Little Girl (Painting)

Time and again I have rebuked myself for not making appropriate notes on the paintings that I make, and yet I continue to go on doing the same. If I need to get back to a painting after many days, it goes without saying that there's going to be some fading off of the memory regarding what colours I used or how I approached a particular spot. However, my laziness gets the better of me and I forget to note down what I did exactly.

Hopefully, the photographs that I have help me rejig my memory and move me smoothly through this final version of the painting that I am going to start after exactly 2 months of completion of the final rough painting.

Since, this is the first time I am actually going to note down steps - I'm putting up a LONG POST warning. But, I need it to be detailed, for, it is going to be for my own future reference as well!

So what have we got here?

Reference Picture is here:

A picture that Manu clicked in our trip to the North East India in the middle of last year.

I've already done:

1. Basic line sketch

2. Value sketch drawn in pencil

3. Watercolour draft

4. Printout of the watercolour draft with notes on what works and what else to change for the final version.

Medium to be used: Watercolours

I've forgotten what all colours I used for the watercolour draft. I made 2 other watercolour paintings - one overloaded with skin tones, for it was an indoor portrait, and the other one heavy on brilliant green for that was an outdoor portrait. This one here, is quite dark. 

So I know there's 

• a lot of indigo to be used. Going by the palette I had used, there's
• Raw Sienna,
• Yellow Ochre,
• Burnt Sienna, and
• Crimson that I am able to see. 
• Cerulean(?) - What's that colour on the girl's sleeve?

I was scared of running out of colours when the lockdown started. So I covered up the final sketch and kept it aside. I painted two other portraits instead.

Now that we are slowly moving out of a lockdown, and e-commerce has been enabled, I got myself the colours that I was running low on.

Sighin' I (by) Coz I = Tan'd I

It's been two weeks now, after my trip to Coorg and Sakleshpur. While we were there, we didn't really go for a lot of trek since we were two families with four kids between the ages of 9y and 6y. With whatever outdoors we had scheduled, by the time I returned back home to Bengaluru, I had started resembling a zebra (yeah, more appropriate for my horse-face).

My skin has finally come back to a nearly single shade of my original wheatish tone. But on the morning after my trip from Coorg and Sakleshpur, I looked pretty much like this. Yes, this despite the fact that we trekked a teeny bit, and after having my blood sucked by leaches a couple of times I made sure to cover up right to my toes with a newly purchased set of socks. I looked pretty striped with neat borders.

I have never before seen a person with so many colours on his personal skin! 

P.S.. 

What's with the Math equation?
Well, read that
Sighin'I (by why) Coz I = Tan'd I
Really!!

Syamjith

Watercolor on Cartridge Paper / Cardstock

Pretty long back, when I was a module lead in Syam's team, our whole team used to go for our evening tea breaks together. On one such tea meets, probably it was just the two of us present as I don't remember anyone else with us, I noticed some beautifully made shadow drawings and a Disney character in his notebook that he used to use for taking down project notes. I asked him, 'Why?' and he said he liked to draw. He had lost touch with drawing when we all got to senior classes in school. We all do.. He wanted to pick it up where he left, because it relaxed him. I asked him, 'How?' and he said causally, 'Oh, you know - it's just how we did back as kids.. You pick a picture you like - Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or so, and you look at it and draw it. Keep doing that. Then you try to draw other things also. Soon you may just start drawing without looking at the picture even.'

It is not true that, 'That was the day I decided...'. For a long time after that too, I was convinced I wouldn't be drawing for anything more than doodling during phone calls. That said, his statement and the way he exclaimed the simplicity of the method has been an inspiring quote for me to restart and keep up in this journey.

Here's a 'Hi Syam!' from me.. 

Figure Drawing

Watercolour 

10" x 15" or 

27cm x 37cm

Here's a watercolour study of drapery that I did. I borrowed the reference picture from the website, 

line-of-action.com, where there are many reference pictures for figure drawing both humans as well as animals. I had dug into it for some animal anatomy in reality, but their collection was good even for Human figure reference.  I think I'll be visiting the site more often.

