Marguerites and Cherries

9 by 12 -inch on 140 lbs. Kilimanjaro 

This still life is painted after challenge no.76 from my favorite painting challenge blog, A nos pinceaux . I was so captured by the luscious, red cherries but was a bit intimidated of painting so many of them. I also wanted to capture the delicate white petals of the marguerites. Eventually, the desire to paint the still life overcame my hesitation.So here it is! I took my time painting; pausing in between to study the painting to see if anything is amiss. I edited a bit from the reference photo to suit my taste.All in all, I am happy with the result. Thanks Evelyn for providing such a wonderful still life! 

Poppies

8 by 10 inches on an unknown watercolor paper

My last painting for 30 in 30 days challenge from Leslie Saeta. Well, I did not paint 30 paintings. I am rather a slow painter and I keep aside and study my paintings as they progress. It looks like I can't break that habit even with this challenge. Ha! So this is more like 15 paintings in 30 days. :)

Here is a collage of all the painting I did in September for the challenge

Apples and Grapes

Almost 9 by 12 inches on a 140 lbs Langton Prestige

I painted this for challenge No. 79 from A nos Pinceaux . The grapes took sometime to finish. I really took my own time to finish this piece. As the result, I missed a few days for the 30 for 30 days challenge. I don't want to sacrifice the quality by churning out a painting a day. It looks like I am comfortable doing the challenge at this pace. 

Western Bluebird

5 by 7 inches on Strathmore 500 Watercolor Paper

Reference photo by Michael B.Utin from PMP

Wisteria Series No.3

4 by 6 inches on Arches.

Wisterias in blooms and the bees are pretty busy.

P.S: I am not including "Things you don't know about me" in this and the last post because I don't know what to include that are painting related. I can't paint solely to connect with the theme. I usually paint what I feel like painting. So, I have decided that if there are relevant connection, I will write about it. 

Wisteria Series No. 2

4 by 6 inches on 140 lbs. Arches

I got so excited with my last wisteria painting, I couldn't resist trying another one. 

Wisteria

4 by 6 inches on 140 lbs. Arches 

I am smitten with painting loose in watercolor. I painted this without any preliminary sketch. I think painting loose gives you a lot of flexibility and so more freedom. I am kinda starting to understand how the artists approach when they start painting loose. I hope I can expand and learn more about painting loose in the future.

Reference image from Morgue File

Things You Dont Know About Me

10. I love to learn and self-teach new things that I am interested in.  Learning to paint loose is my latest interest as is evident in this blog. If I start off right, I may keep learning more about painting loose and get good at it. If not, it will go to the tried-and-failed pile. I hope it wont come to that.

Rooster

10 by 14 inches on 140 lbs Arches

I did painting for Challenge No. 48 of PADT

Things You Dont Know About Me

9. I don't like to have pet or any backyard animals. Period. They are messy and we have to clean up after them. That is my only reason.

Canna Series No.10

Approximately 7 by 5 inches on watercolor paper

I just couldn't help myself try painting loose again. Not sure how successful I am here. I painted this without any pencil sketches.A big diversion from my usual painting technique.

Things You Dont Know About Me

8. Though I say to myself my favorite color is blue, I tend to lean toward pink and red. 

A Good Day To Travel

4 by 6 inches on Arches

Relearning landscape painting in baby steps.

Things You Dont Know About Me

7. Love to be on the road. I enjoy hitting the road and soak up the nature. We just recently traveled from the south to the north of United States and back on road and we enjoyed every bit of it.

Gladiolus

8 by 10 inches on Fabriano Studio

Things You Dont Know About Me

6. Though I am an optimist, I get easily discouraged. Like this loose painting on Gladiolus. I want to paint well in loose but it is just not happening. I am pondering on sticking with drawing tight, which I am good at. But the optimist in me keeps reminding, I can get better with practice. I find that hard to digest.

Canna Beauty

About 9 by 12 inches on 140 lbs.Langton Prestige

Reference image : Mike Hoth from PMP

Things You Dont Know About Me

5. Canna is my favorite subject in floral painting. I am always drawn to Cannas when I decide to do floral painting. My earliest memories of Cannas are from my grandparent's residence during the childhood. They had a profusion of canna plants bordering around each of their coconut palms. As they fertilized the coconut, the cannas also get benefited and they thrived, yielding a profusion of canna blooms. I was too young to appreciate their beauty but they left an impression in me. Many years later, I  started appreciating them in new light and that spilled over to my paintings. This is ninth in my series of Canna Lily paintings. 

