Floral sketches

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I did couple of floral sketches yesterday. Floral sketching/drawing/painting is great for practicing 'negative' way [painting around an element] of painting, specially in watercolor. Probably because most of the flower heads are lighter in tonal values than the leaves and stems they are surrounded by and also the layers of the leaves which creates depths within. It's a challenge to paint in negative way as we mostly think in positive shapes but it is fun and worth practicing. These are done from couple of photographs we took when me and my wife visited the flower show held in last January at Lalbagh botanical Garden, Bangalore.

Medium: watercolor on cartridge paper sketchbook.
Size: 11" H x 7 1/2" W [each page].
Time: approx. 40 min each.
Source: from own reference photographs.

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© Dhruba Mazumder, 2014. All rights reserved. Should not be copied, modified, reproduced, printed in any format and size without the prior permission of the copyright holder.

Plein Air Painting - Seating stool

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This is an old sketch done couple of years back when I had started going outside to sketch more. This is the stool that I carry most of the time whenever and wherever I am going for plein air sketching or painting. This gives me the freedom to choose an angle of view of my choice to paint while seating comfortably unless there's a suitable place to seat down for which I'll have to be really lucky enough. It can be annoying at times to find a perfect viewpoint to sketch but nowhere to seat. Seating on the ground and paint is also not helpful  as the angle of view becomes up giving a weird perspective.

Just to add, this is a good quality camping stool which folds back and can be carried very easily. It's sturdy but light weight with a comfortable seating. It is easily available in sports shops who sells camping gears. There's a comfortable chair also which folds back and made of similar materials.


Medium: Waterproof gel ink pen with watercolor on sketchbook.

Sketching at Lalbagh Botanical Garden, Bangalore

In the picture above, you can see me sketching at Lalbagh Botanical Garden, Bangalore seating comfortably on this stool!

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© Dhruba Mazumder, 2014. All rights reserved. Should not be copied, modified, reproduced, printed in any format and size without the prior permission of the copyright holder.

Tinted drawing paper test

I found this tinted cool grey Fabriano, 160 gsm paper sometime back at Landmark store and wanted to give it a try. This A4 size paper has some linear texture and suppose to be for dry mediums like pastel, charcoal, graphite. I experimented here with graphite and white Conte, so far it's working well. Will test some more with other mediums like pen & ink and gouache. You can also notice a swatch of brown Conte on top amongst the other one.

Here's another set of sketches I did on this cool grey tinted paper from Fabriano. I am finding it very interesting to work on the tinted paper as it is forcing me to observe, contemplate and work both in terms of light and dark values while still maintaining as much as possible of the mid values of the paper untouched. I am also finding this a great way of doing value studies than a normal white paper. The top left sketch is my smallest watercolor box. The two windows are sketched from a house nearby.

Medium: Graphite and white Conte' on tinted cool grey Fabriano 160 gsm paper
Size: 11 3/4" H x 8 1/4" W [ A4 ]
Source: Live

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© Dhruba Mazumder, 2014. All rights reserved. Should not be copied, modified, reproduced, printed in any format and size without the prior permission of the copyright holder.

Color mixing palette

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This is a sketch of one of my color mixing palette that I use at home studio. I loved the simplicity of this one as well as it's mixing wells. The 12 pigment wells hold 4 each of all the 3 primaries colors, reds, yellows and blues of both warm and cool temperature pigments. I am able to mix almost all secondary and tertiary colors out of these 12 pigments. However I try to do only primary mixes on this palette and use another one for the rest. I'll post a sketch of the other palette also someday!


Medium watercolor on sketchbook
Size: Size: 6 1/2" H x 10" W.
Time 60 min. approx.
Source: Live

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Above is the list of primary colors marked by their names on my watercolor palette. All the reds, yellows and blues are grouped together. This kind of organized way of putting your colors on the palette [this is not the only way!] helps to pick the color of your choice conveniently without getting into confusion and also allows to compare the hues within themselves. Apart from these colors, I also use Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna and Viridian Hue.

