Floods, Fluids and Flowers

It's over a month since I posted and I really can't pinpoint on one thing...I am really sorry guys for not having posted for that long! But seriously, I needed a break not from blogging as such but to help me stabilize on certain things. I was emotionally amock particularly with the floods in my region and the aftermath of it all. Our place and people are slowly recovering. We were in a safe area but there are loads of people who have suffered disastrously. We tried helping them out a bit by buying them the essentials like food and stuff, and dresses and also a bit through our art.

I seriously couldn't touch my paint and brush for almost a month other than the two flood relief ones, though I did sketch and splash colours casually to relax in between. 

Created these two paintings as part of raising funds for Flood Relief. The event was hosted and organized by Kalakar Keralam and Kerala Lalithakala Akademi in Durbar Hall Art Gallery premises and displayed in the Gallery. Around 500 artists from all over the State participated and collected around 7 Lakh rupees by the end of the fourth day of the 5-day event.

 My two paintings - The Lily pads in the first one is referred from Pearfluer and the girl in the boat (really tiny) is referred from Pinterest. Jellyfish are also referred from a photo on Pinterest.

On the walls of Durbar Hall Art Gallery. 

Both the works sold and the money went to the Chief Minister's Flood Relief Fund

Paul, studying in Grade 4 - my young buyer, youngest so far! 

Loved the zest in his sparkling eyes to get it! So extravagantly satisfying!

Just splashing some acrylic inks - fluid colours on postcards...to see where the colours travel...

Can you spot the hint of gold there?

'White Flowers in Glass Bottle'

I think I saw this picture in one of my Facebook friend's wall. 

Wanted to try the glass badly,

was trying glass for the first time and this was before the flood. 

Something pleasant to end with.

How have you all been doing?

Negative Painting - An Introduction (In 5 Steps!)

As artists, we draw and paint many complex things using complex techniques but when we get back to some simple and basic stuff, it really makes one feel good...more so it's POSITIVELY FUN! It's again a validation of the fact that joy can be found in simplest of things.

What is negative painting?

Negative painting is painting around the subject than painting the subject itself. You are actually adding by subtracting. You move from lighter to darker as you go creating an illusion of depth and distance. It a process of layering...lighter layer to darker layer to the darkest.

Features

It’s actually fun as you don’t need to be an expert at painting to do a negative painting. You just pick up some forms, shapes and paint around it. Once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy.

• When you start, you could just sketch some shapes, forms and start painting around it.
• Watercolour seems to be the best medium for it because of its transparency and the glow that it would apparently provide.
• No details needed just blocking out the shapes.
• Let each layer dry before you apply the next layer.

How to do a negative painting?

Things needed:

Handmade paper (You can use any watercolour paper/textured paper etc)

Colours used - Lemon yellow, Gamboge hue, Ultramarine blue and Cobalt blue hue. (I have used Camlin Artists' watercolour cakes)

Brushes

1. Firstly I dampened the paper and glided my brush loaded with lemon yellow and then gamboge hue across the paper for the background. Lifted off some paint with tissue paper as I wanted a pale look. (At this point I was thinking what shape to draw. If I had made up my mind on fish beforehand I wouldn't have painted with these colours though. I was actually thinking of flowers while painting this background!)

Unexpectedly I decided on fish and thought of going along with it as the yellow was pale and so drew some fish forms here.

2. I painted the next layer with ultramarine blue but very lightly around the fish.

3. The next layer I used cobalt blue hue after adding a couple more fish.

4. Again I added a few more fish and painted the fourth layer using ultramarine blue. 

5. The fifth layer I mixed cobalt blue hue and a tinge of black after adding a some more fish.

And that's done!

I have used just 5 layers here (the steps are 6 because I added the fish . You could use less or many more layers depending on the size of your work.

These two are my first and second attempts which was done simultaneously. They have just 3 and 2 layers respectively and are done on regular postcards.

 with Gamboge hue, Orange and Scarlet

with Sap green and Emerald green

These 2 designs were inspired from pictures I saw while browsing.

Linda Kemp is a Canadian artist who has some fabulous negative paintings to her credit. She is an instructor in Artists Network and you can find some good videos of hers in YouTube. You can check out her works there. There are two other artists' whose art I really love and both of them have done some negative paintings too and they have taken it to a different altitude! It's Iraville and Pearfluer - checkout these videos...

Hope you enjoyed this post. Do leave me your feedback.

If you wish to check out my earlier postcard series you can click HERE.


Linking it to the Gorgeous PPF community!

Postcard Series - Finale!

