Painting in Progress

~ The Online Studio ~

 Twenty days -  interspaced with numerous cups of tea and intermittent trips to the art shop ... and finally we are done !

Painted the Chestnut horse and gave more definition to the water.

Then I went over the entire painting with some highlights here and there. 

 

And finally the part any artist enjoys the most - signing it :)

 Because that means the project is officially complete! 

It also means that soon it will take its place in somebody's beautiful bungalow in Jaipur and bring them much Joy!

Everytime I begin a painting for someone I start with a wish for them and the whole painting is done while keeping that intention. The wish for this one was -

"May Abundance and Prosperity  flow  through their lives bountifully and freely"

So with that intention please allow me to present the completed painting to you,  my friends, who have motivated me every day with all your likes and shares . Hope you like it !

 And of course ...you must meet ...the beautiful owner of this painting.... :)

Thank you for accompanying me on this Arty Journey. 

This Painting will be on display at the Mahalaxmi Race course for two days on the 1st and 2nd April 2017 before it makes its way home .

  

If any name comes to your mind for this painting please do share with me. Will be happy to hear from you. 

And for hanging in there with me .......

A Big  THANK YOU HUG !

 

Painting in Progress

~ The Online Studio ~

Hello and Welcome once again. The painting is progressing well and now we start with the Oil Paints.

My friends for whom this commission is being painted dropped in to have a look at their painting. It was  great to have them over and now they can't wait to see the completed painting :) 

So my oil paints to paint the back ground are all mixed up on the glass pallette. (It's so easy to clean these glass pallettes. I have three of them so at least  one is always clean and handy)

 

 

 So I begin with the same color mixes as I used while doing the acrylics. Now the oil painting will be done faster because most of the work has been done in the underpainting.  


Its a good idea to  spend a fair amount of time mixing my colors and have them all ready before I begin to paint because then I don't have to stop in between to mix more in case I fall short. 

The background starts..I apply the color using three different brushes and and a fourth one just to do the soft blending.

 

 Once the background is done we start with the brown horse . Blocking in the darkest patches first and slowly working my way up to the lighter parts.

The face and the eye take more time.

The brown horse is complete!

Now for the Black one.

Black Horses take more time and are more difficult to paint because when the whole horse is black its difficult to decide which are the dark patches I must begin with !

And therefore we shall proceed very slowly  ... Here I work simultaneously with dark and light areas. 

There! Its done. 

 
  

Now the color for the 
Chestnut Horse
 is mixed up.



 


 
But the light is fading in the sky and its so not a good time to paint. Let's do the third horse in the natural light tomorrow.

                  After that it  will be mostly highlighting the splash and adding some finishing touches . 

See you tomorrow!

untill then...

Think about this..

 LISTEN and SILENT are spelled with the same letters :)

Love

'The 50 Paintings ' Project


Painting # 11

Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci

The Mona Lisa is perhaps the most famous painting in the world. Painted by Leonardo Da Vinci some 514 years back at Florence,Italy

The model Lisa Del Giocondo was the wife of a wealthy silk merchant of Florence.

Mona Lisa has had her share of publicity starting from when she was stolen from the Louvre museum in Paris.... to some vandals throwing acid and stones on it in 1956 .... to a woman throwing red paint over it in 1974 and another Russian woman slamming it with a tea cup she bought at Louvre because she was denied French citizenship!

Mona Lisa smiles ....and in such a way that its difficult to understand what she's thinking. 

Many hours have been spent by many art historians trying to decode just that :) 

I also did an interesting experiment which I will mention in the end....

So what else is there about The Mona Lisa?

Say , did you notice that in the scene behind her is a road and a bridge ...

There is a ledge behind her and it seems there is a Jar placed on it....

But those were not jars but part of  a pillar which was cropped up -  which explains that she was probably sitting in a balcony as in this drawing by Raphael 2 years later. 

Also The Prado National Art Museum in Spain found a copy of the Mona Lisa ..So what's special about that you say ..Because we all know that the Mona Lisa is probably the most copied and reproduced painting in the world !

The Prado did an analysis of the underdrawing and scientific testing and found that this copy was made by another artist sitting right next to Leonardo , copying what he painted stroke for stroke!

...And that experiment I was talking about...I  had tried this some years back ....

If you stare at her smile for a few seconds she seems to smile a little bit more . 

Its creepy but it worked again just now! 

Painting in Progress

~ The Online Studio ~

Confidence , Motivation, Discipline will prepare you to meet most challenges ...And for others,  well there's always a cup of tea !

So with that cup of tea lets start painting the splashing water. Starting from the right edge of the canvas because the splash pattern is quite clear on that side. Looking at  the reference picture here I try and copy the splash pattern as well as I can.

I started with using a mix of Alizarin Crimson, Pthalo Blue and White.

which gives a bluish color and it is perfect for creating the shadow of the splashing water.

Remember we had done the underpainting of the splash too?

Well now it really comes in handy because the dark spots I had marked guide me around the design of the splash....See below .

In this way I go about creating the shadow of the splashing water taking one small part at a time and trying to recreate the pattern as in the reference picture.

As I go about making the splash pattern with the bluish shadow color I have to sometimes redo the dark patches in between . 

Well three days of work and we are almost done with the splash pattern . :) 

This has taken a long time but it will pay to spend time at this stage and be patient now.

All we will do next is highlight the splash with brighter shades of white.

Hope you enjoyed it!

As for me I think I need another cup of tea :) 

We shall pack up our Acrylic colors and start with the oil paints next time...

Untill then ...

Do the thing you think you cannot do !

Love

Painting in Progress

~The Online Studio~

How are you today? 

Well its time to paint the the horses. Even for the horses its good to start with Acrylics and do an underpainting .

Reason for doing an underpainting is that it gives you a fairly good idea if your lights and shadows are falling in the right places

Secondly , building the painting slowly with various layers gives more depth. 

So I begin with the Horse no.1 Calling it the Brown Horse.

Colors I used are 

Pthalo Blue + Burnt Sienna for the darkest tone

Burnt SIenna + Cadmium Yellow for Midtone 1

Raw Umber + Raw Sienna +Cadmium Yellow for Midtone 2

Now for Horse No.2 The Black Horse

Colors used are variuos combinations of Payne's Grey , Ultramarine BLue, Alizarin Crimson, Pthalo Blue and White

Horse No. 3 The Chestnut Horse 

Made with Burnt Sienna , Cadmium Yellow, Pthalo Blue, Naples Yello and White

There  we are ! The Underpainting of the Horses in Acrylics is complete....:)

Will come back to do the horses in Oil Paints very soon ...

But for now I have to  gear up to  take up the most challenging part of this painting...

The Splashing Water !

Please do drop by ... It will be nice to have you around .

Untill then...

Live Life as if everything is rigged in your favor!

Love