Lotus Nymph

This painting was done last year in a day. size was approximately postcard size.
I hope you like it.

Testing the waters (watercolor swatches)...

Here are some swatches I did in order to study the pigments I have. I hope some one finds them helpful....

The complete selection of watercolor paints comprising Daler Rowney, Aquafine, Fragonard (Pebeo), Pebeo fine, and Camel artist's (Camlin Indian brand):

Earths are mainly Camlin. I tried to get the scans closer to actual colors but some colors proved very tricky to scan right. Specially french ultramarine and cobalt blue deep.

Detailed pics (Click to enlarge):

Yellows and Reds:
I ordered quinaphthalone yellow, unfortunately the seller was unable to deliver it. So for now I am using Lemon yellow by camlin instead.

Left to right
1st Row: Lemon yellow-? (camlin); Aureolin-PY40 (daler rowney); Permanent dark yellow-PY65 (fragonard); Indian yellow-PY153 (daler rowney); Warm orange-PO73 (daler rowney)
2nd Row: Perm. Magenta-PV19 (Fragonard); Perm. Carmine-PR5 (Fragonard); Quinacridone red-PR209 (DR); Pink madder-PR209+PY65 (Frag.); Vermillion hue-PR255 (DR)
3rd Row: Permanent Rose-PV19 (DR); Ruby madder-PR122 (Frag.); Magenta- (camlin); Permanent Magenta- PV19 (DR); Cobalt Violet- PV14 (Fragonard)

Violets, Blues and Greens:
Left to right
1st Row: Indanthrene blue-PB60 (DR); Indigo-? (Pebeo); Fragonard Violet- PV23 (fragonard); Permanent Mauve-PV23 (DR); Ultramarine Violet-PV15 (daler rowney)
2nd Row: French Ultramarine-PB29 (DR); Cobalt Blue deep-PB72 (DR); Prussian Blue-PB27 (Aquafine); Pthalo Blue-PB15 (Frag. Pebeo); Cyanine Blue-PB15:3 (Frag.)
3rd Row: Veronese Green-PG50+PY3 (Frag.); Cyanine green-PG7 (Pebeo); Fragonard Turquoise green- PG50+PG7(Fragonard); Manganese blue- PB15:3+PW5 (DR); Cerulean blue- (Camlin)
4th Row: Hookers Green-(camlin); Hooker green dark-PG7+PY65+PY74 (Fragonard); Sap Green- PG7+PY65+PY74(Pebeo); Green gold- PY129 (DR); Payne's Grey- PV19+PB15+PBk7 (Frag.)

 

Comparison of some violet pigments. fragonard violet is duller, muted and darker than permanent mauve by daler rowney though they both are same pigment PV23. Camlin one is similar in hue but but very weak color (less staining and pigmented) compared to others. Where as camlin magenta is surprisingly unique, bright, smooth, pigmented and lovely red violet (though what pigment it consists of is mystery).

And then three swatches at last comparing three pthalocyanines I have.

Earths:
Left to right
1st Row: Naples yellow- (Camlin); next four various raw siennas and ochres from different camlin artist's watercolor boxes collected over time.
2nd Row: Burnt sienna-PR101 (Fragonard); Raw Umber- (Camlin); Raw Umber- (Camlin); Raw sienna-PR101 (Frag.); Yellow Ochre- (Camlin);
3rd Row: Burnt sienna-PR101 (DR); Burnt sienna- (Camlin); Burnt sienna- (Camlin);Venecian red- PR122+PR101(Frag); Sienna?-(camlin)
4th Row: Perylene Red-PR179 (DR); Perylene Maroon-PR179 (DR); Transparent Red Brown-PR206 (DR); Light red-(camlin); Light red-(camlin)
5th Row: various burnt umbers from camlin.

 

These are all camlin earths except first one from left in 2nd row. That is Fragonard raw sienna. It is weaker, more earthy and granular than camlin raw sienna's.

