Dutch Damsels #15
Palette Knife on board, 13 by 18 cms
© Nithya Swaminathan
Some more magenta tulips for now. Let me know what you think.
April 26, 2010
Facebook integration on the blog
If you have not noticed yet, I have add the Facebook "like" button on my blog posts. Facebook connect has also been integrated and FB users can directly leave comments on blog posts with their FB names, if they are logged into facebook. Since FB has introduced the like button as a ubiquitous social plugin of sorts, I thought it makes sense to have them on my blog too. This makes it easier for people to share content to their network. Just drop me a line if you'd like to have any help on how to get this done, I'd be glad to help.
Some more magenta tulips for now. Let me know what you think.
Some more magenta tulips for now. Let me know what you think.
April 24, 2010
April 23, 2010
April 22, 2010
Dutch Damsels #12
Dutch Damsels #12
Acrylics on board, 5 by 7 inches
© Nithya Swaminathan
This one is from a reference taken outside, in the gardens and not from the flower arrangements. This is how the outside ones were, when we visited pretty early on in the season. Most of them were buds, and there was an occasional flower in between. Even in the fields outside the gardens, while the daffodils were in glorious boom, the tulips were mostly buds. Not that it made the sight any less beautiful, though.
April 21, 2010
Dutch Damsels #11
Dutch Damsels #11
Palette Knife on board, 5 by 7 inches
© Nithya Swaminathan
In these tulips, I have used a lot of paint and they are very heavily textured. So much that the texture is quite visible in the photo itself. My husband was not very fond of this. He feels that texturing works fine for irises, but tulips would be better off rendered smoothly. I had a great time painting though, and intend to continue this way. I'd love to hear from you, what do you think of the textured tulips? Works? Doesn't? Any thoughts?
All comments are welcome!
April 20, 2010
Dutch Damsels #10
Dutch Damsels #10
Palette Knife on board, 5 by 7 cms
© Nithya Swaminathan
These tulips are from the entrance of the Keukenhof gardens. There were two huge pots right at the entrance, just next to the traditionally clothed women welcoming visitors to the gardens. I loved them so much! I love all these double colored tulips, ones with stripes et al. They are so different and beautiful.
Talking about the traditionally clothed ladies, the last time we were there, I had a picture of my daughter taken with one of them. I requested my lil one to pose for a snap this time too, but she refused. Signs of growing up you see! We did manage to take a lot of snaps though, so much that by the end of the day my daughter was running away at the mention of a camera!
April 19, 2010
April 18, 2010
Dutch Damsels #7
Dutch Damsels #7
Palette Knife on board, 13 by 18 cms
© Nithya Swaminathan
I read somewhere that Holland produces around 11 billion bulbs a year, no wonder the entire country looks like it's been carpeted by a rainbow. The best part about visiting the countryside is that you could just rent a bicycle and go around very close to the fields. We were fooling around near one of the fields taking a lot of photos. Just then, a farmer walked in to check on the field, and he was so glad to let us in when we requested. Not only that, he also pulled out a bunch of daffodils and gifted it to us :-)
Also, there are farmers selling huge bunches of bulbs at very affordable prices in around these fields. They were selling a bunch of 50 for just 5 Euros. Now compare that with paying the same amount for a dozen tulips here! Phew!
Dutch Damsels #6
Dutch Damsels #6
Palette Knife on board, 13 by 18 cms
© Nithya Swaminathan
A couple of bright ones from the fields. Let me know what you think!
April 17, 2010
April 16, 2010
Introducing Palette Knife Painters
I am very happy to let you know that I am now part of a brand new blog "Palette Knife Painters", exclusively for palette knife painting. This blog has been started by Georgia artist Judy Mackey. I will be posting my palette knife work there too. This blog has already got a nice collection of contemporary artists, do take a look.:) The widget for the blog can be seen in my sidebar, if you'd like to add it to your page.:)
April 15, 2010
Treading new territories
I have never attempted anything even remotely abstract before. I have always thought that I have a long way to go before I can do something with no reference whatsoever. It was only with the palette knife pieces that I could feel a departure from detailed realism for the first time, and that too was nowhere near non-representational. I do not know if all abstract artists actually start with an idea/concept and try to get it on canvas. I have also seen a lot of paintings that are just a play of colors with no real idea behind. With an abstract, it is anyway open to interpretation and everyone has a different way of looking at it. So I believe it doesn't really matter if the artist started with an idea or not. Well, I started with something vague.
