Colorful Succulent 2022

This one I had painted last year, but somehow did not like it after the painting was complete. You can see the earlier version at the end under "BEFORE".

So what I did was tore the paper on left and right to create an interesting angle. Also I painted the background darker, so that the leaves of this succulent would show prominently. I definitely like it better this way...

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Colorful Succulent, 15x12 inches, Watercolor on Archespaper 300lbsColdpress

Code# PK_22_003 
Available - Contact - preranap@hotmail.com

BEFORE:

Blueberry Bliss

This is my new favorite painting, it was difficult to stay focused on it due to complexity. I am feeling so accomplished! This is a plant - shrub, in my front yard. Everyone that suggested the title on Facebook thought that these are blueberries. But these berries are not edible. This is an evergreen, drought tolerant shrub, very common in southern California. In my neighborhood, I see this plant as shrub or hedges, very common in parks, street dividers, homes etc. Around Easter time, these berries turn into beautiful start shaped small pink or white flowers. For long time I did not find the name of this plant. Its called Indian Hawthorne. Below, I have some pictures of the plant with berries and flowers.
I used my own picture as a reference. The morning or evening light is very dramatic and that's usually I take pictures for painting.

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Blueberry Bliss - 22x30 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper, 300 lbs coldpress

Code# PK_20_003 Available - contact preranap@hotmail.com\

Indian Hawthorne in full bloom around Easter time

Indian Hawthorne in Fall with berries. These are not edible

Parrot Couple in Paradise

And now look at this gorgeous couple.. A parrot couple from India!!
The male parrot has a ring around his neck. The female doesn't have the ring. In this painting the female is the top part of the painting. I liked the angle that she is bent over to get the seed. It look like its a morning light and this couple is enjoying breakfast!
It is a very busy painting but I liked the beans hanging down in variety of colors. The light on the birds and the branches is simply magical - that was my inspiration to paint this complicated painting.

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Parrot Couple in Paradise, 22x30 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper - 300 lbs coldpress

Code# PK_20_001
Available - preranap@hotmail.com

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

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

Three Waterlilies - SOLD

My last painting for the year 2018!!
It was a year full of learning experiences and less number of paintings as compared to prior years. But I had fun learning to sketch and sculpting that I tried for the very first time.
My goal for the year 2019 is to consistently populate my online Etsy shop with new paintings - both in Watercolor and Oil.

Wishing you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year !!

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Three Waterlilies, 6 x 6 inches, Watercolor on Arches Paper

Code# PK_18_007
SOLD

More paintings and Fine art prints are available here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/preranap

Fall is in the Air

The inspiration for this painting is beautiful fall colors and the leaves illuminated by sun shining on it!! It is quite a big painting and for me the challenge was to control water on such a big area of each leaf. For every painting I try to experiment with the background. At first I was going to use Alcohol drops to create this kind of texture. But I did not use Alcohol, instead I experimented with water itself.
So first I wet all of the background. Then I put in strong different colors in a circular motion. When I did this I could see a magical effect of the water and color mingling into each other. The paper has to be very wet though for color to do its magic. When the paper slightly dried, I took just plain water in my brush and added drops randomly all over the paper. The place where the water was dropped became white and the color spread to the sides following the circumference of the water drop. This way I did 2-3 layers n my background. I was afraid whether using so many colors would work or not, but I like the colorful texture.
Now feeling accomplished!!

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Fall is in the Air - 22x30 inches, Watercolor on 300lbs coldpress Arches paper

Code# PK_18_005
Available - contact me @ preranap@hotmail.com

Waterlily Reflections 2 - SOLD

This is my first post of the year 2018. Feeling quite a bit behind compared to previous years. But this year I took up the fitness challenge rather than painting challenge. So I am finding it challenging to balance the daily routine with good sleep, fitness and painting.
In December, I had painted a pink Waterlily and had several reference pictures, so felt the urge to paint another one with its little baby too.
It was fun to come up with all different shades of greens. The Pink really stands out among all those greens and blue!!

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Code# PK_18_001
SOLD - preranap@hotmail.com

More paintings and Fine art prints are available here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/preranap

Spirit of Holidays - Poinsettia

Feeling Red... is all I can say, this turned out pretty interesting. I am considering to do a larger version of this painting eventually. I finished this in about 3 days on and off doing demo in my booth at Sawdust Art Festival, Winter fantasy 2017. I one point I was so much engrossed painting this that a lady had to call me few times to ask me pricing on my Greeting cards... Not a good situation while at the booth, but otherwise I was pretty watchful of people stopping by and was talking to them. Sometimes getting up and showing them rest of my work. Many people stopped by just to see the process and to ask questions. Below are some more pictures with me doing the painting as well.

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Spirit of Holidays - Poinsettia, 6x6 inches, Watercolor on 300lbs Coldpress Arches paper

Code# PK_17_019 

Available - contact me - preranap@hotmail.com

Booth demo at Sawdust Festival Winter Fantasy 2017

My Booth at Sawdust Festival Winter Fantasy 2017

Pink Waterlily Reflections - SOLD

Now this project had been on my list since very long... Its a small 6x6 inches, but could not start it...
Nowadays every weekend I am on my booth in Sawdust Art Festival. And one of the requirement is to either do demo in the both OR volunteer to teach an art class OR a mix of both. So I am teaching 1 watercolor class every weekend and rest of the time doing demo in my booth.
And guess what... for the demo in my booth, I picked this waterlily back again which was already sketched long back and waiting to be painted!!
I worked 3 days on and off to finish this painting between talking to the people coming in the booth and having a chat with my neighbor booth friends!!
Now 3 more weekends left for the Sawdust to finish, so I can take up couple more small projects I think..

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Pink Waterlily Reflections, 6x6 inches, Watercolor on 140 lbs Arches paper

Code# PK_17_017
SOLD

More paintings and Fine art prints are available here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/preranap

Passionate Red Lilies

Every evening I take my dog for a walk and on the way I see several Daylilies - all different colors. Everytime I see a patch of these flowers, I stop by and take pictures. I have pictures of yellow, dark red (almost maroon color) and these daylilies. Also there are smaller varieties of these colors that look like colorful stars shining among the greens. So of course I needed to paint from one of my pictures!!

"Earth laughs in flowers." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Passionate Red Lilies, 11 x 15 inches, Watercolor on 300 lbs Coldpress Arches paper.

Code# PK_17_015
Available - Contact preranap@hotmail.com

Welcome Spring

My friend posted quite a few wonderful pictures of hummingbird on her facebook. One of them I liked so much that I asked her if I could use her photo as inspiration for my painting. I had never painted hummingbird before and there were striking Gulmohar kind of flowers along with it!! So it was a must to paint this. We recently celebrated Holi and with that in mind, the background became Holi like.

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Welcome Spring, 11x15 inches, Watercolor on Archespaper, 300lbs Coldpress

Code# PK_17_011
Available - contact me - preranap@hotmail.com