Exercise # 13

This is another watercolour exercise. I referred to an acrylic painting done by my cousin and deliberately made some minor changes while interpreting it in watercolour. My focus once again was on colour mixing in the palette and on the paper, fine brush control, and an attempt to portray water realistically.

Naturally formed stone arch

This picture came up as my Windows 10 wallpaper, and cried out to be painted. I had not painted anything like this earlier and found it quite challenging. But I think I finally managed to get a passable result.

A Trial Run

A couple of years ago I went into a stationery shop to buy an ink cartridge for my writing pen when my eyes fell on a set of really inexpensive colour ball point pens. I normally sketch only with black ink and use either watercolour or colour pencils for sketching in colour. But I was tempted by the price, bought the set, and was looking for a subject to try them out when I received a Whatsapp message...one of those wise quotes printed over a pretty picture. Here is my version of that image done with pen and coloured ink.

Madurai skyline

This is a quick and rough watercolour sketch done in a pocket sketchbook of the view from the 6th floor of Hotel Thangam Grand, Madurai. My wife and I stayed at this hotel during our heritage tour of the region with Mystical Palmyra. Breakfast was served in the rooftop restaurant and this view of the distant Madurai Meenakshi Temple was an added bonus.

Palazzo Vecchio

This is a pen, ink, and watercolour sketch of the Palazzo Vecchio (meaning Old Palace) in Florence, based on a photograph by T. T. Srinivasaraghavan (Srini/Ramesh). Srini is a keen and good photographer and has been kind enough to permit me to use many of his photographs as reference for my artwork.

The colours in Srini's photograph were different. I chose the ones that I have used to give more warmth and vibrancy to the painting.

Hoopoe

This is one of my better efforts so far. It is a watercolour painting of a hoopoe based on a photograph taken by my good friend Srini. Srini has a blog called Ramblerspost, now unfortunately inactive for quite some time, which is replete with lovely photos and interesting commentary. He also sends out New Year cards every year using his own photographs and this was on one of them.

A Vietnam Landscape

I very much liked an image that I saw of a scene in Vietnam. Realising that reproducing it in watercolour was beyond my ability I simplified it and retained its essence. 

Across The Courtyard @ Old Harbour Hotel, Kochi

A few years ago my wife and I visited Kumarakom and Fort Kochi. At Fort Kochi we stayed at The Old Harbour Hotel, a small and cheerful hotel very close to the waterfront. During this trip I made several sketches on location in pen and ink. A few were quick ones and several were leisurely ones sketched from the comfort of a hotel room or a shaded verandah. The one that I have shared with you here is a watercolour done a few months ago using a photograph taken then as reference.

A Heritage Fountain

This is the fountain at Bai Sakarbai Petit Animal Hospital, Parel Mumbai. These days I read the news on my phone because the newspaper is delivered at my home only after I leave for work. I saw this image in an article on heritage fountains in Mumbai and felt compelled to sketch it using pen, ink and watercolour.