I was getting too worked up with something (unrelated to Art), and I had to take it out somewhere. Around the same time, Spring was playing hide and seek here, with every two days of glorious weather, we had a week of chilling temperatures and so on. My frustration with a lot of things was the initial seed of thought. I wanted to bring in an image of a barren winter, dried branches and grey surroundings that finally lead to a sight of spring. The idea was to show a lot of branches, some of them as obstacles on the path, and some daffodils in the distance to depict spring. So I started doing some branches with structure paste, to give it some texture and then tried to build in some depth to the image. As I started putting in color though, I felt it was too bland. Of course, that's how the winter palette is meant to be, but it did not appeal to me much. And then I started making the branches a bit darker with more burnt sienna and burnt umber, and I liked the darker image a lot more. It no more looked like the muted palette of winter, but I liked it nevertheless. I ditched the idea that it had to "convey" something and was generally having fun. And then I started bringing in a lot of textured lines all over the place, not just lying on the ground.
Continuing after a break, I looked at it with a fresh perspective. This painting, in it's current state, is a reflection of an artist's mind, perhaps my own mind. The winding strokes all around shows the clutter that surrounds me. The little stones are minor hassles in life. In my case, this even includes household chores, that always come up out of the blue, when all you want is to sit and paint. The blues are what make this painting interesting to me, I'd like to hear if they work well for you too. The blues here depict the bigger obstacles, the ones of the mind. The biggest obstacle to an artist, which holds good 100% in my case, is the ubiquitous "Am I good enough?" question. Self doubt blues that come up just like that. And then finally the focal point of the image, or the light at the end of the tunnel. The light could be as simple as the creative spark, an idea for the next painting, that strikes you when you least expect it. I deliberately kept the light a little off center, as I felt it was getting too symmetric. To accentuate the textures a bit, I added some gold paint here and there. And totally loved doing the blues, and just pitched in with some purple too in between. The background too contains a lot of layers of color. Right now, I am titling this "Treasure Hunt", the treasure being the elusive masterpiece that every artists aspires for every time he/she picks up a new canvas.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this one, though I cannot say if I'll be doing more. If yet another itch comes up, perhaps. There is this element of suspense with an abstract. What I had in mind was totally different than what it actually turned out to be. And you never know precisely how the painting would turn out, till you have actually completed it. I love that. I also love how different people look at it differently and give a whole new perspective to the painting. My husband thought I was doing some waterfalls. In the very beginning, my little one said it looked like snow, and I was thrilled with that.:) She read my mind probably! :)
I'd love to hear from you, what do you think of this one? Does it work for you? Does it engage you enough creating interest? I am all ears for any feedback and comments. This one is entirely new territory and I am looking forward to more! :)
I was getting too worked up with something (unrelated to Art), and I had to take it out somewhere. Around the same time, Spring was playing hide and seek here, with every two days of glorious weather, we had a week of chilling temperatures and so on. My frustration with a lot of things was the initial seed of thought. I wanted to bring in an image of a barren winter, dried branches and grey surroundings that finally lead to a sight of spring. The idea was to show a lot of branches, some of them as obstacles on the path, and some daffodils in the distance to depict spring. So I started doing some branches with structure paste, to give it some texture and then tried to build in some depth to the image. As I started putting in color though, I felt it was too bland. Of course, that's how the winter palette is meant to be, but it did not appeal to me much. And then I started making the branches a bit darker with more burnt sienna and burnt umber, and I liked the darker image a lot more. It no more looked like the muted palette of winter, but I liked it nevertheless. I ditched the idea that it had to "convey" something and was generally having fun. And then I started bringing in a lot of textured lines all over the place, not just lying on the ground.
Treasure Hunt
Acrylics on Canvas, 16 x 20 inches
© Nithya Swaminathan
Continuing after a break, I looked at it with a fresh perspective. This painting, in it's current state, is a reflection of an artist's mind, perhaps my own mind. The winding strokes all around shows the clutter that surrounds me. The little stones are minor hassles in life. In my case, this even includes household chores, that always come up out of the blue, when all you want is to sit and paint. The blues are what make this painting interesting to me, I'd like to hear if they work well for you too. The blues here depict the bigger obstacles, the ones of the mind. The biggest obstacle to an artist, which holds good 100% in my case, is the ubiquitous "Am I good enough?" question. Self doubt blues that come up just like that. And then finally the focal point of the image, or the light at the end of the tunnel. The light could be as simple as the creative spark, an idea for the next painting, that strikes you when you least expect it. I deliberately kept the light a little off center, as I felt it was getting too symmetric. To accentuate the textures a bit, I added some gold paint here and there. And totally loved doing the blues, and just pitched in with some purple too in between. The background too contains a lot of layers of color. Right now, I am titling this "Treasure Hunt", the treasure being the elusive masterpiece that every artists aspires for every time he/she picks up a new canvas.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this one, though I cannot say if I'll be doing more. If yet another itch comes up, perhaps. There is this element of suspense with an abstract. What I had in mind was totally different than what it actually turned out to be. And you never know precisely how the painting would turn out, till you have actually completed it. I love that. I also love how different people look at it differently and give a whole new perspective to the painting. My husband thought I was doing some waterfalls. In the very beginning, my little one said it looked like snow, and I was thrilled with that.:) She read my mind probably! :)
I'd love to hear from you, what do you think of this one? Does it work for you? Does it engage you enough creating interest? I am all ears for any feedback and comments. This one is entirely new territory and I am looking forward to more! :)
April 14, 2010
Dutch damsels #3 - my tryst with pink
Pink is a very challenging color to mix, it is very very difficult to get a perfect pink sans any traces of yellow in it. Recently we were also having a brainstorming on WetCanvas about how to mix the perfect pink. I have been bogged down by this challenge quite a few times as well.
