Ganesha Sculpture 2019

Yes, this year again for Ganesh Chaturthi I have created an eco friendly Ganesha idol. Below is a picture of the idol when it was still wet. I am waiting for it to dry now. Typically I would wait for 10 days or so, before staring to paint.
I was in a bit of time crunch, so I did not sculpt individual fingers. But I am really happy with the Head and Trunk this time. I also tried to sculpt realistic eyes. Lets see after painting how it all looks.
For painting I will be using washable colors that are non toxic as well.

Our Ganapati Bappa 2019 - approx 8 inches height, air dry clay

Remover of Obstacles

I was getting in the mood of creating Ganesha Sculpture for the upcoming Ganesha Festival. Casually browsing through Pixabay, I thought of searching keyword "Ganesha". To my surprise, I found a real good image of a Ganesha Sculpture. I could not resist painting it, even though I knew I would be delaying other projects that I should finish... I did crop the original image to just do the head and see if I could get the texture of the stone that I desired in the painting. I am very happy with the results. I will be doing a larger one for sure! Another challenge I overcame in this painting was to get subtle color variations. I just love how this came out!

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Remover Of Obstacles, 8x10 inches, Watercolor on 140lbs Coldpress Arches Paper

Code# PK_19_007

Available - Click Here

Orange Rose

I love Roses and after finishing up the previous Yellow Rose, I set out to create a series of Roses - all on 8x10 inches size. So I chose Orange, which is the color of Energy, Joy and Creativity. Hopefully I will continue with my series further with different color Roses... Lets see how many I could do this year...

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Orange Rose, 8x10 inches, Watercolor on 140 lb Coldpress Watercolor paper

Code# PK_19_006 

Available - Click Here

Yellow Rose

Not sure what inspired me to pick yellow rose photo reference.. Just wanted to do a smaller size painting. Also I have been painting lots of pink color, just wanted a break from it. This is also a rose from my backyard and in this super bloom season, there is inspiration all over!
I decided to do it in the Chemer's Gallery Artist Demo. When I started there, I felt that I had painted the shadows too dark or what! The yellow started turning into green since I had a blue underpainting for shadow. Anyways, after coming home, I was able to fix some shadows and added more yellow pigment to make the yellow stronger!
I like how it came out finally!!

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Yellow Rose - 10 x 8 inches, Watercolor on 140 lb Coldpress, Arches Paper

Code# PK_19_005
Available - Click Here

Silk Floss Tree Blooms

When you ride a bicycle and find beautiful flowers or plants or trees, it is a must to stop by and take multiple pictures... This is exactly what I did on my ride one day. Looking at the blooms, I could not resist taking a water break right there. The natural habitat of these trees is South America, but I see them a lot here too in Southern California. They are drought tolerant trees and the best part is they bloom in Fall. As you can see in the painting, there are barely any leaves, but the whole tree is covered with these pink flowers. Another unique thing about this tree is that there are thorns on the tree trunk, which usually we don't see for other trees.
Read more about it on Wikepedia..

Enjoy these beautiful blooms!!

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Silk Floss Tree Blooms, 22 x 30 inches, Watercolor on 300 lb Coldpress Arches paper

Code# PK_19_004 

Available - contact preranap@hotmail.com

White Plumeria Duet

It had been long that I painted a White Flower. I browsed through all my saved reference pictures and this White Plumeria appealed the best at the time. So cropped the picture and this time I thought I would create it on paper glued to canvas. I will eventually varnish the  painting before I send it over to frame it. The framing for this painting will not required glass. I am thinking a floater frame would be the best option, but there may be other frames that would work good too!

I used Golden Soft Gel on one of the 12x12 inch Canvas boards I had. Then carefully pressed the paper all over it so that there wouldn't be bubbles or uneven patches. Once the surface was ready, I did the drawing. Then started playing with colors. Hope you like it!

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White Plumeria Duet - 12 x 12 inches, Watercolor on 140lb coldpress Arches Paper

Code# PK_19_003 

Available - Click Here

Full Bloom - Pink Rose - SOLD

I feel like I am going at a snails pace... but I am so happy that I am getting good results with my paintings. The first one was a hit! And this one too! I love love love it!!
This is painted from a picture taken of Roses in my backyard. There are hundreds of pictures from the same flower. This particular one was taken in morning light. I chose this picture because I wanted to paint the left over bud with just one petal. While I was clicking away, I held my breath hoping that this one petal wouldn't fall off... As the rose grows in age the color in its petals fades out and you can see the color completely faded out in the painting too. But it was lighted up so beautifully in the morning light.
The background is pretty much made up. This flower is in the backyard facing a greenbelt. So I thought green background would be appropriate. I love the blue light in the background and the petals, it brings a nice contrast and luminosity to the pink colored petals!!

BTW I wanted to finish this painting on Valentines day but I did the sketch itself a day after valentines :) So I am pretty much half a month or so behind in this painting!!

Pink is becoming my new favorite color!

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Full Bloom - Pink Rose, 15x22 inches, Watercolor on 300lb Coldpress Archespaper

Code# PK_19_002
SOLD

Prints of this painting are available on my Etsy Website!!

Hedgehog Aloe Blooms

This is my first painting in the New Year!!
Took me many hours to finish this one, did not expect it when I decided on the photo reference.
Hedgehog Aloe is very common in the area we live. I clicked the photo reference during one of my lunch time walks to a neighboring park - Baker Ranch Community park. How could I not paint something that I see almost everyday!!

Feeling so very accomplished as this is by far the most challenging painting that I have done!!

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Hedgehog Aloe Blooms - 20x28 inches, watercolor on 300lb coldpress Arches paper

Code# PK_19_001 

Available - Click Here