My journey with lines and colors: March 2012

Saturday, March 31, 2012

A Broken Cart

It pinches when you end up buying student grade colors for the price of artist grade and the paper either bloats or comes off every time you try to go wet or lift color! Not an excuse for the shortcomings in my work though! I found this broken discarded cart quite picturesque. The yellows in the field don't look quite as bright as they do in the sketch but I still feel I could have made better use of light.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Guardian Rooster

Click to enlarge

My hands have been itching to do a portrait for a while now. Since I 've just started in water color I wasn't sure if I should even attempt it. While I was checking out the pics of one of my contacts on flickr, I found my inspiration. You can check his work out on http://hellosapa.com/ I realize portraits is what I really love painting and would love to paint this again in oil.

PS: Looking at the post I realize the yellow on the rooster is a tad dark! Need to lighten it.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

A study of glass

Fuchsia was my 1st flower painting. I haven't really painted flowers in oil either and really enjoyed painting it. Had been wondering what to paint next and was reminded of this pic from my sister's album which I had always wanted to paint but couldn't come around to it. This picture was taken by my sis during her vacation in Germany. I found it challenging as I have never painted a glass before. Painting white is challenging too and the only white when you are working with water color is your paper!

I didn't track the time taken to paint it but I must have taken the longest in drawing the goblet. I had a hard time getting the shape right! The other challenge was saving the whites. I don't have a white pen so couldn't reinstate the highlights.

8 Comments

Jacques said...: Your paintings have a very personal style because of the high contrast you are using, very unusual in watercolour but very expressive. Nice rendering of the glass, you managed to get a definite transparancy of the glass which is very difficult.
March 18, 2012 2:22 PM
Mamta said...: Thanks Jacques. I am used to working with oils and still learning to work with water color. Maybe that explains the high contrast in my work.
March 18, 2012 2:53 PM
Monique said...: I too love your darks and your beautiful colours. The glass is fabulous too, and the flower inside so delicate. Great work!
March 18, 2012 3:08 PM
Sue Grilli said...: beautiful work with the glass, that is fairly difficult in watercolor.
March 18, 2012 7:49 PM
Clare said...: This is spectacular. I can't believe how wonderful your glass is! I also love the colors that you used.
March 19, 2012 10:52 AM
Mamta said...: Thanks everyone! I actually have a very limited palette. I just try to create whatever I can with it.
March 19, 2012 1:32 PM
Nancy said...: VERY DRAMATIC piece! Love the flowers and the glass...you really showed up the glass by putting a dark background. Really beautiful Mamta!
March 19, 2012 8:48 PM
Laure Ferlita said...: Very well done, Mamta! You've done an excellent job on the glass reflection. Love the way you've built depth in by letting us see a bloom through the glass in the background. I also applaud the artistic license you've used to change the containers on either side to a rich rose color rather than the black in the image. The only place I would suggest change would be in the base of the glass. It almost reads as brass rather than glass. I would suggest adding in some of the blues and greens that would surely be reflected there even if they don't show clearly in the photo reference. Very well done, Mamta!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Fuchsia

click to enlarge

6 Comments

TheAntiquePalette said...: This really zings! Your choice of colors, the background really compliments the fuschia blossoms. A stunner!
March 16, 2012 9:45 AM
Clare said...: I love the colors that you have used also and the loose feel in your painting. Beautiful work.
March 16, 2012 2:42 PM
Monique said...: These blooms look so delicate and have wonderful colours!
March 16, 2012 2:57 PM
Sue said...: The colors are wonderful. The backround really makes the fuchsias pop!
March 16, 2012 5:15 PM
Sue Grilli said...: looks great, love the colors and how you blended them.
March 18, 2012 7:55 PM
Laure Ferlita said...: Nicely done, Mamta! The flowers have excellent form and shape. Looks like I could reach out and pick one up. I also love the use of darks in the background to push the flowers forward. The viridian green is making a strong appearance here and you've made it work. Kudos to you for working with your limited palette so well. I do believe the temperature of the greens and background are a little cooler than the plant would normally be, but you've made it sing here. Well done!
March 19, 2012 8:20 PM

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Ring of Kerry

Woops! Forgot the edit part! The water fall is just so cluttered. Couldn't get the water right either. I wish I had selected the Fuchsia bushes for the second painting (in center) instead. At least the page would have looked better. Landscape has never been my forte on top of that it was a timed assignment of 20 min. Couldn't finish it in time though. Had to improvise later.

5 Comments

TheAntiquePalette said...: Very nicely done, again! I think your waterfall looks great, it draws your eyes and then you follow around to the other scenes. I'm hesitating on this lesson, they all look a bit daunting! So many beautiful scenic places to capture that it's also hard to decide which to try. Doing 3 is a good idea.
March 15, 2012 3:13 PM
Monique said...: I really like the colours you've used in the waterfall image, I've kept to green and that was not a succes, I think yours is a lot more interesting. And your page lay-out works very well too.
March 16, 2012 6:38 AM
Mamta said...: Thanks Susie, I too had a hard time deciding what to paint. It actually was a bit intimidating too as I don't do landscapes much! Thanks Monique, I love your waterfall. You captured the flowing water beautifully! :)
March 16, 2012 8:32 AM
Jacques said...: Hi Mamta I think you captured a whole lot in 20 min and your waterfall stands out very well. Water is so difficult to paint but your waterfall is clearly flowing.
March 16, 2012 11:36 AM
Laure Ferlita said...: Very well done, Mamta! Love those dark values in the bottom two images! Very nice job on the waterfall. I agree that you've done a good job of creating movement in the water and the browns add a nice touch (nice editing too!). Good depth in the top and bottom images. Nice job on the "sun spot" in the bottom image as well. I would suggest adding some darker values in the top image. In the mountain range in the back. If possible, I would introduce a bit of green and blue to that area to help tie in to the other two images on the page. Putting in darker values will help to pull the eye further into the image. I think you've done very well for what you completed in twenty minutes! You've captured enough on your page, that if you not been able to finish on location, you could have finished later with the help of a reference image. Great work, Mamta!
March 16, 2012 4:51 PM