Last of my postcard series with Derwent Inktense Blocks and I have completed all 14. Though I have shown only 12 as the view-denied two haven't reached my satisfaction. And let me tell you this is not a sponsored post of Derwent. I bought these Inktense blocks sometime back and finally put them to use. That's it. It was definitely fun putting it all together and once I decided that I would want to paint landscapes (mini,of course) the rest was easy.

The landscapes below are two of my favourite places - the first is my hometown, Palakkad, and the second is near to my second home, Fort Kochi, one of the most beautiful and artsy places in India. I have not been able to capture the unabridged beauty of the places though! Like always the picture is accompanied by my micro-poems.

Want to see my earlier postcard art? It's here - Part1, Part2 and Part3.

Swirling and giggling

Fields, once thronging

Less and less to be seen

Amid the concrete jungle

Building up like weeds

Depending on neighbours

For pesticide food

Neglecting our own granaries. 

Setting Sun

Reminds us

Of settling 'spaces'

Everyday, every time

To a new beginning.

Linking it to Paint Part Friday! Kudos to the Amazing Ladies in PPF! 

Postcards and Poems

More from my landscape postcard series and my micro-poems...Every card is painted with Derwent Inktense blocks. To read more and see my earlier postcard art and poems click here and here.

 Twilight

Gold and silhouette

Magic happens

In the horizon

Zenith weds nadir!

 The world stripped off

Emptied our souls

Leaving blank statements

To be filled by void.

Yet are bosom

Of stories - told and untold.

 The blues

The greens

The browns...

Solitude and solace...

Nature is

The best cure.

"No man is an island,"

They say.

But we all are

In the middle of nowhere

Weaving our own

Tales, interspersed

With spice and lace

Creating alter-realities

Feeding on our curiosities.

Linking it to the Amazing platform of Paint Party Friday. Thanks to Eva and Kristin for hosting it.

Postcard Series - Landscapes and poems

When we travel we often look for postcards not only as keepsakes but also to send it to our family and friends. When I saw the blank Winsor and Newton postcards I wanted to have them but hadn't thought of what I would want to paint on them. In fact it was in hibernation for quite a while! Finally one fine day in August I took them out and decided to make some miniature landscapes on them. But as I was engaged in some exhibition works at the time I just made two and now after Inktober I started to continue with this series. I have used only Derwent Inktense Blocks as this is purely experimental for me in terms of colours as well as the theme of landscapes (except two the rest are landscapes).

So here's more from my postcard series with my micro-poems...The first picture is from a photo I saw when browsing through landscape photos, don't know whose picture it is. The second one is from a photo of Ed Shots whom I follow in Instagram and yes, I have tagged him there. He has some Awesome shots some of which have the feel of being quite lyrical! The last picture is from a photo my daughter clicked while we were walking around in Fort Kochi. It's en route to Pepper House when you get down the ferry.

If you would like to see my earlier postcards, click here.

 It is a 'game' of love

Every heart is a tomb

In the name of love!

 Into 

The blue night

The scintillating

Flowers whispered

Saccharine secrets!

Reminiscing the salad days

Now bathing in the Sun

Longing for the lost waters!

Linking it to Eva and Kristin's Paint Party Friday.

From the Postcard Series and a Sneak-peek.

I prefer working on small sized paintings/drawings as they are quite manageable and easy to handle. Post cards are fun that way. I had these Winsor and Newton Cotman Watercolour postcards for quite sometime. Finally I put them to use. It was during August that I started this 6x4 in postcard series. I have used Derwent Inktense Blocks. It's similar to hard pastels in form, performs like ink and if needed can act like watercolurs too. I simply loved it. And I am using just that and nothing else for this series. Since you (who follow me regularly) know that I love to dab with poetry too, I have tried my hand at it. It's more like musings on the go which happens almost always particularly when enjoying solitude.

The first thing I did was prepare a colour swatch, wanted to see how it looked and it would make a perfect reference. One thing I noticed is unlike watercolours the new layers doesn't dissolve former layers.

Derwent Inktense Blocks 24

This is a lane is Fort Kochi near the ground on the way to David Hall art gallery.

 Shades of green

Looming ominous 
Of joyful tunes 
To spring.

The sky is pink with love
The Sun, a fireball
Whatever the distance 
Let the Divine merge it all.

It's been quite sometime that I have been thinking of making a zine too - a mini one. And who better to follow suit than Jordan Clark! If you wish to make one then have a look at this video tutorial of hers - How to make a zine.

I had even promised one of my sweet blogger friends, Julie Creswell, that I would be making one soon. She had made some fabulous one a couple of months back.

Here's a sneak peek into what I made:

(but let me tell you mine is no where near hers! mine is just simple illustration but it does have an interesting angle to it. )

Do let me know what you are up to and your interesting projects and of course your feedback!

Join the Paint Party (Fun) Friday hosted by Eva and Kristin!