Painting in some different media ...

Little Krishna - one of Sid's favorite cartoon characters 

Terracotta Ganeshji - painted over with metallic acrylic colors

More flower paintings

I painted some flower pictures earlier, and thought of doing more and improving myself in the effort. I started sketching these Morning Glory flowers with this intention. However, pink color in the students' watercolor set I have been using is quite bad, and I was looking for better quality paints. Inability to find good paints, and a lot of other things including Diwali preparations, caused it to remain incomplete for a couple of months. After completing the Krishna picture, I came back to it. The results were not up to my expectations, partly because of the color quality, and partly due to my lack of expertise.

Morning Glory in sand

(painted from a pic I took on one of my vacations)

Blue Cape Leadwort

(also from a pic taken on the same trip)

Krishna and Peacock

Quite a while ago, I cut off an ad, comprising of a graphic design (painting), since I liked it very much and wanted to paint it. It had been lying around in a folder, waiting to be painted, for a few years, until last month. I adapted it somewhat according to my paper size, and my object(s) of interest. 

This is the second Krishna painting I've done, and again with poster paints on paper. (N has been suggesting that I start doing bigger projects, preferably with oil or water, but I don't feel quite ready for that, even though I shouldn't be scared). Frankly speaking, what really attracted me to this design was the peacock - I really have a fascination for peacock patterns!

Watercolor attempts

As I mentioned earlier, the "Every Day Matters" FB group motivated me to restart drawing and painting. I also mentioned that after three months, the activity faded out. However, I was motivated enough for a while, and read up and studied watercolor painting on many sites. And tried to do some on my own. Its another matter that I couldn't keep it up for long :-(

This is what I did in this while:

 

Frangipani flower - from a picture I took on one of my vacations.

Butterfly Pea - from another picture from the same trip.

Only after I finished painting I realized that this was a little bit skewed.

Butterfly Pea - second attempt

It was very interesting to paint though, so made another attempt.

And with a better result, or so I think :-)

Dancing Dervish - Pencil sketch

I had been wanting to do a dancing dervish for a long time.Selected a very simple line drawing. But even then, first drew a pencil sketch, in case the watercolor didn't turn up well.

Dancing Dervish - monochrome in watercolors.

Random floral pattern.

Was trying to develop a different style for drawing flowers.

Diwali

This time the Diwali holiday(s) could be clubbed together with the weekend, so I managed to find some of the things I like to do at this time of the year - paint some Diya's, make a Rangoli, and put Mehndi.

When I bought paints, Sid had gone with me, and asked me what they were for. So I told him - perhaps not a very wise decision :-) Every days since then till the weekend, in the night he would remember, and ask me, "Let's paint the diyas!!". And cried after being told off, since he had to sleep on time, to be able to get up for school next day. Finally, on Friday, we sat together to paint. I took more time, of course, since I was painting detailed designs, and carefully. So, in the time I painted 3, he was done with 6. And so he kept telling me, "mumma, you should do your work faster, like I have done!"

 Equipment and finished goods

My work

Sid's work

The day before Diwali, he went to market with N, when I decided to make the Rangoli. I had already selected a peacock design I found from net, and adapted it to the space available. I took a long time, and was still at it when he came back. So, of course, he wanted to "help" me with it too. It took a lot of convincing to get him to make one of his own. So I asked him what he wanted to make, and of course, he wanted the same thing as I had done. Finally, we settled on a fish drawing.

Rangoli

Filler patterns

Sid's rangoli (finished with help from N)

EdiJ(uly) - III

The last of the drawings I made in July. In July, the interest of the group members waned, in fact very few people participated in the July challenge. And sadly, the momentum couldn't carry the group into August. So, with the lack of target, and many more other things to do (including quite a bit of travel), I didn't paint much on my own either :-(

 

EDiJ#19: Draw something that has a shell, or draw a sea-shell.
I first painted these three shells, and I think it was quite okay. Then I tried to add an element of "interest" - the blue background, and ended up making it worse than before.