I did quite a few pink irises, and even waterlilies. But none of them made use of an off-the-shelf pink. They were mixed to the best of my abilities, though they always left me a little unsatisfied. During my trip to the art stationery store this time, I picked up W & N Permanent rose and Magenta. Since I am doing a lot of florals these days, I thought they were good colors to have, and I am already in love with the permanent rose. That explains my pink tulips. :) I have even started painting a huge canvas with more pink tulips, for our bedroom. God knows when I will get to complete it though.
Let me know if you like this pink :)
I did quite a few pink irises, and even waterlilies. But none of them made use of an off-the-shelf pink. They were mixed to the best of my abilities, though they always left me a little unsatisfied. During my trip to the art stationery store this time, I picked up W & N Permanent rose and Magenta. Since I am doing a lot of florals these days, I thought they were good colors to have, and I am already in love with the permanent rose. That explains my pink tulips. :) I have even started painting a huge canvas with more pink tulips, for our bedroom. God knows when I will get to complete it though.
Dutch Damsels #3
Palette Knife on panel, 5 x 7 inches
© Nithya Swaminathan
Let me know if you like this pink :)
April 13, 2010
Dutch damsels #2
Most of my tulip references this time are from the flower arrangements indoors, in the Keukenhof gardens. Last time when we were there, all the tulips were seen outside, under the sunshine. That was definitely more beautiful, to see the flowers amidst the greens. The advantage with the indoor arrangements though is good uniform lighting, and also we could click away at peace away from the chilling winds.
Let me know your feedback on this one.
Dutch Damsels #2
Palette Knife on panel, 5 x 7 inches
© Nithya Swaminathan
Let me know your feedback on this one.
April 12, 2010
Dutch damsels - an ocean of tulips
I am back from yet another visit to the gorgeous Keukenhof gardens and the blooming countryside of Holland. Which is what has triggered this new series, "Dutch damsels", where I plan to go bonkers with tulips. Of every possible color. I have been to the gardens two years back, but that time it was nearly the end of the season and the fields were all empty. The gardens by themselves were great, with tulips in every color including black. Yeah right, black tulips. Quite a sight to behold. But the fields I think were harvested and we were quite disappointed at that. Having seen the long stretches of tulip fields in movies, we were so eager to visit them.
So this year, we made sure we visited Holland a little early in the season so that we don't miss the fields. This time however, the season itself has been rather tardy thanks to a long never ending winter. We planned our visit during Easter, but got to know that there wasn't a bloom in sight then. And then after rescheduling a couple of times, we made it during the second week of April. Though we were technically in the middle of the season (which lasts from mid March to mid May), there were only more buds than flowers. The tulips had not really come up, but the countryside was flooded with daffodils and bluebells. We saw acres and acres of yellow, so bright and cheerful. We had a great time wandering around the fields, posing for a hundred photos till we dropped dead. Great fun!
I had planned to paint plein air, but then it was too windy and cold. This time I had even managed to carry my easel along, but had to ditch the plan due to the weather. Plus, we did not have too much time and I wanted to enjoy being there. So no plein air this time. Several paintings to come though, in the next few days/weeks. It's going to rain tulips in my studio, stay tuned.
I am going in with the knife for these tulips too, keeping it loose and almost abstract, though I have mixed feelings about it. I like it once, hate it another minute. And it goes on. If I am not too happy, I will switch to my brush. Let me know what you think!
