! I am happy that she likes it! This is called a dyptich painting - it can be hung together the way below or hung separate.

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Meal Preparations 1 and 2 - each canvas is 10x8 inches, Oil on Canvas

Code# PK_16_016 & PK_16_017

SOLD

Here are the individual paintings:

Meal Preparations 1 - 10x8 inches, Oil on Canvas

Meal Preparations 2 - 10x8 inches, Oil on Canvas

30 paintings in 30 days Challenge Jan 2016

Looking back at 30 in 30 - I feel very happy to have completed the challenge this month. The purpose of this challenge is to experiment something different, explore new possibilities or just enhance the current skills by painting one small painting daily. I prepared myself by buying 30 small 6x6 inches Canvas Panels for doing oil paintings. But the first one I started was with peaceful thoughts - a 9x12 inches Buddha Statue! Then I had the urge to do few watercolor florals since I love flowers and haven't done it in a long time - it was my childhood passion. As I progressed, I loved how the florals were coming out and just followed my urge to complete each one even though it took me couple days to finish each 5x7 inch piece. I am very happy and proud to present the end result - a collage of 30 in 30 Jan 2016!
Now I have 30 canvas panels waiting for me to do oils :)

Each painting has been listed on Etsy and for a limited time available at very reasonable pricing! Contact me if interested preranap@hotmail.com

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30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge Jan 2016

Available - Click Here

Day 30 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Bird Of Paradise - SOLD

This is my last one from the 30 in 30 challenge! I love flowers and this one is one of my favorite. It is a blessing to see this flower bloom in abundance all around us in Southern California region!! I always always stop by to look at each flower planted all around my office building! What a blessing to see beauty all around!

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Bird Of Paradise - 5x7 inches, Watercolor on Arches paper

Code# PK_16_015 
Original SOLD 
9x12 inches size print can be made available on request - $30.00 - preranap@hotmail.com

Day 26 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Cana Lily - SOLD

This painting is an orange delight!! Once again played around with light and shadow on the Cana flowers. I love the bright blooms of Cana and of course I have these planted in my backyard!

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Cana Lily, 7x5 inches, Watercolor on Arches paper

Code# PK_16_014 

Original SOLD
9x12 size print can be made available upon request for $30.00 - preranap@hotmail.com

Day 21 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Red n Pink Rose - SOLD

I am so very happy to have completed this one! I know I haven't been able to do one painting a day, but I am painting everyday. I am myself amazed at the results of my watercolor floral series. Loving it everyday!! This one will for sure brighten you up!
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Pink n Red Rose, 5x7 inches, Watercolor on Arches paper

Code# PK_16_013 
SOLD

Fine Art Print Available - Click Here

Day 18 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Magenta Bougainvillea - SOLD

In my childhood we had 2 different colored Bougainvilleas. Magenta was on one side of the pillar of the open veranda and I loved this color. Last year I planted one in our front yard too and is getting beautiful blooms. And now I have a painted version of Bougainvillea too!! It had been on my list of reference pictures for a long time.
If you are wondering - opera pink is the name of the watercolor tube I bought, and it is Winsor and Newton professional brand.

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Magenta Bougainvillea - 7x5 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper

Code# PK_16_012 

Original SOLD
9x12 inches size print can be made available on request for $30 + shipping

Day 17 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Wildflower Mexican Redhat

Who says wildflowers are not beautiful? Look at this one - it caught my attention in the photo references available on Wetcanvas Library.
After looking up information on internet, I found following info on the flower:
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These flowers resemble broad brimmed, high centered hats worn during Mexican fiestas with petals of yellow and reddish brown forming the brim. The plant is the same as Upright Coneflower except for its red petals with yellow borders. It is adapted to a wide area of the U.S., and is easy to grow. It can be planted as a garden border to attract butterflies. This perennial flower blooms in the summer.
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The grass is done using the masking technique and putting layers of 4-5 colors working from light to darkest.

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Wildflower - Mexican Redhat - 7x5 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper

Code# PK_16_011 

Available - Click Here

Day 16 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Yellow Hibiscus

Again the light and shadow inspired me to choose this reference picture from Wetcanvas.com reference library. I don't usually like to do plain background like the one in this painting. But I think it is appropriate in this case since I would like to focus on the lighting of the flower. If the background was not a plain dark color, I thought it would become too busy for the eyes to enjoy the yellow flower itself. I also loved the light on the bottom leaf and bud.

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Yellow Hibiscus - 7x5 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper

Code# PK_16_010

Available - Click Here

Day 14 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Red n Pink Rose Bud

Wow! the Rose buds took really long time for me, may because I was very tired and had to take it easy. I am loving the results of these watercolor series, even though it is taking longer. I have decided to do 12 of these watercolor florals during this challenge. This one is the 8th in the series. So 4 more to go and then I will switch to oils for sometime.
By the way both this and the earlier rose buds are painted from my own reference photos of roses in my backyard.
And this one seems to be saying "I am open to receiving all the blessings of this abundant Universe"!!

