Late Evening Ride - Original Figurative Panting in Oils

Feels like I haven't painted in ages, though this painting has been in the works for over a week now. I could work on it only intermittently as there have been too many personal commitments, friends visiting, appointments for kids etc. It is like the whole universe comes in the way of creating. Anyway, finally managed to carve some time out today and get this to completion lest I lose interest totally. 

I clicked this biker from atop a hill or something to give me a very different perspective with all those shadows. I wanted to keep the composition very simple, focus on the rider and of course the gorgeous shadows. 

Late Evening Ride
Oil on Canvas, 6 by 12 inches
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The painting is done on stretched canvas and the sides are painted in a neutral gray so that it can be displayed without a frame! 

One step at a time! - Original Painting of Children in Oils

This father son duo was also spotted along the banks of the Alster in Hamburg. The lighting was perfect and I hope I have managed to do justice to it. After painting on 6 by 6 inch panels since a while now, 8 by 8 seemed like it was BIG! And here I keep dreaming of 30 by 40 and the likes. :-) It wasn't that bad though and I quickly got used to the size. 

This painting is done on stretched canvas, and the sides are painted in a neutral colour so that it can be displayed without a frame. 

One step at a time!
Oil on Canvas, 8 by 8 inches
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SOLD - Spotting swans - Original Figurative Painting in Oils

Spotted at the banks of the Alster, in beautiful Hamburg. I was away for Easter and happened to click some good references. Feels good to be back at the easel after a mini break.

Spotting Swans
Oil on Board, 6 by 6 inches
SOLD

SOLD - Morning Walk - Original Figurative Painting in Oils

I vividly remember taking this picture over 4 years ago on one of our weekend morning walks. I loved the woman's bright red jacket and took a picture, and forgot all about it. It resurfaced again recently and I decided to paint it before I miss out again. Love the play of complements and the spring backdrop. Red makes me happy always :) Let me know how you like it! 

Morning Walk
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
SOLD

SOLD - Music at the park - Original Figurative Painting in Oils

I clicked this reference at a public park a couple of years ago, and it was unearthed recently. I wanted to give a shot at a tighter crop, let me know what you think. I am quite happy with it.:)

Music at the park
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
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SOLD - Bottoms Up! - Original Painting of Children in Oils

I had painted these little girls a long time back, and the result was abysmal. It is one of those paintings that went straight to trash without a thought, when I was doing my periodic review. So this is not a rework, but a completely new painting with the same reference. A bright sunny day and two curious little girls probably trying to spot some fish. What's not there to love.

Bottoms Up
Oil on Board, 6 by 6 inches
SOLD

Oh and by the way, I can't even begin to tell how difficult it is for me to open the fridge every time and ignore those lemons calling out to me ;-)

SOLD - Readers #1 - Original Figurative Painting in Oils

I love capturing images of people reading. I have references of readers all over the place - at coffee shops, parks, beaches and so on. It is one of my favourite references and I have painted it a couple of times already. While I trashed the earlier versions, I decided to rework this one from three years ago.  

Readers #1
Oil on Canvas, 12 by 4 inches
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Below a collage of the older painting and the reworked one, where I hope I don't need to tell you which one is what ;-) I am totally enjoying these collages, they give me a very good idea of how far I have come. Looking at the older paintings makes me cringe, but it is heartening to know that the journey is in the right direction. 

I have dug into my image library and have unearthed quite a few more references of people reading. I should hopefully get to them one by one. 

SOLD - Need no company - Original Figurative painting, 5 by 7 inches

As mentioned in the previous post, I am currently in the process of evaluating all my old pieces  to decide whether they can be revamped a bit or they could be painted over. This is one piece I decided to rework, which I am not sure if was the wiser thing to do. Looking back, probably repainting it on a new canvas would've served me better. Anyway! I had painted this more than 2 years back as part of my summer impressions. I did not like the end result but could not see what exactly was wrong. So it was just lying aside. 

When I picked it up for reworking now, the messed up proportions just glared at me. I wonder how I even considered this "finished" back then. However, I take this as an evidence that my artistic eye is getting better. Far from where I want it to be, but way better than what it was. 

Need no company

Oil on Canvas, 5 by 7 inches

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Here's a collage of the two paintings side by side. The left was painted in 2011 and the right one yesterday. Can you say what all has been changed? :-) 

The colors seem much brighter than they are in real, especially the reds. The others are as close as possible to the original. 

Go after it - original oil painting of children

The little boy chasing his football again. I painted this one as a companion piece to my earlier painting "Kick off". The colours are a bit more muted in this one I think. I don't think I'll ever get enough of painting kids, one of my absolute favourite subjects to paint. 