Invitation

What can go wrong with accepting an invitation for lunch? I mean, for us, humans. We had been invited for a fabulous lunch over at my aunt's residence. We had just started eagerly stepping out of the house attending some courtesy and personal calls after all the illnesses, while still settling down in this new house.

My aunt is a wonderful chef. The lunch and the following family get together was wonderful. Post that we stopped over at my sister in law's house to meet the family there and get some exercise into our kids, with their cousins. The day had been great.

We returned home, and while unlocking the front door, I felt that something was not quite right! The telltale plantain peal and a couple of peanut shells, right next to our gate were unmissable. My mind went to those numerous times my mother had taught me to avoid stepping on these kind of items on the road, lest they carry some mantras for bad luck, thrown by desperate persons, so that their own bad lucks could be transferred to another person, with whom he may not be concerned.

However, the items on the floor were too unimpressive to be used for witchcraft. I realized then, that we had been Goldilocked!!! By monkeys! I called Hubby to leave the kids in the car, come inside the house and check if there was still any monkey stuck in the house. What if one of them had chosen to try out our beds, and fell asleep there itself...(?) and what if it is T's or S's bed?! After Hubby declared that the coast was clear, I got the kids and myself in.

With the kids put comfortably on their beds, we both took stock of all items that had been misplaced while the party was on. A couple plantains, 4 pears and a good load of peanuts had been consumed and carried away. A few slices of bread had been touched too. We swept the floor and disinfected the counter tops, though we couldn't help admiring the fact that the monkeys had not knocked down anything else. All glass and ceramics had been spared, the taps had not been opened and even chocolates had been untouched. But of course, monkeys are smart not to foray into junk food trucks..

(S loves this spread that I drew. He just loves seeing each monkey for what he is doing. I drew one of these with a bottle in his hand, and whenever he sees this, I have to answer about where he must have gotten the bottle from, since we don't consume beer or any other thing that would require a bottle)

The Scary Portrait

A Scary Portrait..
From JKPP..
This, for me, is the scariest stage in a painting project - this midway painting with weird colours all over. It makes me doubt whether I'm going to do the right thing. And sometimes - well usually - makes me want to leave this here and restart. It is the fear of crossing this stage that stops me even before I start. I've noticed though, that if I continue painting, and ignore the feeling (for probably a couple of hours or even couple of days while I'm still working on the painting), the result is good.

It is the art of ignoring the inner monkey, that I need to learn!
Time for a break...

Starting on the Right Foot

This time, I've learnt it.. that there's no point in waiting for our days to get better. There's no needs to say things like, "When we get well..." and waiting for sunny days.

Since July, for the third consecutive month, un-wellness has forced its presence on the forefront of our conscious! It's been stomach flu, it's been high fevers, it's been viral infections, body aches, it's been sprains, back aches, it's been mouth ulcers, tonsilitis, regular cold and flu, dermatitis, dengue.. We've been to many places with respect to that!

And now, this. I've again sprained my right foot, even when the foot rigidity due to viral arthritis - is that what it is being called(?) - doesn't seem to be decelerating! Sleepless night!! Unfinished house works! Unscheduled daytimes! And no way of getting back to exercising...

Creeper in Thrissur

A old one here..

110 gsm sketchbook

Pen and ink

Old Truck

This truck was standing out in the sun, in the dry wind and dust for many many months before it finally unloaded the sand in it and they started building a multi storied building on the space it occupied. I'll do a quick sketch of how the view looks now.

Messy Bed

Among all of the 'Everything' that I try to draw, this one - not particularly this same bed, but the topic - has been drawn quite a few times.. All the time, messy! I've never ever drawn a cleaned up bed in my house.. Not sure whether it is because I have never felt like drawing a clean one, or because it is so difficult to find a clean one. Ooops, did I open my mouth too wide?

Annaprasanam

Here is the painting that I made for the Temple. 

Krishna, the nurturer.

Krishna, is usually shown as a naughty little boy. 

