April Virtual Sketch Date - Rhododendron bud

I suck at florals, and would not venture into one even if threatened at gun point! :) Not that I am not inspired by them. When the daffodils were all around everywhere, I was so regretting I am so pathetic with flowers. Maybe some day, I might do some. Currently, I feel my style of using strong contrasts and generally visible hard edges is not quite suited for the softness that's needed to render a flower. I have a long way to go in terms of softening my edges before I can render delicate darlings.

Rhododendron bud
Colored pencil on paper, 9 * 9 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan


However, since the blog events are all about getting out of your comfort zone, I decided to do this one as well. It has such lovely colors, and I have gone in for colored pencil. Thanks to Jeanette for a great image, I had a lot of fun.

This month's entries can be seen here in the Flickr pool, and go here to check the various blog links.

March Virtual Sketch Date

I skipped the VSD last month as I had no time really, and I was not greatly inspired by the image too. I was in a mode where I was churning out still lifes one by one, and was not interested in that landscape image last month. I loved this month's reference, two little birds at a feeder. The colors in the feeder and the birds are awesome. The lighting is great and I loved everything about the image. I am a big time bird enthusiast anyway and love painting them.

Isn't it spring yet?
Acrylics on paper, 8 * 8 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan

This was done immediately after I worked on one of my pear pieces. It was mainly to refresh myself, by loosening up a bit. I did this in about 15 minutes or less, directly painting in acrylics with no sketch or anything. I am not happy with it, I think I messed up the birds badly. They were very cute and I did not capture it. I really want to do another version of this reference, I hope I get the time for it.

This time the submission procedure has changed a bit and we don't need to wait till the 30th to see all the entries. The artists are entering the links themselves using a widget and so the paintings can be seen right now. As they get posted that is. I think its a very cool idea. Check out the entries at the VSD Blog.

Going wild with Orange

When the dates for the January VSD were put up, it was mentioned that the reference would really stimulate the artists. I was really looking forward to the reference, and I must mention that on first look I wasn't impressed at all. I later realized that a good painting can inspire any artist even if the reference does not! As the various artists started posting their interpretations, I was quite impressed and started with my version in colored pencil. I simply loved the various tones in the orange peel, and the translucence of the fruit.

What are you waiting for?
Colored pencil on paper, 9 * 12 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan

My colored pencil version was taking a lot of time, as I generally work slowly with CPs, building layers meticulously. After a while, I was tired and wanted a break. And guess what I did, decided an ultra-loose version in watercolors, just to unwind myself. Well not watercolors actually, but acrylics painted almost like watercolors. It was a blast. I wanted the painting to ooze color and I think I succeeded reasonably. I don't think it will pass off as a watercolor painting, but it is definitely different from any acrylic painting I have done. While in the colored pencil version, I went in for a lot of complements, in this version I made the colors as intense as possible. The CP version contains a lot of blues and violets, whereas this version does not.

What are you waiting for?
Acrylics on watercolor paper, 9 * 12 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan

Next I felt I could do one using acrylics as I usually do, and opted for a closer crop this time, and a square canvas. Cropped the right side of the photo and focused more on the fruit. I thought in the CP version, the background almost competes with the fruit, so wanted the acrylic version this way. So this is traditional acrylics, painted loosely, with no underlying sketch. I wanted it to be spontaneous and opted not to sketch, so the fruit looks even more closed and not opened out.

What are you waiting for?
Acrylics on canvas paper, 8 * 8 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan

I really like how the colored pencil version turned out, and I like it best in thumbnail. In the larger format, it shows the mess that I have done to the paper, literally pushing it to its limits. So I dont like it much larger. I used watercolor pencils for the background and washed them with a wet brush as well, and the paper reached its limits beyond a point! As far as the work on the peels go, I think the CP one captures the colors correctly than the acrylic paintings. 

After painting the image 3 times in a span of 2 days, it was well etched in my mind and I wanted to have a go from memory. Decided to have a go with a different medium, and I chose graphite. This was the last one I did and really like how it turned out. So the graphite drawing is from memory, trying to create the values without the help of the grayscaled version of the photo. I picked up my graphite pencils after quite a long time and had a lot of fun with them.

What are you waiting for?
Graphite on paper, 6 * 9 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan

I fell in love head over heels with the Orange and had a blast doing each version. My favorite is version #2, because it is totally new for me. It is the most un-acrylic Acrylic painting I have done. I'd love to hear from you, dear reader, as to which version works and which sucks. Or if all of them are terrible, let me know that too.

The great news is that the Virtual Sketch Date has its own Flickr pool. It is stunning to see all the images together, what gorgeous pieces! You can view all of them here in Flickr (signin required), or ofcourse in the Virtual Sketch Date blog on Sunday, 25th January 2009.

December Virtual Sketch Date

This time the VSD is held much earlier so as to accomodate the holiday season. I loved the reference, the two little cottages and the snow. But I wasn't entirely happy with the white background and foreground and wanted to give it more color. So I decided to make it an early evening shot instead of the good daylight shot that it is in the reference.

Winter Evening - Acrylics on Canvas, 9 * 12 inches
copyright Nithya Swaminathan

Check out all the entries in the Virtual Sketch Date blog on Sunday, 14th Dec. Your comments and critiques are welcome.

November Virtual Sketch Date

This time around the VSD image is a landscape. I was not very excited about the image at first, since I was in a still life mode of late and was expecting one. :-) But had a blast doing it. I went in for a very loose style, no sketching whatsoever. Just painted as I felt like. It is Acrylics on Paper.

Shadow Play
Acrylics on Paper, 6 * 9 inches
Copyright Nithya Swaminathan

Be sure to check the Virtual Sketch Date blog tomorrow to see all the entries. I am really looking forward to it.

October Virtual Sketch Date

The virtual sketch date is a blog event happening every month, where a reference image is posted and any blogging artist can give a shot at the image. The artists then post their attempts onto their respective blogs and link to the main blog site. It is a fantastic event, since I always love seeing how various artists tackle the same subject. This has been happening for a few months now, and this is my first entry.

Peared - colored pencil on water color paper
(c) Nithya Swaminathan

I started doing the last month's reference itself but could not complete it before the deadline. This month's reference was so irresistable that I had to give it a shot. I am glad I could complete it on time. I have a blast doing this, as I have never done pears before. They are such fabulous little things, full of character! We do not get these kind of pears here and I haven't been able to do them. I am quite happy with how it turned out and I cannot wait to see what other artists have done.

Today also happens to be the International Sketchcrawl, and though this doesn't qualify at crawling, it counts as sketching at least :-)