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A picture of the simple setup of the color palette while I was working on the sketch. Adding the color tube on the bottom makes it more interesting. 

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© Dhruba Mazumder, 2014. All rights reserved.

Brushstrokes studies in Watercolor

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I have been thinking lately to practicing more expressive brush marks while painting with watercolor. Watercolor can be tricky at times and certain results are hard to achieve. In these two quick exercises, the aim was to use the brush directly in a calligraphic way to define forms and not blend too much between the strokes so that brush marks can be more visible giving a textural look. The downside of this may be of showing off too much unwanted marks ending with a feel of overwork. These are done on cartridge paper. The two studies done above are between 5-7 minutes and the colors were put down and let to blend on the paper itself.

Medium: watercolor on sketchbook [cartridge paper]
Size: 11" H x 7 1/2"W

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This sketch is done in similar approach with bold and loose directional brush strokes to create marks attempting textural results. Any surface detailing is not the concern of this exercise, instead it's the broken brushstrokes of different values and colors I was looking for to define volumes. On the right are the brushes used for this sketch. The sketching time for this one is 30 min. approx.

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In the above image, you can notice the simple setup for this quick watercolor sketch. Keep the subject near the window and pickup the sketchbook and color.

Medium: watercolor on sketchbook [cartridge paper]
Size: 11" H x 7 1/2"W

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© Dhruba Mazumder, 2014. All rights reserved.

An Experimentation with Watercolor

The saying is that, If you do not dare to experiment, you may never know what you can achieve and it may not necessarily be a solid 'success' every single time. But, what if you can get something worth as a final result, that may be the bonus! The path traveled for the first time is mostly exciting in spite of the difficulties faced. However the joy is to stay positive without expecting an end results and enjoy the unknown. Not all roads leads to a final destination but the experience can still be worth a try.

Here's what I did with one of the demo watercolor piece from the last watercolor workshop I had conducted in Chennai. I was showcasing various techniques of watercolors and ended up with few papers which has hardly anything but patches of colors. As I am always on for experimentation I wanted to do something which I have never tried before. I convinced myself I had nothing to loose as it was not a finish piece of art.

Fig 01

This one is a quarter size paper where I demonstrated two different approaches for 'wet-in-wet' techniques and back-run/bloom/cauliflower effect [Fig 01]. I did not wanted to throw this away or keep lying around. On this kind of situations, I generally come back later on to establish some shapes of tonal values and colors on top of the existing ones to see if anything I can further develop. I'll do another post on that topic some other day :)! this time I decided to wash off the existing colors to see what remains and what can be done.

Fig 02

After keeping the paper wet thoroughly for sometime, I used a big soft flat brush to wash off the colors as much as possible [Fig 02]. You need to be gentle and careful at this step so the 'external sizing' of the paper is not damaged. You can also notice if you have used staining pigments in earlier stages, they wont come off completely from the paper while others will clear. Satisfied with what I got here, I let it to dry keeping flat on a board.

Fig 03

This is the exciting stage to start a new painting on top of a washed off paper. Here you can notice, I did a economical line drawing to go for the new painting [Fig - 03]. I was excited as there were under wash of colors which was completely not planned for the new painting.

Fig 04

For this exercise I decide to use this tonal study [Fig 04]. This is a quick and random graphite sketch I did earlier to study shapes of light and shade within a composition and I considered this will be nice one to use in this exercise as it's relatively a simple. The reason for using a simple concept is I was still unaware how the paper is going to react when I start laying the fresh washes again after it had been washed off and dried once before.

