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.

Startled

This is my attempt to sketch a blackbuck. Although called a "black"buck this antelope is not black but a sort of golden or tan colour. I have sketched a female, the males are darker, heavier, and have horns.

Rescue Mission

I think it was around 18 months since I touched a brush, but seeing all the wonderful colour work in various mediums being produce by my friends in CWA I was inspired to to attempt this watercolour sketch a few weeks ago. 

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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.

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.