Love the vibrancy of Daler Rowney colors:

1st Row: Burnt sienna-PR101 (DR); Perylene Maroon-PR179 (DR); Perylene Red-PR179 (DR); Permanent Rose-PV19 (DR); Quinacridone red-PR209 (DR); Warm orange-PO73 (daler rowney); Indian yellow-PY153 (daler rowney);
2nd Row: Transparent Red Brown-PR206 (DR); Vermillion hue-PR255 (DR); Ultramarine Violet-PV15 (daler rowney); Permanent Mauve-PV23 (DR); Permanent Magenta- PV19 (DR); Cobalt Blue deep-PB72 (DR); Prussian Blue-PB27 (Aquafine);
3rd Row: Indanthrene blue-PB60 (DR); Manganese blue- PB15:3+PW5 (DR); Green gold- PY129 (DR); Aureolin-PY40 (daler rowney);

More from my Journal

Testing out new watercolors and paper, post processed in Photoshop.

From the dark side.... WIP 31#

Wish all my readers a very Happy New Year :)

I want to share the current sculpt I am working on ( a little lazy in posting here).

Armature (Steel wires, brass tubes, magic sculpt and epoxy resin)

Head sculpted and painted

A (small) blurp on modular Armatures~

I made a modular armature for this sculpt. If you are going.."Eh?? Modular what??" let me explain:

A modular armature is one which allows to dissemble armature/sculpture pieces. It usually has torso part in one piece along with removable head, wrists/arm, leg/feet pieces. To construct such an armature you will need metal tubing (in case the material you are working with needs to be baked, besides metal provides good strength) that fits snugly onto your core armature wire.

For this sculpt I have her head and wrist pieces removable.

If you wish to learn more about it, Natasha of Morezmore has a good tutorial on how to construct modular armature.

You may want to ask why all the bother? It makes life easier! as simple as that!

You can work on your removable pieces separately. You don't have to deal with the other parts of sculpture blocking your way, getting messed due to over handling or in general making life  a misery ( ;) ). Also, if like me you series bake, modular armature allows you to control the number of bakes your pieces go through. I always bake each stage to prescribed baking time recommended by the clay manufacturer. Therefore I am always wary of over-baking my sculpture. Modular armature allows you bake them separately.

And as a cherry on the cake, it also allows you  to paint them separately (which means more details with less struggle, and much much less severe back ache :D ).

Torso 'almost' done!

I am almost done with her hands and base. Will share soon!!

Is it a witch? a spell caster? a gothic fairy? Watch this space to find out.

Eye Placement Tips

a doodle...

Hey guys, this year I started a sketch journal/idea book in a bid to improve my sketching skills and keep those ever effervescent ideas preserved. Here is one sketch from it..a possible future sculpt :)

New Beginnings

Hi, a big wave to everyone!! :)

I have been dabbling with paints for past month or so. I mainly picked up paints again because there are so many fantastic ideas in my head which can be portrayed best on 2-d canvas. But before that I need to brush up my skills. I have always been afraid of paints but 'to be able to paint proficiently' is one of my 'to-do things in this lifetime'. So hop on as I start on this new journey and struggle to teach myself to paint :)
I am starting with acrylics as a medium for now as it is easy to clean up mess with them and they dry faster than oil ( too fast actually). As I am playing around with them I am taking help from the Old Masters i.e. painting from their paintings. This gives me an opportunity to look more closely at the nuances of color play in their masterful works. Though I do not hope to achieve their mastery but it helps eliminate a lot of compositional decisions and I can focus on how to handle the paint. Right now it feels more like tackling! ;)
Here is a recent one I did after Charles Edward Perugini. It was a gift for my most dearest sis.

 

 

 

I am pretty much satisfied with this one as I could see a lot of improvement from my previous attempts and I finally figured a way to deal with too-fast drying time of acrylics.

If you are going to use opaque techniques it is best to prime your surface to make it less absorbent. This in itself increases working time a bit (unfortunately there is never 'a lot' with acrylics). Another thing that helps is mixing at least three value color strings when smooth blending is required.

That is, say you want to add green to the dress-mix a middle green, a cool dark green, and a warm light green for gradation.

You can see my shabby easel in this pic. The poor thing is almost a decade old.