September 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 29

On the Tuscan trail again..

Knock Knock
Oil on board, 7 by 5 inches
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September 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 21

I painted this one real quick, much fast than I usually do and much more deliberate too. I could feel myself very comfortable with it, which is always a great sign! I stopped at a point when I felt one more stroke would ruin it. And for a change, I am quite happy with the result. :)

Somewhere in Tuscany
Oil on board, 7 by 5 inches
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September 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 20

I painted this Tuscan balcony sometime ago, but I wasn't quite happy with it. I could not point out my finger at what it was, but the overall feel of the painting did not come across. So I painted it again in a closer crop. I like it much more this time around, and I might paint it all over again! :)

Hydrangea love in Tuscany
Oil on board, 7 by 5 inches
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September 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 19

Today, I was not really in the mood to set up a still life. The weather has been so gloomy and I was longing for some sunlight. Since that was not to be, I decided to paint sunny Tuscany instead :-)

Just another corner in Tuscany
Oil on board, 5 by 7 inches
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September 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 11

This is a reference from my vacation in Florence, Italy earlier this year. I had done a sketch of it on location and had clicked pictures to paint it. It was around mid day and the light was sharp and beautiful. And I fell in love with these awnings. 

Pizza in Florence
Oil on board, 7 by 9.5 inches
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September 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 8

Rustic Italy
Oil on Canvas, 7 by 5 inches
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September 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 7

This week has seen such drastic drop in temperatures that we seemed to have skipped autumn altogether. With over 15 degrees drop in a week, the tropical girl in me needs something to cheer myself up. Hence sunny gorgeous Tuscany on my mind today :-)

Lunchtime
Oil on board, 7 by 9.5 inches
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30 Things about me #10

From my window
Oil on board, 5 by 7 inches
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30 things about me #10 - I have a day job that has nothing to do with art.

I have a full time job that I love. Well most of the time atleast :P What exactly I do is beyond the scope of this blog, write to me if you'd like to know more. I have for long toyed with the idea of quitting my job and plunging into art full time and all that jazz. However, I have reached a stage now where I am at peace with having two careers and I think it will continue to remain so for a while. I have come to appreciate the flexibility it offers even though I have way less time to actually create. 

So there, you now know why I lag behind in these 30in30 challenges. I do as much as my work allows me to. The painting featured here is the early morning view from my window at work. 

Doc's Window - Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches

I love the windows in this country, and the way people set up flowers hanging from the windows. They are so pretty and makes a walk in the neighbourhood so worthwhile. These bright red flowers were at the window sill at my doc. I was there waiting a couple of weeks ago, when I thought these flowers looked incredible bathed in the morning light. They just had to be painted. I clicked the window from both sides, so hopefully tomorrow I shall post the view from the "other side" :-)

Doc's Window
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
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I painted this one very differently from how I usually do. I generally tend to establish my mid tones first and then go in for the lights and the darks. Today, I laid down all the darks using Burnt Umber and some Grey/Blues. The whole painting took shape almost monochromatic. I then finished it with the flowers. The little spots of Cad Red light were done at the very end. I decided to leave the background as it is, without adding any further detail. It looked finished to me and I did not want to mess it up further. 

May Showers - Original Cityscape in Oils

We were out to Frankfurt on one of our usual weekend trips sometime last month. It looked all bright and sunny when we left, and so we drove off as usual without checking the weather. I live less than half an hour away from Frankfurt, but this was the scene by the time we entered the city. That's how predictable the weather is in my part of the world. While I got really irritated that I could not walk around taking any "summery" pictures, the rains offered a completely new opportunity.:-) 

While we stopped at a signal, I clicked this scene in front of me. It was not the best of references, very blurry and pretty dark. I worked around it a bit and decided to give it a shot. This is the first time that I have painted rain. I have never felt confident enough to attempt rain, but just did not want to miss painting this reference. We did manage to walk around a bit too and I have a few images of people with colourful umbrellas. I hope to paint them soon enough. 

May Showers
Oil on Canvas, 8 by 12 inches
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Painting rain has always given me the jitters because of all the desaturated colour and the variety in greys. This is easily the most desaturated painting that I have ever done. Not a drop of pure colour anywhere. While very challenging since I have a penchant for bright colour, this was also a lot of fun. When I signed it, it did give me a high! :-) Hope you like it too.

Behind the beetle - Original Cityscape in Oils

I don't care much for cars, other than to get me from point A to point B. I am not too fond of driving either and don't get behind the wheels unless absolutely necessary. But then, I love the VW Beetle and find it extremely adorable. Such a delightfully cute little car! I have never been on one but drool every time I spot it. 

So a couple of weeks ago, on a very hot afternoon, I was on my way to school to pick up my daughter. When I stopped at the signal, right in front of me was this shiny red Beetle. I grabbed my iPhone and clicked a picture as quickly as I could. Thank god for smartphones! In all my excitement I did not even check if the picture was good enough for anything, for I had to get back into driving mode within a few seconds. All I had was the time in between the signal change. 