 

EDiJ #19 (2)
Shells were quite interesting to paint, so tried once again, with less emphasis on background ....

 

 
EdiJ #17: Draw a fan.
A bamboo hand-fan .... my mom had one with a similar design, when I was young.

 

EDiJ #20: Draw an umbrella.
Saw a little girl carrying an umbrella, and found it so sweet. Tried to capture the image ...

  

EDiJ #21: Draw a tote bag
Loved this bag I saw in a shop one day. Would have bought it had I been ten years younger ;-)

EdiJ #23: Draw something creepy
A brown widow spider, drawn from an image on the net. Added the web for the effect :-)

 

EdiJ #24: Draw a houseplant

EDiJ(uly) - II

EDiJ #12: Draw something you can turn off or on.

EDiJ #13: Draw something made of wood
My rolling pin - that I use to make chapatis everyday.

 

EDiJ#15: Draw something that needs fixing ....

 

EDiJ #14: Draw a towel
This is a sort of representative drawing of a towel I "made" years ago - as in, embroidered this cross-stich pattern of a vine, and sewed it onto a hand-towel, with a striped piping. The original towels though were much lighter in color, and the design more intricate :-)

 

EdiJ #16: Draw a flag
Indian National Flag

 

EDiJ#16 (2) : An experiment in representation ....

EdiJ - Continuing into July

The EDiJ group was renamed to incorporate July. Buoyed by the progress in June, I was all set for July. However, in the first half of July, I could not do much, as we decided to organize a birthday party for Sid, which was at a fairly large scale, and therefore required more than a bit of organization and effort. I did manage to catch up somewhat in the second half, and am glad to achieve more than 50% success rate :-)

01 - Draw a bottle, jar or tin from the kitchen

One of the few "interesting" bottles in mine :-)

04 - Draw some keys

My house keys.

 

05 - Draw a challenge from the past year (1-46),that you didn’t try before

 I was inspired by the drawings of spoons in the group in May, and wanted to try it. Still a long way to go to be able to draw metal :-)

 

 

09 - Draw how you get your news - at a newsstand, vending box or on your porch
 Frankly speaking, these days, the first source of information about anything noteworthy is Facebook!

 

 

10 - Draw something round
 

 

 

11 - Draw a skyscape

I find the fresh green against clear blue sky, so peaceful and refreshing ....

EDiJ - the rest of the month

I think I made good progress on EDiJ challenge after the previous post. I didn't miss too many, and graduated to colors too :-)

EDiJ #20 Draw a screw.

 

EDiJ #21 Palm of my left hand.
I think the proportions are a bit off .... neverthteless here is my left hand :-)

 

 

EDiJ # 22 - Draw some gloves.
A cousin got these cute red-and-yellow gloves for my son a couple of years back. Apart from the obvious fact that they kept his tiny hands warm, what I loved about them was the stick-on cartoon with "revolving eyes". Her daughter had a similar pink-n-violet pair. Last year we moved to a place where he doesn't need those gloves, so I have tucked them away somewhere and had to draw them from memory.

 

EDiJ #23 - Draw something bubbly
Tried painting some bubbles in watercolors.

  

EDiJ #26 - Draw a shirt
A bit delayed in drawing, and more so in posting ...
Currently my favorite shirt - cool & comfortable.

 

EDiJ #27 - Something orange.
An orange traffic cone (from my son's Lego blocks set).

 

EdiJ #28 - Draw a snack
These are called "Fry-em's" ... crispies made of rice flour and/or refined flour. Supposed to be fried, but I usually microwave :-)

 

EDiJ #30 - Draw something you can keep in pocket.
I usually do not have a pocket in my dress, but sometimes I keep my wallet in my trouser pocket. My reliable companion for many years ... I love it for its comfortable size and utility, despite a broken zipper.