Many times, as Gopi-Krishna, he can be seen dancing with gopis.

Gopala Krishna is another popular face where Krishna is depicted as a cowherd.

I wanted to draw another angle to his personality. What better, than to draw Krishna as a tender nurturer, to depict an idea that sparked on the event of Sooryansh's Annaprasanam

When we had been to Guruvayoor for Sooryansh's Annaprasanam, way back in 2013, I had this feeling that I should paint something to give to the Temple. For the ones who are not familiar with the term, the ceremony of feeding the first solid morsel - usually rice - to our child is called Annaprasanam, in Hindu culture. It is one of the samskaras that every human is expected to perform.

Ever since, I had been planning on what I should make. I knew it had to be watercolor, for I love the romance of it. I knew also, that it should be a theme that I have never seen anywhere. Hence, this little boy Krishna, with a look of care and love, feeding this little baby. Just like we believe as under the watchful care of the Lord in the Temple. 

I worked on this project when the kids had gone to their grandma's place, this year. Since it was made specifically for the Temple, I didn't want to share a print kind version of it. The little one is at home - it was a miniature one for color practice.

(Watercolor on A3 size CP watercolor paper)

Flora

I drew this one from a stalk of flower at home.. They looked lovely.. 

And here below is the lovely model.. standing all majestic! :)

I think I should buy more flowers... Oh and by the way, the vase in which this flower was restful, just broke today in a freak accident.. 

Watercolor on not-so-good cartridge journal paper

Dad and Son playing a game

Bhagini Rooftop

Something from last year. Just before this year's Father's Day. For this one, I made a record of the series of steps I took to come to this final look of the painting. I wish it was better paper. This is a cheap quality thin cartridge paper, which would not take washes. It had been generous that day to accommodate my attempt of splashing three colors on the building's window panes.

The initial pencil sketch on the crazy, already quite crumpled paper.

First wash

The actual finished painting - without the journal words...

Photograph comparison

Gouache Study

What? I didn't publish this post? This was just my first ever attempt at gouache. It's not like I have done too many pages with gouache, but I have done just enough to not think of gouache as some difficult project.

Gouache is a whole different animal compared with watercolor. And yet, look at the tender feel it has just like watercolor. I enjoyed making this page.

Apps and Games

Tanush loves to play with any kind of a hand held tablet.. He has games installed in all of them (well, except in my phone). He finds all kinds of excuses to be allowed to play with a tablet.. I can't call it an addiction considering how much lesser than other kids he is allowed to play on it.. but it irks me all the time that he gets even so much!!!

Tanush would wait for Saturdays so that he could get his Kinect time. In fact, throughout the week he would try to barter that hour for one of the weekday hours and make promises that he would really not ask for Kinect time on Saturday. But he would forget it the very next day. He loves it when I say, 'You are not well.. So you can't go out to play' because all he hears is, 'Tanush, guess what? It is your Kinect time today!!!! How about a Hi-Five? Yeaaahhhh' But I would be sobbing over the missed opportunity to go down and run with the wind on his face.. 

Grandpa's phone is like a personal den with all games installed. My dad's and my dad-in-law's phones always go out of charge or overloaded with a few games open and running at the same time. I find it hard to discipline him when I am at my dad's. And grandpa, being the loving grandpa, overrides my orders with sweet talks and gets Tanush what he wants. Again, there are only so many people the kids can throw their weight around, and more importantly, it is not too much, so I don't usually throw a fit. Did you read the word 'usually'? That's important, because I do make an interruption when I feel he's played for too long on a handheld.

Here's Tanush taking some time to play an app game after a hands-on craft making - He made the Traffic Police hat that he's wearing!

I make it a point to not offer them (S and T) my phone when we are waiting say, at the doctor's clinic or in traffic or wherever. We play some other games. Sometimes that gets on my nerves, for they need my absolute participation, but I think it is worth it. When I look around, though, I find kids on android devices, with their parents on their own cellphones trying to kill the waiting time without having to look at the world around them. I am not for it.. I like observing everything that goes on around me, and would like my kids to be able to do the same too.. Boredom should be treated with some respect!! Not everyone gets the chance to meet it. And it does wonders, at times, to your creativity!! Think Newton.