Fig 05

Here's the final watercolor [title: One] I achieved after repainting on the washed off paper. I decided to use similar family of colors which were used for the earlier demonstration purpose to keep the colors fresh [avoiding muddy result]. I was happy for what I finally ended up with, from nowhere to a finished painting, This exercise helped me building my confidence that even if a watercolor painting goes wrong considering the fact that it's an unforgiving medium, there's always hopes to work it around to either bring life back into it [there are various ways :)] or be brave, wash it off and start fresh again! Doing a new painting on top of a 'not so successful' painting is not a new thing and practiced regularly on other mediums however watercolor is delicate because of the paper used as surface and the transparency of pigments.

Few things I observed from this exercise are:

• This is suitable to practice on a better quality paper with good internal and external sizing.
• Hand made papers may not be suitable as the pulps may become weak easily after a thorough wash.
• The paper should be wash carefully not to disturb the external sizing however it will still become a little weak and the colors may bleed in areas even while using as 'wet on dry'.
• You need to be aware of the pigments used in the first stages. Staining pigments are hard to get off paper.
• As there are colors remaining from the previous wash, use colors wisely [warm/cool] to avoid muddy results. Remember, watercolors is transparent and what is there underneath will show through successive top layers.

I encourage you to try this exercise to see what you can achieve. If nothing much, you'll still know you can work around a flailed painting to a completely new one. We do not pain successfully every single time, right! All the best!

I would love to hear about your views, comments and experiences. Feel free write in the comment section below.

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© Dhruba Mazumder, 2014. All rights reserved.

A Self Reminder

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A reminder to self, looking for inspirations for sketching and painting should become like a habit. The more we paint, more easier it becomes to get inspired from all around us. It becomes easier for us to start noticing interesting shapes of light and shade leading to meaningful compositions rather than only looking for particular subjects. Though more than often we fall to draw and sketch our favorite subjects, they may not be available all the time. However if we practice regularly to 'see' shapes, the whole world fills with different interesting subjects for sketching and painting at any given time. We no need to worry for 'that' interesting subject anymore. Interestingly, it may work the other way too. The less we practice, harder it becomes to get inspirations leading to frustrations.

I got Inspired to sketch this plant today seeing the leaves under the beautiful Sun! As always, I love to play with at least three values, lighter, mid and dark and incorporate counter change to make shapes look interesting. For example, You can notice how much the top leaves are lighter than the back ground which is of mid value while the bottom ones which are under shade are darker than the background.
 
Medium: watercolor on sketchbook
Size: 6 1/2" H x 5" W
Time: 60 min. approx.
Source: Live:

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© Dhruba Mazumder, 2014. All rights reserved.

Quick and Small sketches

Quick and Small sketches in watercolor on handmade paper.

Just to let you know, I'll be teaching in a workshop on watercolor techniques on 26th-27th April, 2014 in Chennai. Come and join me to learn these techniques of painting in watercolor and lift your artworks to a higher level with confidence. Only few seats available!

For more details visit the blog post here:
HERE

You can also leave a comment below or write to me at:

dhrubafinearts[at]gmail[dot]com

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© Dhruba Mazumder, 2014. All rights reserved.

Updates on Watercolor Workshop in Chennai

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Here's an update regarding my Watercolor Workshop on techniques in Chennai on 26th and 27th of April, 2014.

Workshop name:
  Watercolor Techniques and Beyond

Skill level:
  Basic to intermediate  [since the focus is on watercolor techniques, basic knowledge of drawing skill is required]

Location:   
  http://www.thevijaypark.com/,


Dates:
  26th-27th April, 2014

Timings:
  9.15 am to 4.30pm [including Tea/Cofee/Lunch breaks]


Seats:
  Limited to a maximum of 15 participants only. The registration is based on first come first serve basis.

Materials:
  The participants will be notified a recommended list of suitable watercolor materials required which they are expected to bring along to the venue during both days of workshop. Any extra art materials will be provided at the venue.

Note:
  The full course fee per participant has to be paid at the time of registration via bank transfer prior the workshop to confirm the participation. Kindly send a mail to get details regarding the registration procedure.

