Lane of Pink Blossoms

I have a liking to do rows of trees, rather than a single tree. Part of it is because I can skip all the detailing when there are more trees. I still don't think my foliage is any good, but it works well in some cases. I feel totally rusty and lost when I do some close ups of leaves, flowers etc. I have a long long way to go as far as botanical art is concerned!

Lane of Pink Blossoms
Acrylics on Canvas, 4 * 6 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan

Jacaranda lane

I loved this reference, and was reasonably pleased with how it turned out as well. This was sent to Elizabeth, who took our virtual class on painting trees. I liked this one best amongst those that I painted, and since Elizabeth was largely responsible for that, I sent it to her. She loved it and had such nice words to say, which really made my day.

Jacaranda Lane
Acrylics on Canvas, 4 * 6 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan

It is funny and often frustrating how colors get distorted under a camera or a scanner. The colors in this one for instance, though there is a significant amount of blues, it is not as blue as it appears in the image. It looks much better in real life, and it is unfortunate the photo is the way it is! Sigh!

Continuing with the flowering trees

My tree paintings have all reached their new homes, except for two of them. This one has not yet reached, and I hope my friend doesn't peep in here :-) I got some really good feedback for the trees, and I am so so glad!Pink tree
Acrylics on Canvas, 4 * 6 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan

Twin Pinks

Twin Pinks
Acrylics on Canvas, 4 * 6 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan

I was involved in a lot of ATC exchanges over the last two years, which took up a big chunk of my time. Though I had a great time with most of them, there were a couple of exchanges which I did not enjoy as much. The subjects were stuff that I wasn't very interested in painting. Also, in all my earlier exchanges, I got to know the artists only during the project, after interacting on the discussion thread of the project. However, this time it is a group of artists whom I largely admire in the Acrylics forum. They are experts at making the medium do whatever they want it to, in achieving stunning results with the medium. The chosen subject is also something I want to seriously work at. I don't really like my trees and this was a good chance to correct that. Above everything, this was a great opportunity to own original art from an inspiring set of artists.:) I have got some great pieces, some more are in the mail and I cannot wait!

The Road less traveled

The original image for this painting is a reference from Sxc.hu, and it is a fall image. A lovely mix of reds and browns and is a gorgeous reference in itself. I just wanted to try changing the colors and doing this as a flowering forest. I think it turned out okay.

The road less traveled
Acrylics on Canvas, 4 * 6 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan

I started with another slightly bigger painting of this scene with the original colors as well. I am half way through with it and will post it later. It was a reference that's been lying around with me for couple of years and I am glad I finally got to do it twice over.:)

Flowering Trees - a postcard exchange

I am addicted to Art exchanges, you know that already don't you? I have mentioned that a million times here and elsewhere. I just love the excitement of receiving such varied Art from all over the world. And it also helps me work better as exchanges generally work within a deadline and I get more stuff done.

For several months now, we have been having virtual classes in WetCanvas covering a wide range of subjects. Few months ago, we had a terrific class on painting trees, by Elizabeth. As a spin off from the awesome class, some of us got together to go a postcard exchange of Flowering trees. So here goes, my attempt at recreating Spring :)

Pink Shadows
Acrylics on Canvas, 4 * 6 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan

Instead of posting them together, I will be making separate posts because it is easier for me that way to keep a count of all paintings done this year. We are working towards 100 this year, just in case you forgot :)

Evening Glow - Postcard #3

In a quick change of events, I landed in Germany couple of weeks ago. I am here for the next 2 months, joining my husband who was already here on an assignment. So that means that I am not going to be actively painting (hardly anything in fact) until then. What I would be doing though, and doing generously is visiting museums and seeing some of the best art this world has ever known. Now that's interesting isn't it?

I will try to sneak in an occasional sketch here and there, but you guys look forward to seeing and reading about Art that is much better and bigger than mine. It is going to be a helluva learning journey for me, and I look forward to blogging about it.

Evening Glow - 6 * 4 inches,
colored pencil on paper

Before I go ahead and blog entirely about the Masters, I thought I would leave you with a couple of my own. Stuff that was done last month in Bangalore. It aches that I have come here leaving behind so many unfinished paintings and I cannot get my hands on them in the near future. This is one of the colored pencil drawings I have done for the postcard exchange, from an awesome reference by Dave Slaughter. I just love his bird pictures, and I know I have said it already. I have tried my best to capture the evening sunlight that's hitting the body of the bird, the lovely shade of orange.

Evening Glow - completed
colored pencil on paper

The method is the same as my previous postcards, a watercolor pencil underpainting followed by a wash with a wet brush. And then finer details added with colored pencils. Your comments are welcome :-)

p.s: Just realized that this post remained in my drafts! Posting it before its too late!

Postcard #2

Continuing with the postcards, here is yet another very colorful bird, done in the same style of a watercolor underpainting followed by colored pencils. I am drawn towards anything blue, and this one was no exception. I am no good at bird watching and do not even know the names of most of these. There is an artist in WetCanvas who gives such jaw dropping bird images for references. Each and every single snap of is a wonder, and all these birds are done from his photos only.

Electric - watercolor pencil underpainting

Electric Blue - colored pencil on paper, 4*6 inches
Private collection.

Among other things, my website is also getting updated with images of these cards. You can locate them under 'Miniatures'. And I guess you would have already noticed the change in my blog layout and color scheme. A reader had suggested long back that I could have a painting as a backdrop, and I felt I could have it only in the header. Finally got around to doing it only now. Let me hear your feedback on the new color scheme, if it is pleasing to the eye.

Postcard #1

I am doing a series of postcards for a Postcard exchange project that I signed up in WetCanvas. A postcard is typically 4*6 in size. Just like the last year's exchange, we are about 25 participants. Each of us will paint 24 postcards and mail it to the others. I have already got about half a dozen postcards and I am a late starter this time.

Postcard #1 - Yellow bird & Cactus plants
Underpainting in Watercolor pencils

I am getting back to colored pencils after a while, and the best way to get back in touch is to work small. Since colored pencil is a medium I was investing so much on even before doing anything worthwhile, I have too many sets of pencils, most of them watercolor pencils. It took me a while to actually realize that people generally don't work with the watercolor pencils to get the pure CP effect. Now I possess a set of pure CPs also, but my watercolor pencils will remain idle if I don't use them, so I use them to do underpaintings. And it works wonders, I should say.

Postcard #1 - Completed
Colored Pencils on paper, 4 * 6 inches

The method is simple - I first do a cross hatching with watercolor pencils which is very rough and the strokes will be haphazard. This is okay, because they will be evened out when I do a wash with a wet brush. It will give a lovely smooth look to the background, especially useful when the background lacks detail and all the focus is on the object in the foreground. After washing with the brush, the color would brighten up a lot too. I then complete the painting with the normal colored pencils on top of the watercolor pencils.

Ideally I should not be posting this in public before my recipient gets the card, but I don't think any of the participants even know about my blog, so it is okay :-)