Go after it
Oil on board, 7 by 5 inches
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This is my 5th painting in the 30 in 30 days challenge. Unfortunately, my vacation ends today and I hope I can get some painting done even amidst my work week starting tomorrow. Oh well! 

"Say cheese" - 30 in 30, #4

I happened to spot these kids at a popular tourist attraction a couple of years ago. While I wanted to capture the girl taking a picture of one of the boys, I was pleasantly surprised to find the onlooker boy also in my reference. I have used a mix of the brush and the palette knife for this painting. The girl is one using the palette knife, and I have also used the knife for the foreground. The farther steps and the two boys are all done with the brush. They were two tricky for the knife and I could not risk messing up the painting. 

Say Cheese
Oil on board, 7 by 5 inches
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If you like my work, make sure to "like" my page on Facebook and subscribe to my blog by mail so that you don't miss a post. Have a good Sunday!

Sunshine stroll - Figurative beach painting in Oils

This is one of those references that made me wish I was transported right there. With the gorgeous sun, lapping waters and a stroll all alone with nothing on the mind. Ha! I wish! 

It is also my favorite painting of the week, I am quite pleased with how it turned out.

Sunshine Stroll
Oil on Canvas, 4 by 12 inches
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Click here to bid.

"Face off!" - Original Oil beach painting by Nithya Swaminathan

When I did two kid paintings on the beach, all my other beach references came gushing back to me and I will be continuing with them one by one. 

I started this painting originally with both the figures seen in full, and a bit of the sky too in the background. I had stopped it at a stage where there was an hour's work needed. When I looked at it the next day though, I did not like it and felt the figures weren't interesting enough. Then I sketched them out again in a closer crop and felt it worked a little better. So went ahead and wiped off the painting and started afresh.

Face off!
Oil on Canvas, 8 by 8 inches
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Click here to bid

I did not take a picture of the initial version of this painting, so that it would have been nice to look at them side by side. Oh well, but I am glad that I went ahead and changed it instead of trying to "fix" it. Let me know how you like it.

Mommy's girl - Textured paintings of children in summer

Tagging along with mommy. This painting is textured, it has been painted with the palette knife. I loved doing the little girl's dress with the knife, it was just perfect for it. Let me know what you think.

Mommy's girl
Oil on board, 6 by 6 inches
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Click here to bid.

Treasure hunt - Original painting of children in summer

If you remember what I had mentioned yesterday about references that get painted as is and those that involve a lot of work, this image belongs to the first category. One of the very rare cases. I observed this little girl for a long while and then clicked her. I just loved her cute pink pigtails.:)

Treasure hunt
Oil on Canvas, 5 by 7 inches
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Red on Red!

There are some paintings where I find something absolutely irresistible right in front of me and take an image, paint it with little or no processing. But those are very very rare, and almost none when it comes to my figurative work. Much more common are the ones where I click something, and discover something else altogether while processing the images. 

Red on Red
Oil on Canvas, 4 by 12 inches
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Click here to bid.

This picture is a great example of how I work. My object of focus in this shot was a dad and little boy playing football in these lawns. But when I zoom in to a reference image and look into further details, this girl is the one who jus *had* to be painted first. The boy and his dad will be painted sometime later. :)

Weeekend news - Original painting of people in summer

I have been having a ball with this long horizontal format, they are super fun! This one too is from a reference taken from a park nearby, summer impressions 2011.

Weekend news
Oil on Canvas, 4 by 12 inches
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Click here to bid

Family fun - Original Painting of People in Summer

Loved this little family having a splash at a lake nearby, and how the smallest one is introduced to water at such an early age! Just had to paint it :)

Family Fun
Oil on Canvas, 4 by 12 inches
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Click here to bid.

A book and some sunshine - Original figurative painting of people in summer

This is one of my absolute favorite references. I painted her couple of years ago in Acrylics in a different format. Wanted to give it a shot again in oils and here it is.:)

A book and some sunshine
Oil on Canvas, 4 by 12 inches
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Click here to bid.

"Lazy Days" - Original figurative oil painting of people in summer, 4 by 12 inches

I have simply run out of titles for my summer impressions series. Now who would help me with one?

"Lazy Days"
Oil on stretched canvas, 4 by 12 inches
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Click here to bid.

"In safe hands" - Textured small oil painting of children, 7 by 5 inches

Taking cautious steps for a first time experience with water. :-) Exploring the world, one step at a time.

In safe hands
Oil on Canvas, 7 by 5 inches
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Click here to bid.