Behind the Beetle
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
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When I saw the image, it was a real bummer. It was so blurred and out of focus, almost prompting me to ditch the idea. But I could not give up on it so easily. Who knows when next I get lucky enough to spot a bright coloured Beetle on a gorgeous sunny day with shadows and everything else. So I decided to give it a shot, the horrible quality of the reference notwithstanding. The scene is one that I am very familiar with, just down my road. So I started adding details initially based on my familiarity. But then, I changed my mind and I also decided to work it just like in the reference, adding as much detail as possible only to the car and leaving out everything else without much detail. After all, the car is what excited me to paint this scene.

I think I will paint this again on a larger canvas. I have a 16 by 16 sitting in the studio since forever and I might have found the subject for it. 

Road to Nowhere - SOLD

This week has been very tough for us as my younger one wasn't well for most of the week. Since she was sick, she could not go to the day care and that meant there was no way I could paint during her waking hours. I did get about an hour of painting in everyday, in the early mornings, but far from completing anything. Anyway, she is fine and back to her hyperactive self now, and I got my studio time today :-)

Road to Nowhere
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
SOLD

November Greys - Original Cityscape painting in oils

This reference was taken somewhere in my neighbourhood towards the end of the fall season. There were some hints of the fall leaves here and there, though the trees were predominantly bare. I had a real tough time sketching this one out. With my initial sketch, I drew out the big house *really* big. It occupied nearly half of the canvas. So big that it threw everything else off balance. I had to redo the sketch quite a few times till I was satisfied. 

November greys
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
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I might paint this one again on a larger size, probably a 10 by 10. 

From my window - Original Cityscape in Oils

I was working yesterday and was stuck at some issue. It was a rather dull day with grey skies and me working all alone at home, as boring as things can get. I hate the endless grey days with gloomy skies. And when it drizzles, it only makes things worse. So while I was engrossed in thought blankly staring at the window wishing for some sunshine, something lovely happened. For a good couple of minutes, the sun played peekaboo and shone bright and beautiful. All for a fleeting moment though, it was quick to go back into hiding and was never to be seen the whole day. 

It was really an a-ha moment for me! Something that I stare at everyday and thought was decidedly boring, suddenly begged to be painted.:-) So this is just outside my window, the view that I look at while working. These houses and roofs are quintessentially German and this could very well be a view from anywhere in this country I guess.:)

From my window
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
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This is my painting #8 in the 30 in 30 days challenge. I am painting only at the rate of one every two days, but I am cool with that. I might complete a couple more over the weekend, I will try. 

Buddies - Original Figurative Oil Painting - SOLD

Just as I had mentioned last week, my vacation ended and painting was the first one to take a hit. It is tough to do an entire painting in a day if I have not done any ground work already. And since work began after a two week break, it was hard to devote time for art. I hope that isn't the case the coming week, as I have some sketches done. Let's see. 

Buddies
Oil on Canvas, 12 by 6 inches
SOLD

It was a glorious summer afternoon when I took this reference. I loved the lighting and just had to paint it. This is also the first time I think a dog features in my work. I am not very fond of animals in the first place let alone painting them. Really liked this little one though, loved how he was leading the pack :-)

After a really long time, I have painted this one without reaching out to my set of knives. It is done entirely with my brushes and not a stroke anywhere with the knife. It did feel very different, but great fun. And I am going to do this a lot more. 

Checking directions - 30 in 30 days, #2

This is my second painting in the 30 in 30 challenge. I was over ambitious and started a larger one yesterday, but could complete it only today. I will try to make up for it in the coming days. I happened to spot these two women very intently peering into a mobile phone. It looked like they were probably searching for an address, reconfirming directions or some such. I am still fighting my rustiness and trying to get back into the groove. Feels good as of now and certainly feels great to be actually painting something. 

Checking directions

Oil on Canvas, 6 by 12 inches

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Eiscafe - Textured Cityscape in Oils, 10 by 10 inches

Eiscafe
Oil on Canvas, 10 by 10 inches
$200, Buy on Etsy

Different Strokes - Red Signal

Here is my entry for the ongoing challenge at Karin's Different Strokes blog. I have never painted a Cityscape before, though I have planned to paint a hundred! I have scores of references, my own references of very nice cityscapes, but I am very very apprehensive to get to them. A crowded scene kind of intimidates me. I get bogged down by thinking where to start and how to go about it. And that is exactly the point Karin makes in her pep talk, to break down a crowded scene and simplify it.

Red Signal
Acrylics on Canvas, 7 * 11 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan

I loved this scene and wanted to do it in full. It is a scene so full of life, and I loved the long format of the image. I also had a 7 * 11 canvas lying around for sometime, so I thought I'd use that one up and do this image in a vertical format. When I got to it however, I changed my mind. I did use the same canvas, but tackled the image in a horizontal format, focussing on my most favorite parts of the reference, viz. the taxis. Such a burst of color, aren't they? As I started the background, the numerous buildings again gave me jitters. Then I squinted and squinted so many times, and all I could see was vertical lines of varying value. Looked much simpler than I thought! I am not sure if I have achieved a good feel of distance, but definitely much better than I expected myself to do.:)

Since I was too busy with my daughter's portrait, I almost missed the deadline for this one. Thankfully I remembered it just on time and got to it. I started working on this only this morning, and due to the lack of time, I was forced to keep it really simple and loose. So instead of nitpicking over too many details, I tried to bring in a feel of the scene and painted as quick as I could to finish it on time. :)

Have a look at all the entries here, they make an awesome collection.