Poignant Memorial Plaques

I had gone to the Madras War Cemetery with my wife Nithya and several friends to sketch on a Sunday morning. Nithya was very much captivated by the quality of the engraving on the plaques and while she was busy noting some of the details, I made a very quick pen and ink thumbnail sketch of the scene. Some days later I made this 10" x 7" (approx. 26cm x 18cm) watercolour painting based on the thumbnail. 

Madras War Cemetery

Although I have lived in Chennai for almost five decades I visited the Madras War Cemetery located at Nandambakkam, Chennai for the first time only weeks ago when my sketching group decided to meet here. This place is a memorial to the lives of commonwealth soldiers lost in the two world wars. It has over 800 plaques and many more names engraved on a memorial wall. No bodies are buried here. 

I made a quick pen and ink thumbnail sketch of this scene on location and then painted the scene at home using the thumbnail as reference.

Playing With Colour

I went along with the rest of the Chennai Weekend Artists to the Madras War Cemetery a couple of Sundays ago. This time I decided to do pen and ink thumbnails on location and then do a watercolour at home based on the thumbnail sketch. This was the last of the thumbnails that I did that day, but the first of my watercolour  work following that.