Watercolour Connect

2016:

Life is no more the same after getting married, at least with being a self-employed graphic designer who is also a painter. It took me a while (quite a lot of time actually) to get into a work routine.

The biggest battle for me was having my ideal work space, which I still don’t happen to have yet but managed to make it work so far. Then came water colors, I started showing a keen interest in them unlike I ever had before. I have never been a fan of water colors from the time I started pursuing my career as an artist. For me water colors was always a medium for beginners who are yet to learn and understand color theory. But given my new change in schedule and responsibilities, water colors happen to be my go to medium.

Unlike before, where I would spend good long hours on a bigger piece of art, I started creating smaller, more concise pieces after digging through my old water color paintings and materials that I used almost a decade ago.

2018:

What happened through the next few years was purely unplanned, from painting quick water color art in my free time and painting while traveling to teaching every little detail I know about this medium and exploring it completely. I posted pictures and videos of little tips and tricks of my newfound water color obsession on Instagram, which got a lot of attention that I wasn’t expecting. People were interested in learning more about the medium and I realized I had something to offer regarding this. My workshops came to the forefront again. I wanted people to realize the same thing I had, that water colors were not a limited medium but rather a limitless one. Through different techniques and trying different subjects, the versatility of the medium stretched far and wide. The workshops required me to paint different pieces frequently to show the students, which I began enjoying. I found my love for water colors and it became one of my absolute favorite mediums to work with. Students willing to learn more about it was an added bonus.

2019:

My workshops have been divided into two kinds to focus on different levels of teaching, one is a basic workshop which teaches beginners how to work with watercolors and the other is an advanced workshop which takes on more detailed techniques of watercolor painting. The students are required to have good knowledge of color theory and basic watercolor techniques to attend the advanced ones. I, personally, hand-pick students for the advanced workshops in order to gauge their level of art and teach from that. Teaching has been a rewarding experience for me. On that note, here’s the third Basic Watercolor workshop of 2019 to be conducted soon (click below to sign up and learn more) in my new office space. It is crazy how one little thing you were experimenting with a few years ago, can become a huge part of your life.

M. S. Subbulakshmi

Mrs. M. S. Subbulakshmi, an Indian Carnatic singer who was the first lady to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour. But before all of that, she was an artist, not with brushes and paint like me but instead with her beautiful voice. Her passion intrigued me and her voice held a special place in my heart, just like it did to millions of her listeners. Her music remains nostalgic to me as it was a significant part of my childhood. While her soft voice caressed me, her high notes brought a certain high over me that pushed me harder to achieve anything and everything I desired. She made me feel empowered as an artist. As you might have guessed, the first encounter I had with her was at a cassette store, when cassettes were still a thing then. I saw a huge poster of her holding an instrument, displayed on one of the aisles. The picture held an aura of her personality and I really wanted to have one of her portraits in my room. Then the thought of painting it myself occurred which led to the fairly small, 8 x 8cm canvas I had painted of her in one of my previous projects, Art48.

That is how it started, my interest in painting her. I wanted to create a series of her paintings for about 11 years now but unfortunately it hadn’t come about. But when the 100 days project was in the process of being planned, the only thing that was as clear as the sun to me, was to have her as my first subject. It wasn’t just about painting her; it was about knowing her better.

The first few days of this venture, I had trouble with adjusting and planning my day accordingly. Many unexpected things had come up and it left me restless and distracted. But I tried my best to get things under control. There have been many instances where I would paint a certain piece and during the process, I would feel happy and satisfied with it. But a few days later, I would look at it again and not feel the same. It was hard to keep track of my thought process during this time and not lose myself while creating.

The medium I chose to go about with this series was mostly watercolours but a few acrylic and oil paint canvases were thrown in there too. One of the toughest challenges during the project was to transform black and white pictures of her to flesh-toned and/or multi-coloured pieces and make them my own. Finding her pictures turned out to be a difficult task as well, internet wasn’t as much help as I thought it would be. Good resolution pictures happened to be rare.

I realised this project had not been as easy as it sounded at first. The routine of putting all my emotions into painting every day and recovering from that, and coming back the next day with similar vigour as the previous day, had been as exhausting as it had been challenging. Towards the end of series, when I had to do the last two paintings, I had decided to take the canvases home and paint. I painted with one of her songs playing in the background and the result of the last piece really surprised me. Usually, I get the feeling that the last paintings don’t do well, either because I keep being in a rush or the excitement of the project has died down. But I am happy that wasn’t the case this time. I will give it sometime before I release the last 3 paintings images (little suspense does no harm).

However, it has been gratifying to finally be able to fulfil my goals and she has been an inspiration throughout. I aspire to devote myself to my art form just like she had with hers. It is still a long way to go but I’m taking it one canvas at a time. It is Monday now but I’m going to catch up on my weekend sleep before starting on the new subject, so stay tuned!

Advance Watercolour Workshop is here!

The latest workshop details are here! To sign up, click below to fill out the form:

 The much-awaited advanced watercolour workshop is finally here and will be held on the July 20 and 21 of 2019. It is for students who want to improve their watercolour skills. Students who have a good knowledge of watercolour basics, sketching and colour theory can enter this workshop.  It is a two-day workshop with increased number of teaching hours per day compared to the basics watercolour workshop. Limited seats are available as it is going to be a profound learning experience. Professional grade materials such as the brushes, paper and paints will be provided to the students. You get to watch me paint a piece exclusively which you will replicate later. It is going to be an exhilarating experience and I cannot wait to see you all :)

Botanical Watercolours

Ever since I visited the Botanical Garden in Madrid and their gallery, I couldn’t stop thinking about how thoughtful they have been at encouraging their artists. A group of water colour artists in Spain were given saplings of Tulips and had been asked to paint the growth of the plant. The artists took these plants back home and had taken good care of them. And then they had painted a botanical water colour of their own Tulip plant and submitted it to the Garden’s gallery for display.

I was very impressed with the administrators of this beautiful little Botanical Garden taking such an initiative to encourage artists. The art culture that surrounded this place seemed magical. Although ambitious of me, I would love to see something similar in India. It would be delightful to see people accepting and encouraging artists on such a level.

Picture taken from the official Society of Botanical Artists website.

Picture taken from the official Society of Botanical Artists website.