Expressionism

Ever since I visited AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) with Na, I have been fascinated by Kandinsky and his style. Especially since Na pointed out that my paintings look like they are influenced by his philosophy of abstract art, use of bold colours and expressionism. And what a coincidence that the weekly email from my palette knife painting subscription had an interesting lesson on "Expressionist Landscape" painting. I just had to try it out and was really delighted with the outcome! I can't say there is a hidden interpretation or a personal expression hidden in this painting, since I was mostly following an online lesson; but the idea of intentionally losing the definitiveness of existing things and at the same time maintaining their non-abstract nature, with an imbibed expression is just so cool! I definitely want to try one again soon and this time with a meaning to it.

Jimi Hendrix

This is my first attempt at portrait painting, portrait not so much since I've made it colourful! My friend Satish has been asking me to paint Jimi Hendrix for him since the past year now... this is probably not the version he expects but I think to get to a full form Jimi with a guitar et al, I had to start somewhere. I looked up Jimi Hendrix on the web and found many artistic versions. Really good ones! I bookmarked a few I liked and this one is sort of a mixture of those. I am kinda happy with it, feels like a good blend of art and music :)! I am hoping to paint another one, mostly with acrylics. But this one has definitely made me feel a little more confident about painting portraits. 

Life is beautiful!

Haven't been painting lately and wanted to get back to it with something small but free flowing. My friend Na gifted me a traditional Chinese paint brush long time ago and when I found the brush, I was surprised I hadn't used it even once. It is a special brush which can be used for thick strokes as well as thin. I finally used the brush, I have never been very good at painting flowers, so kept it simple. Na saw it and thought even the painting looked like traditional Chinese art, and I took it as a compliment :)!

Ships

Starting with the new year with some vibrant combination of colours! And some experimentation...

I was looking for some inspiration on the web for palette knife paintings since I never got to it again after my first attempt. I started off this one with acrylics and for the sky patchwork moved on to the palette knife. The smudgy effect hasn't quite come out the way I wanted it to, but I was glad that my experiment didn't turn out a disaster! 

Heres wishing everyone a colourful and adventurous new year :).

Farewell

Another colourful acrylic yet again!! This time for a friend who is going back to India. I had a different theme in mind, fit for a farewell gift, but I have been wanting to try my hand at some patch work for a while now. I thought I would try it with cotton but realized I didn't have cotton in the house. So ended up doing it with brushes. I guess this time around the blending of colours is very close to how I wanted it to be. The messiness surely is fading away! The trick with acrylic colours indeed is practice. Hope you liked it HK, will make a bigger one for you next time :).

Togetherness

And this one is a water colour one finally! My friend Na got married yesterday and she's a great artist herself. What better gift for her big day than a painting..

I planned to make a bigger one but ended up doing it hastily just the night before. Its technically flawed and a little shabby, but I guess bright colours make anything look pleasant :). Took out my water colour brushes after really long and I definitely need some brushing up! I think my next few would be water based and hopefully I get better. 

New beginning!

Another acrylic experiment, just plain strokes, some patches and a bed of flowers! Finishing PhD and moving out of London was like end of an era. I wanted to paint something as a representation of a new beginning for me, with my move to a new place and a new job, since I don't have my next theme yet. Turned out to be a hurried one, but had to post it nevertheless! Hopefully the next one will be a water colour painting.