Silk Weaver, Kancheepuram

On a recent visit to Kancheepuram we visited a silk weavers' co-operative, where I made this very quick sketch in my pocket sketchbook in ink, and then coloured it later at home. Although I have made it look light and airy the weaver was actually working in a dark confined space and I had difficulty making out many of the details. The weaver had a light attached to the bottom of one of the crosspieces of the loom to light the sari that he was weaving, and he and the loom were mainly in silhouette.

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. 

Barn & Farmhouse

This is my first effort after attending Dhruba Mazumder's watercolour workshop. It is based on a reference photograph of the same name by Irv made available on WetCanvas to participants in the Monthly Pen & Ink Project - May 2014.

I used a Khyati watercolour A4 pad for this. This was the first time that I was using this paper and I found it very different to what I had used during the later stages of the workshop. I found the difference very disconcerting but managed to complete the painting.  

Dhruba Mazumder's Watercolour Workshop

Towards the end of April 2014 I attended a two day watercolour workshop conducted by Dhruba Mazumder, a very talented and accomplished watercolourist based in Bangalore. The workshop was very well conducted, useful and interesting. Dhruba taught through demos and one-on-one interaction with the attendees while we tried to do what had just been demonstrated to us. These are some of the exercises that we tried out:

This was an exercise in monocolour layering.

An exercise in layering, and value management using several colours.

An exercise in combining layering, and graded washes.

An exercise in brushstrokes.

Putting them all together.

Thappattam Dancers at Lalit Kala Akademi

Recently the Chandra Ilango Art Foundation had arranged for a traditional drummer group to perform at Lalit Kala Akademi, Chennai and had invited many artists to come and make an artwork on location based on this performance.  The event was very well attended and a huge success.

I had gone to the event only to watch and learn and with no intention of sketching. But once I was there, and after seeing so many artists sketching and painting, I too was tempted. Fortunately I had my pocket sketchbook on me and, although I was overwhelmed by the movement and the spectacle, I managed a small static sketch with my gel pen. I then added the colours at home.