Coloured Bits Of Life: 2012

Botticelli's Three Graces - WIP

This is one of my ambitious works! That is for sure...Right now I am in a phase where I want to know what painting technique works best for me. So I started to experiment with different painting methods that I am interested in.
I wanted to do a part of Botticelli's "La Primavera" and I choose The Three Graces.

In this post I shall be telling you about my composition and the painting method I followed.
The background of my painting is a collage of two of Raphael's paintings, with the Three Graces.

The background and colours are inspired from the above two paintings.

The method I followed is one interpretation of the Old Master Painting methods and can be found in http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=11073.0

I have to tell you before hand that I have not followed the steps mentioned in the above link sequentially. I mixed yellow ochre and a tiny bit of black acrylic paints and used that colour to cover the white of the canvas(don't know why I did that!.). But since I had covered my canvas with dark yellow ochre-ish colour, I thought I'll just continue with the steps mentioned in the link.Then I drew the figures and used burnt umber to place the shadow areas. After this I did the scumbling with titanium white. While doing this I also painted the background almost to completion.

Will continue talking more about this in my next post...

Starter kit - Lino Printing

Recently I started with Lino printing or Lino cuts and thought I'd share what I have learnt so far and all the materials needed for Lino printing. Firstly, let me just say I got most of my materials from eBay- its relatively cheap and I get it at my door-step! Other than that I got a few Lino pieces from Atlantis art materials (a huge art supply store).

Now for the things needed to start with Lino printing:

1.) Lino sheets - there are different types of lino sheets available. I have two types so far, the dark greyish blue one got from eBay and the lighter grey one i got from Atlantis art store. Of the two the dark lino is softer and i have used that so far and like it! Soon will have a design for the light grey one (which is harder but i think it should be ok) and will post how it it is. Also they are available in different sizes for you to choose from.

2.) Lino Cutters - there are different kinds of blade and then the blade handle. I got a set of 5 blades and 1 handle again from eBay! Well they are quite enough but i got irritated changing the blades often while carving a design so got an extra handle and loads of different blades from Atlantis. They are pretty cheap and i feel its nice to have spares....i got three No 1 blades as i use these to make fine lines...

3.) Ink or block printing paints - i got black, blue and crimson Daler Rowney block printing colour, which are water based colour and easy to wash off!
Then there is the oil based colour, i got a tin to see how it works. Well these are water miscible so they can be washed with warm water and dish wash liquid but its messy and difficult and like me if you are printing at your home be careful when washing!

Both give really nice results but with the oil based colour i feel the print is a tiny bit better so worth all the mess..

4.) Rollers - i got these from eBay as well. You would need 2 rollers one to roll the paint and other to roll over the paper so the paint transfers evenly while printing from the lino cut. The one rolled on paper is called hand burnisher and you get it as a set with the roller and blades and handle. But i just use a larger roller.

5.) Glass plate or tiles - to put the paint and roll them.

6.) Paper - i use all kinds of paper! from hand made paper to cartridge paper...its fun to experiment.

Hmmmm.........I think i have covered everything here...happy printing :)

Mirror Mango - 2

Acrylic on canvas

Here is the link to my first painting in this series:

http://colouredbitsoflife.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/mirror-mango.html

Mystified feelings - 2

Well I think my painting is self explanatory.

Lino printing

I have decided to teach my self Lino printing and I am pretty happy with my Lino cuts. These photos are just the trail prints I do to know how my Lino print will look and if I have to change anything.

Mystified Feelings

I had a long strip of canvas and thought i can do small paintings with a common theme. Then i thought it would be nice to paint my feelings, and THAT would be the common theme and i can fill the length of the canvas with small 6x6 inch paintings.
This is my first painting depicting my feelings on the day i painted it (which has been a few weeks back!) and i like the idea of filling up the canvas this way :)

Mystified Feelings

6x6 inch

oil on canvas

Misty Mauve

I love this painting - just dont know why!...I feel everything about this painting is just right - the colours, the texture and the tone.
But.......... now that i see it on the blog, i feel the mountains in the distance should be a bit more hazy and blur.

Misty Mauve

Oil on primed card board

Daily Painting #2

Plums Still Life

oil on paper

6 x 6 inches

Daily painting # 1

candle holder

7 x 5 inches

Mirror Mango

Lately I have been obssesed with Indian Folk art and this painting is inspired by the traditional mango motif and folk design. The mango motif is called PAISLEY PATTERN and seems to be quite famous.

My painting is a diptych, one is the reversed image of the other hence the name "Mirror Mango". I would love to see the diptych hanging in an ornate, hand carved frame (without the protective glass and the supports) when its finished.

Colours that never fade....

This is my newest (is there a word like that?!???)....painting inspired from the peacock feather and its colours - bright, bold, beautiful. The whole painting is heavily textured and the colours blend into one another to give a feeling of oneness.

Print Mania

Recently I attended a class in print-making and these are some of prints i did there.Well it was mostly related to the 2012 Olympics but these are off topic ones that i managed to do.I feel printing can be addictive - its easy,fast and kick starts your creativity. And all that you need are a couple of rollers, glass plates(can even be a big tile) and a few colours of water based inks.

Old Master Painting Method

Hi.......

This post I thought I’ll tell you guys how I paint and since I started the volunteer work at The Wallace Collection I am more determined to learn about eighteenth and nineteenth-century French paintings and their technique. For now I mostly like the Dutch and Flemish method of painting, which is also known as 7 layer method. As the name says it all it’s done with multitude of paint layers (not just 7!!) of transparent oil paints. I learnt this method by reading about Rembrandt, Rubens and other artists of the 17 -18th century. Also I bought DVD lessons from Johnnie Liliedahl (who has some excellent old master reproductions DVD lessons) and Alexei Antonov's video Workshop “Claret Grapes". These video lessons did help me in improving my technique and brush-work and the most importantly in understanding the colour mixing for old master paintings.

Umber final layer

Dead layer 1

Dead layer - final

Final colour layer

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Mono prints

I have always liked etching and line drawings done by Rembrandt and others.....so this "mono-printing" is the closest that I have tried doing, inspired by the etchings. Well as the name pretty much says it all Mono printing is done with a single colour. When i got a chance at my class to try it I started off with some real messy and dark prints but once I got the excess ink off, the successive images where much better and did achieve some amazing prints.