The main Contents of this Watercolor Workshop are:

1. Watercolor as a beautiful medium
2. Brief talk about various materials used in watercolor
3. Demonstrations of various Techniques in watercolor
4. Participants' practical use of the various techniques in watercolor
5. brief talk about color, values and composition
6. Demonstrations of the usage of techniques on a painting.
7. Participants creating their own paintings using the techniques demonstrated
8. Evaluation and critiques of works.
9. Q & A session.

For further information regarding participation & registration kindly mail at:

dhrubafinearts[at]gmail[dot]com

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Overcome techniques to paint expressively!!

© Dhruba Mazumder, 2014. All rights reserved.
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Step by step lesson

Here are few steps about how the initial observation was done and carried over next stages to the final render of the flower plant sketch done in graphite from live. Your feedback is welcome.

If you are interested to learn more something similar like this, Kindly leave a comment below.

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Color temperature experimantaion

playing around with different color temperatures and color combinations, hence experimenting different moods with the same composition. so, which one do you prefer??!! let me know on the comment below! just cover one of them at a time and try to experience your feeling about it!

medium: watercolor on sketchbook.
size: 5" H x 6 1/2" W
time: approx 30 min each.
source: from own reference picture.

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Color swatehces - a study

Fellow watercolor artist Nirupam Konwar has recently posted this beautiful, moody and atmospheric image clicked early in the morning hours from his native in Assam and it immedietly caught my attention. It has limited but nice color range. I did a small exercise of picking up the existing colors into swatches, both warm and cool hues and also analyzed their postion in tonal value scale from light to dark. These kind of exersize can help to simplify and narrow down the color range to a limited palette creating harmonious color combinations. Also the grey values help to build the solid underlying structure bringing out the more saturated hues inside the picture. Hopefully I will post a quick sketch based on these studies soon.

Original picture courtesy Nirupam Konwar.

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Comparision of sketches done over a period of time.

Do you keep your old, older and oldest sketches for comparison with your recent ones to see how much improvement you are doing over a period of time?! Do you ever take them out?!! Here are three sketches of mine done of the same subject over 3 years and their analysis.

#1 was sketched in early January '11 when for the first time I started going for plein air studies. It was very hard to handle overload of details. Tendency was to look at 'subjects' rather than interesting shapes. Focus went on everything including the distance vegetation. Struggled on the reflection and on the main foliage of the tree itself. Was not happy but I was hopeful to overcome these obstacles.

#2 was sketched on a sunny afternoon of December '12. Improvement on the foliage of the main tree, bolder approach to render them as masses of shapes and not individual leaves. Reflection was better though not confident strokes and I still went on to add unwanted details on the faraway vegetation. and that red roof on the right attracted too much attention. more lessons learned, more improvement required.

# 3 was sketched recently on January '14 from a reference picture by Shyam Deshpande. Tried to simplify as much as possible and visualize everything in shapes of different value masses. Background vegetation was kept to a minimum hint. foliage from the main tree were just a group of different colors all mixed together and the reflection was done in minimum strokes. also tried a different format for dramatic effect. better applications of brush marks. still need improvement.

Its a good idea to take out our old study sketches and do some analysis to understand where we have improved so far, where we still need to improve and where we may be actually going wrong. After all, sketches are or can be for studies, right?! well sometime they themselves are pieces of finished artworks too!

So, dig out your old sketches and start doing that honest comparison! You don't have to share however it will be nice to see the self analysis. I am sure, analysis of the #4 will be interesting too when it will be done in coming time. Still way to go, more to learn. it's a lifelong learning process.