So this year, we made sure we visited Holland a little early in the season so that we don't miss the fields. This time however, the season itself has been rather tardy thanks to a long never ending winter. We planned our visit during Easter, but got to know that there wasn't a bloom in sight then. And then after rescheduling a couple of times, we made it during the second week of April. Though we were technically in the middle of the season (which lasts from mid March to mid May), there were only more buds than flowers. The tulips had not really come up, but the countryside was flooded with daffodils and bluebells. We saw acres and acres of yellow, so bright and cheerful. We had a great time wandering around the fields, posing for a hundred photos till we dropped dead. Great fun!
Dutch Damsels #1
Palette Knife on panel, 5 x 7 inches
© Nithya Swaminathan
I had planned to paint plein air, but then it was too windy and cold. This time I had even managed to carry my easel along, but had to ditch the plan due to the weather. Plus, we did not have too much time and I wanted to enjoy being there. So no plein air this time. Several paintings to come though, in the next few days/weeks. It's going to rain tulips in my studio, stay tuned.
I am going in with the knife for these tulips too, keeping it loose and almost abstract, though I have mixed feelings about it. I like it once, hate it another minute. And it goes on. If I am not too happy, I will switch to my brush. Let me know what you think!
April 7, 2010
My plein air adventure
Finally after months and months of planning to do some plein air painting, I got myself to actually do it over the Easter weekend. It was something I planned to do in 2009 itself, but my daughter was younger and engaging her while I paint was a huge challenge even at home. So I had to keep my plans on hold for a while. This time though it was perfect. We were holidaying at the Bavarian Alps, easily the most beautiful part of Germany (in the little that I have seen :P) The landscape was simply spectacular! Since the Spring has set in, the temperatures were quite warm and soothing, and there was a fair amount of snow as well. We stayed at this little town called Schönau am Königsee, right at the foothills of the Alps.
I could not accommodate my easel in the car and so I just took the risk of going without one. I decided that if I am unable to paint without the easel, then I'd just do some sketching and then paint later. But then, our balcony was more than enough for me to paint. Just outside our balcony were the hills with a ski slope as well. And it made a lovely view to paint from. It was evening when I started painting, the golden hour infact with lovely shadows and beautiful soft lighting. Unfortunately though, it became cold and I was not able to complete the painting to my satisfaction. I was not on a painting holiday anyway, and managed to squeeze in couple of pieces amidst all the sight seeing, relaxing and entertaining my little one. So with both pieces, there are a lot of tweaks pending and I will post them after I am done. They are not entirely plein air since I am completing them here in my studio, but I am glad I made the much needed start nevertheless!
Here is a pic of me painting, captured by the husband. Soon to follow are the actual paintings :-)
[caption id="attachment_470" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Plein air painting at the Alps"]
[/caption]
The snow caps of the mountains are not fully covered in this pic, so you have to wait till I post the painting to really appreciate the awesome view that we had :-) I have to say that working plein air was tough, much tougher than I imagined. I obviously need a lot more time to get used to it and I hope to work on it over the summer. I will post my thoughts in more detail soon.
The coming weekend we are traveling to see the tulip fields in Amsterdam and it will be my second visit to the lovely Keukenhof gardens. I hope to do some plein air there as well, and hope to carry my easel this time. With my current spree of florals, a visit to Keukenhof couldn't come at a better time at all. Will update you guys on how it goes.
I could not accommodate my easel in the car and so I just took the risk of going without one. I decided that if I am unable to paint without the easel, then I'd just do some sketching and then paint later. But then, our balcony was more than enough for me to paint. Just outside our balcony were the hills with a ski slope as well. And it made a lovely view to paint from. It was evening when I started painting, the golden hour infact with lovely shadows and beautiful soft lighting. Unfortunately though, it became cold and I was not able to complete the painting to my satisfaction. I was not on a painting holiday anyway, and managed to squeeze in couple of pieces amidst all the sight seeing, relaxing and entertaining my little one. So with both pieces, there are a lot of tweaks pending and I will post them after I am done. They are not entirely plein air since I am completing them here in my studio, but I am glad I made the much needed start nevertheless!
Here is a pic of me painting, captured by the husband. Soon to follow are the actual paintings :-)
[caption id="attachment_470" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Plein air painting at the Alps"]
[/caption]The snow caps of the mountains are not fully covered in this pic, so you have to wait till I post the painting to really appreciate the awesome view that we had :-) I have to say that working plein air was tough, much tougher than I imagined. I obviously need a lot more time to get used to it and I hope to work on it over the summer. I will post my thoughts in more detail soon.
The coming weekend we are traveling to see the tulip fields in Amsterdam and it will be my second visit to the lovely Keukenhof gardens. I hope to do some plein air there as well, and hope to carry my easel this time. With my current spree of florals, a visit to Keukenhof couldn't come at a better time at all. Will update you guys on how it goes.
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