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Red n Pink Rose Bud, 7 x 5 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper

Code# PK_16_009 

Available - Click Here

Day 11 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Red Rose Bud

In childhood I was obsessed by Red Rose. I think at that time I have painted a similar one in all different mediums possible for me. We had many roses with different colors and scents, but this red rose was my favorite. Now we have a similar one in our front yard. This is painted from a photo reference in my own yard.
The background is magically created by sprinkling salt on wet color!!

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Red Rose Bud - 7x5 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper

Code# PK_16_008 

Available - Click Here

Day 9 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Tropical Beauty Heliconia - SOLD

There are so many beautiful flowers to paint! I have a huge collection of reference pictures - from Wetcanvas library, from photos that my friends shared with me and many of my own photos. This bloom looks like a finely braided hair to me - its may be a weird thought but I always imagined so right from the first time I saw it blooming. Again the light and shadows along with the interesting lines on the leaves inspired me to paint this flower.

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Tropical Beauty Heliconia - 5x7 inches, Watercolor on Arches paper

Code# PK_16_007 

SOLD

A larger sized print can be made available on request - preranap@hotmail.com

Day 8 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Magnificent Magnolia - SOLD

We have lot of Magnolia trees around town and the flowers are unusually big - at least in the early years of my stay here I used to be very curious about this huge flower. It has a very sweet scent too! If you have ever noticed - most white flowers have a very intense sweet scent that attracts you - just my observation...
As I started to paint and specially these floral I have been doing, I looked for a picture of Magnolia on Wetcanvas.com and found a really good photo reference. Here's my painted version, hope you like it!
If you are liking my paintings, do follow me using the "Join this site" button on lower right hand side. This is my new blog and would love for you to follow my painting experiences and experiments!
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Magnificent Magnolia - 5x7 inches, Watercolor on Arches paper

Code# PK_16_006
SOLD

Print and other paintings at:- Click Here
A larger sized print can be made available on request - preranap@hotmail.com

Day 7 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Cambo House Iris

I usually look for photo references that have strong light and shadows. In this one there is not much play of light and shadow, but this flower intrigued me because of its lines and patterns and droplets.
I got the photo reference from Wetcanvas online reference library and from the name of the flower, found out that this is a dwarf iris species growing in Cambo Estate Gardens - Gorgeous mini irises in full February bloom. So its a unique kind of flower!!

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Combo House Iris - 7x5 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper

Code# PK_16_005 

Available - Click Here
A larger sized print can be made available on request - preranap@hotmail.com

Day 6 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Yellow Plumeria - SOLD

Now this Yellow Plumeria gave me quite a bit of troubles... I thought I could easily complete in a day in one sitting. But as I progressed into it, it felt like never ending. I found myself painting over and over the same areas. Something wasn't going right and the flower wasn't looking right to me. I was almost to a point of getting rid of it, but I didn't. Next morning, thinking that I have already ruined the painting, I felt free to try and experiment on it more. I went up to it and pushed a punch of color - and there the petals started singing and twirling!!
I didn't develop the branches and background as much since it would take away focus from the flower itself!
Its a great experience to be painting everyday - this one really taught me to be patient with myself.

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Yellow Plumeria - 7x5 inches, Watercolor on Arches paper

Code# PK_16_004 

Original SOLD
A 9x12 inches size print can be made available on request $30.00 - preranap@hotmail.com

Day 5 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Soft Pink Rose

Another addition to my series in watercolors.. for the 30 in 30 challenge, I have decided to paint 12 watercolor florals of the same size (5x7 inches). Then I will continue with my Fruit and Vegetables series in oil painting. I think it will be a good addition to my last year's theme!
So far I did 2 watercolor florals in this challenge, so 10 more to go.
I had fun with this painting, although more than the flower itself, I loved how the green leaves came out! Watercolor is always an adventure and I love it!!

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Soft Pink Rose - 7x5 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper

Code# PK_16_003

Available - Click Here
A larger sized print can be made available on request - preranap@hotmail.com

Day 2 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Happily Hanging

This year "no theme" is going to be my theme for the challenge :).
Well the first one took longer, so I thought I will be able to catch up by painting 2 watercolor paintings in a day. But guess what.. it didn't happen!
Completed one and half finished the second. I do have in mind to paint at least 12 floral watercolor paintings - so that I can add them to my notecards collection! So here is a flower I really liked from wetcanvas.com reference library. Don't know its name, but I loved how it is happily hanging upside down!!

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Happily Hanging - 7x5 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper

Code# PK_16_002

Available - Click Here

PS: If you know the name of this flower, do write to me in comments...
A larger sized print can be made available on request - preranap@hotmail.com

Day 1 - 30 in 30 Challenge Jan 2016 - Serene Buddha Statue

Starting out the New Year with peaceful thoughts and so I chose to paint this Buddha Statue! Happy New Year everyone!
Once again I am participating in 30 Paintings in 30 days challenge and I am severely backlogged since day 1... But I am not going to worry or stress about it, will just keep chugging along as best I can!
Got delayed in posting this, it took me good 2 days to finish this since it is a bit bigger and involves figure too.

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Serene Buddha Statue - 9x12 inches, Oil on Canvas Panel

Code# PK_16_001 

Available - Click Here