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Inspirational sketch

"there are inspirations for art everywhere all the time. it's up to us how we respond to these inspirations, by contemplating and expressing in our own ways."

while traveling yesterday morning, i noticed this person with a selling cart under the beautiful morning light. it was a glimpse of only few seconds from a distance as i was riding and had to bring my focus back on road. however the quick glimpse was good as i could grab only the essence of it rather than focusing any details. after coming back home i did a very quick, rough sketch trying to put the vague image on paper. satisfied with what i got, i did another bigger sketch with added elements to it.

medium: watercolor on paper.
size: 9" H x 7" W
time: 50 min. approx.
source: from memory

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Value shapes comparision

we often talk about using different numbers of value as shapes for compositional purpose, for example either of 3/4/5 etc. also we often do a quick thumbnail or detailed value sketch before going for the colored version to use as a 'road map', more specially for watercolor, to construct the composition in stronger way. but afterwards how often do we check or know if we have achieved it closely if not exactly.

so this is a small exercise i do most often if not every time after a sketch or a painting has been completed in color and turned into a digital format. i not only often do a value sketch before the colored version, but also convert the final digitized color version back to grey scale or completely desaturated it discarding all its colors keeping only the value shapes to see if the colors i have used holds the desired initial value shapes.

as you already know, all colors apart from their hue and intensity also holds a value of its own. all colors are relatively more or less darker or lighter than the other ones and vise versa and more than often we ignore this hidden but important aspect of colors as we get carried away with our emotions while applying the beautiful hues. and at the end the results may be disappointing because of not using enough value range and contrast from light to dark resulting the painting as 'flat'. by observing a finished painting or sketch as a grey scale or desaturated image helps us to check and analyze this again how close we are to our initial planned value sketch.

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Quick still life studies

when we do not have enough time in hand, it's better to go for a simpler still life setting to do a quicker study. few fresh vegetables, natural light from the window and here are couple of studies in different mediums.

graphite and watercolor on cartridge paper sketchbook

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A little bit about Artistic Block

artistic block is a term where one get stuck without much inspirations to work on, self doubt, lack of creative influence, failing to express etc. leaving a person blank. this can be momentary, few days, weeks or even months if not years. it gives the feeling that, all the creativity is over and we cant do anymore expressive works, we are finished in artistic term. however if we think positively, this is also a good time to experiment, experience and learn new things and scale new horizons with very less expectations. this can be either experimenting with a completely new medium, approach and style, subject, working time letting yourself more open towards experimenting new things with much less expectations for end results unlike of regular artworks that you have been doing so far. this may be the correct time to browse through the inspirations that you have always tried to explore. you may never know what new ability you could discover of yourself just because that you have never given the chance to experiment.

a very quick experimental sketch based on a profile picture of Kruttika Susarla. thanks Kruttika for the pic.

watercolor on awoen sketchbook.
size: 7 1/2" H x 5" w approx.
time: 35 min approx.
source: from reference pic.

© dhruba mazumder, 2014

Keeping the color palette clean with frsh colors

well, according to the master watercolor artist Charles Reid, one way of judging how fresh the colors are in your just finished painting by looking at the color palettes you have used to mix colors for the painting. if the colors are still fresh in the wells and mixing areas, chances are they will be fresh in your painting as well. these are my palettes after a finished painting today. the wells were not cleaned up in the middle of the painting process and used from start to finish. apart from only few, most of the colors used were allowed to mix directly on the paper.

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 © dhruba mazumder, 2014. all rights reserved

Another source of inspiration

a sneak peak about my source of inspirations for these kind of quick sketches. there is always something interesting around you to capture in the paper. for me, it's the play of light and dark abstract shapes that catch my attention at any place and time that inspires me most, a thing i can't ignore ! it's a good idea to give another closer look at these shapes trying to observe them in abstract manner and not as simple subjects what we are logically aware of. and if you still find them interesting it's the right time to do that quick sketch!!

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From doodles to final painting - stage by stage approach.

sometimes my original paintings are based on ideas generated from random and quick doodles done in fun way. here's an example how the idea was conceived for the watercolor painting 'Deep in the woods'.

kindly click on the image to view a bigger version. thanks!!

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