Canna Explosion

9 by 12 inches on Strathmore 500 Series Watercolor Paper

Things You Dont Know About Me

4. I absolutely love loose watercolor painting. But I  have low confidence in doing one. I almost ditched this painting twice before I tackled it to completion.So any feedbacks from you are welcome.

Angel

9 by 12 inches on Kilimanjaro

I am glad to have finished this painting which I had almost thought I wouldn't finish today. I used the "rivulet technique", that I have mentioned before, to do this painting.

Things You Dont Know About Me

3. I believe in Guardian Angels. After undergoing some profound personal experiences, which I dont want to elaborate here, and after researching about it  throughout last year, I have started believing in guardian angels/spirits. It has changed my outlook on life to a large extent. I can say that I have become more spiritual than ever before. I am so glad I get to experience it.

Winter Cardinal

In watercolors on Strathmore 500 Series Watercolor Paper

Image size : 7 by 5 inches ; paper size  8 by 10 inches

The second day of the challenge. I am seeing that this is truly a challenge for me; to fit in with my schedule. I am still unsure as to how successfully I can carry this out.

Reference Photo by : Rodney Campbell Smith

Things You Dont Know About Me

2. A couple of years back I wouldn't imagine myself painting bird. I never considered  birds as subject for painting especially in watercolors. I did wistfully look through watercolor how-to books on painting birds and that was it. My membership in PaintMyPhoto forum changed that. I was awestruck at the amazing bird photographs posted by the talented photographers there. So much so that it inspired and kick-started me into painting birds.

Landscape Studying in Sepia

I have signed up for Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days . It is certainly unnerving for me because I have never challenged myself to paint everyday or to paint in a particular theme at a stretch because I am mostly a person who paints when the painting mood strikes and give myself time and space in between paintings. So, when the painting mojo strikes me, it is painting and drawing one after the other. I am not sure if I can do 30 in 30 days; but there is no harm trying.

Things You Dont Know About Me

1. I am not much of a landscape painter. That explains the sepia study of this landscape. My painting subjects varies from still life to figure to portrait to floral to bird but I have only done very few landscape paintings in 5 years of painting. Recently, my former instructor asked me to do a landscape painting; so I decided to kick start with this landscape painting in sepia tone. It is about time I get outside my comfort zone.  

Maharashtrian Lady, Figure Study No.12

In graphite

On 11 by 14 inches Strathmore Bristol Smooth

I am so glad that I am finally able to do a figure in traditional Indian costume. I have been wanting to draw one but lacked the confidence. Reading Barbara Bradley's book gave me the confidence to try one. This was an excellent exercise on fabric folds and drapery.

Magnolia : A Master Study

This painting is done under the direction of the watercolor artist, Jacqueline Gnott. I have signed up for her learning forum so I will be able to learn better under a master watercolor artist. I recommend this membership based learning forum for anyone interested in learning more about watercolor painting. In this particular video, I learned how to do smooth blending and paint in rich, dark background using black pigment.

8 ³⁄₈ by 9 ¹⁄_{8 inches on 300 lbs. Kilimanjaro}

The Rooftop Gargoyle

11 by 14 inches on 300 lbs. Kilimanjaro

I followed the direction of the watercolor artist, Susan Avis Murphy, on her rivulet technique to do the painting. It is explained clearly in her blog. I did this painting as a part of this month painting challenge in PMP. Reference photo is by the artist, Suzanne Wallick.

Figure Study No.11

11 x 14 inches
On Strathmore Bristol Smooth

Just finished this drawing as a part of my ongoing series Figure Study.

Standing Lady with Back Turned, Figure Study No.10

11 x 14 inches 

On Canson Ca'grain

I have been doing a series of figure study drawings; this is my tenth figure study drawing. You can see the earlier drawings from my wordpress art blog- see the column alongside. I am using white charcoal in a drawing for the first time and I am getting a hang of how I can use it against a grey background. 

Welcome Spring

Completed under the direction of the watercolor artist, Jacqueline Gnott.

In watercolors on a 9 by 12 inches 300-lbs. Kilimanjaro watercolor paper.

The Garden Flutist

11 by 14 inches 

I did this under the direction of the watercolor artist, Susan Avis Murphy, on her rivulet technique as explained in her blog. Susan also has a youtube account ( same as her name) where she has a couple of videos demonstrating the technique very clearly. If you are interested in learning this technique, please do hop over there. 

Bouquet of Cosmos

I opened this blog in 2008 but have not used it until now. I wanted to reserve an art blog under the name artpearls and use it if need may arise in the future. So here it is. I hope to update it regularly in sync with my wordpress account.

This painting is done after an old painting challenge (No. 57) in A Nos Pinceaux.  

11 by 14 inches on 140-lbs. Waterford cold pressed paper.