Baby Coconuts

Fixing the Unfix-able

Painting mistakes

It all started with wanting to sketch.. A terrible itch to sketch just about half hour before I had to go and bring back Tanush from his bus stop. Half an hour seems a good amount, if you don't have to spend the first 5 mins trying to find your supplies and the last 5 mins attending to your younger one's call to attend nature's call.. Nature seems like a good subject to sketch too with the afternoon sun lining the edges in lovely silver. 

I started the sketch in my person journal that's filled with (horrible) cartridge paper. Quick quick quick was my mantra.. A light satisfying pencil outline.. 

Wash.. 

Wash.. 

Detail.. 

Some more detail.. 

Hmm something wrong.. Fix!! 

Wash!!

Not blending!!

Yucky paper! I'll never forgive you for it!

Oops brush stroke on the careful silver lining! Oh well!! As though the rest of the painting was supporting it in any way!!

Now the paper's turn to not forgive me! It bled to the other side! 

Oops!

Wash!

"Maaa!!! You wann go poopy?" (that's my 2 yo's way of saying that HE needs to attend nature's call)

A quick dash here and there, I left the painting in its sorry state and went and picked up Tanush.. 

After we came back, Tanush looked at it ans asked, 'Ma, haven't you written anything on this page? What about your today's journal?' It was too sad a page to even see it once more. But oh well.. I just thought I'll scribble about all the mistakes I made to make this classic masterpiece.. 

I don't think it looks bad anymore!!

Cat and the Art of Ignoring

The unfriendly neighborhood Cat

We all could take some lessons from Cats.. If they don't want to see you, they will not see you. They'll roll their heads, look in your direction, and look right through you, but never will they see you even by mistake; if they won't want to.. 

Never will they put on a show like, 'Ah!! How did I miss you standing there!?' That's for us humans.. 

A cat will proudly sit right in front of you, proclaim in his majestic silence that you are trespassing his territory and that it will never be the other way round.. 

A snob!

He'll make you wish that you'd better vanish somehow than be humiliated this way!

And the puny domestic cat is not even the King - that's for a bigger cat - But he'll hold the airs of one!

Now, that's the kind of a fierce feline egotism (read self esteem) that we sometimes need for ourselves.. 

Custard Apples and Eaters

Custard Apples

Anyone who has relished the custard apple, knows that these fruits are full - and really full - of seeds. In fact, you get more seed than the fruit! I know of people who have varying attitudes on how they enjoy the fruit (or not)...

There are some who just can't resist the fruit. So, they take the fruit, stand near a trash bin and enjoy it standing. They don't mind the discomforts of having to stand, with no company and, if really unlucky, then taking in the fruit fragrance with the smells that emanate from where a trash can is kept (yeah, eww..)!

Then, there are some who like to think smart and take a small vessel in hand to spit out the number of seeds.

And then, there are a few who are so intimidated by the huge number of spitting they'd have to do, and so would just satisfy themselves by taking in the fragrance and talking about how they had enjoyed the fruit so much with their friends when they were young (read, children).

Well, there are those who can not take the pains of a messy meal, pop that custard apple - flesh, seed and all - into a juicer with some milk, a little more sugar and turn it into a milk shake. They just love how they were smart to add that dairy - more nutrition!!

There are also some, who, because of the sheer mess that seems, like to just say,'I don't really like the custard apple.... by, the way, how do they really taste?' I know some in that set too! Almost all of them hadn't had a custard apple and don't even know what they are missing. They like to make it look like it doesn't matter either. Yes, if you are reading this, I did mean you!!

Me? I like to pinch a fruit open, hold it into a cup, sit by the balcony with Tanush and savor every corn that's there, in its most natural self.. Tanush and I love to call it Dragon's Tooth, for each corn looks like a tooth out of Godzilla's mouth..

Did you find yourself there too?