Effiel tower in Bangalore

Lal bagh [the botanical garden] in the heart of the Bangalore city organizes and showcases this beautiful flower show twice a year, in the month of January and August with exclusive and exotic flowers, plants and floral decorations. During these days it attracts hundreds and thousands of people from all the over the country and abroad also to view this unique event in the glass-house premise. Though it is any sketchers' paradise to do live sketching of these beautiful flowers, its actually impossible to do so because of the pack crowd. even photographers have hardly any place to get a good angle :)! I happened to visit Lal bagh last Thursday and to my surprise this Eiffel Tower made of thousands of of white and red roses with some green leaves still stood there from the exhibition even after it has ended few days earlier. though the flowers have dried up and changed their color, it was still the best thing to sketch there that day with much less crowd. however I was interrupted many times as i was surrounded by group of visiting students in that sketching session, but that's a part of experience for any on location sketching and painting :)!

medium; watercolor on sketchbook
size: 8" x 5 3/4"
time: 1 1/2 hrs approx.
source: live
thanks for viewing!!

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 © dhruba mazumder, 2013. all rights reserved

Vegetable series in watercolor

some recent adventures with watercolors. i thought of working with simple still life setup using vegetables. these whole series was quite fun and colorful!! hopefully i will work more on these...:)!!

medium: watercolor on 300 gms cold press brustro paper
size: 7" x 7"
source: live

kindly click on the images for bigger and better viewing!!

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 © dhruba mazumder, 2013. all rights reserved 

Late afternoon mood

I love observing the sky and how much mood it can create in an artwork, love the various colors its reflects back and specially in the evening when the sun is going to set. in this view, I was interested how portion of the evening sky was similar in color as the structure itself.

medium: watercolor on sketchbook
size: 8" x 5 3/4"
time: 60 min approx
source: live

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 © dhruba mazumder, 2013. all rights reserved 

Sketching at Childrens park

almost couple of years back i went to this park which has an attached children playing area, for my very first outdoor sketching with few of my friends on an early morning wintery sunday. i had no clue what to choose and what to sketch as i was too overwhelmed, though i remember i managed to do couple of sketches and i was thrilled! after that i never went to this park again though this is not far away from my home. i went there again yesterday in the evening and it was very nice to see the children playing and accompanied by their parents and grand parents. i had to do this sketch very quickly as the sun was going down behind the trees.

medium: waterproof gel ink and watercolor on sketchbook
size: 8" x 5 3/4"
time: 45 min. approx.
source: live

thanks for viewing.

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 © dhruba mazumder, 2013. all rights reserved

The corn sketch

Again I had to restrict myself to sketch something small element as it was already dark in the evening and I could not go out. luckily i had this corn and thought it will be nice to study this in watercolor :)!

medium: watercolor on sketchbook
size: 5 3/4" x 8"
time: 70 min approx.
source: live

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 © dhruba mazumder, 2013. all rights reserved 

Early morning drive in wintery Delhi

This one is somewhere in between a sketch and a painting :) or rather it went a little beyond a normal sketch, which most probably i will make a much larger version. it is more of a study and experimentation of various aspects.

Thanks a lot Sawan for sharing the beautiful pic u clicked and allowing me to paint :)!! Hope u liked this version too!!

water color on 300gsm cold press fabriano paper
size: 6 1/2" x 9 1/2"
source: from a reference picture.

thank you very much for viewing!

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 © dhruba mazumder, 2013. all rights reserved 

From the roof

 

this view is on my roof. it got my attention because of how different kind of shapes, lines and angles are created by these two structures and the lovely foreground shadow created by the water tank. and its a pleasure to sit on the roof underneath this shadow in the late afternoon with cool breeze blowing.

medium: watercolor on sketchbook
size: 5 3/4" x 8"
time: 75 Min approx.
source: live  

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 © dhruba mazumder, 2013. all rights reserved

Another two sketches

Oops! I spilled the shadow :)! Almost every time I struggle when I have to sketch something after dark, as I have to be restricted with something small and artificial light somehow doesn't interest me as much as natural sunlight, however its something better than doing nothing. also sketching white element is always fascinating to me as I can explore the colors beyond what it may actually consists :)!

medium: watercolor on sketchbook
size: 5 3/4" x 8"
time: 60 min approx
source: live

It was very pleasing with cool breeze to sit down on roof on a late afternoon. though I had something else in mind to sketch that day, I saw this little faucet catching a glimpse of the sun creating beautiful tonal values and shapes is not it great to get inspired by interesting shapes rather than fixed subjects!

medium: watercolor on sketchbook
size: 5 3/4" x 8"
time: 60 min approx.
source: live


thanks for viewing!! 

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 © dhruba mazumder, 2013. all rights reserved

The first watercolor from 2013!

My first water color of 2013. yah, its been almost 2 weeks and I had been busy with some commission paintings and I had to get involved doing sketches to loosen up from those commission works. finally I could begin working on own water color pieces for this year and here it is :)!!

medium: watercolor on 300 gms, cold press fabriano paper
size: 9 1/4" x 13 1/2"
source: from a reference pic provided by smitha.

Kindly click on the image below for a bigger and better version. thanks for viewing :)!

 

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 © dhruba mazumder, 2013. all rights reserved

every kitchen's friend, well almost :)! its been in almost everybody family for past few decades now although it has been replaced by the pipe cooking gas, it still remains the main contender. it comes in various sizes, and shapes however this the most common one u can have a sight on.

medium: watercolor on sketchbook
size: 5 3/4" x 8"
time: 60 min approx
source: live

the major wip stages of the cylinder watercolor sketch i did couple of weeks back. hope this helps!

a feedback is very much welcome, i would love to hear about it. thank you all :)!


kindly click on the image to view a bigger version.

© dhruba mazumder, 2013

fun with colors! experimenting with new mediums on my left over pages of last year's sketchbook and it seems fun so far. these are camel transparent photo colors and very very intense. first i splashed some colors on a randomly wet page and let it dry. once dried, i sketched this view with pental brush pen from live. than i added few more colors on specific areas, like the foliage and roof to define them more.

medium: pental brush pen and transparent photo color wash
size: 7" x 10"
time: may be 1 1/2hrs for the whole sketch in 3 different installment :)
source: live.

 

in this picture u can see the splashes. in the middle section or page, i have already sketched the structure and the trees on top of the base splash which started the similar way with random splashes as the right side page. unfortunately i lost the 1st stage picture from my comp. in the left picture i added few more colors and enhanced the tonal values to define some element like the roofs, some walls and the foliage.

 

 

something which always fascinates me to sketch from any angle. the three wheeler or auto-rickshaw which is available for hire in every small corner of this country.

medium: ink and watercolor wash on sketchbook
size: 5 3/4" x 8"
time: 45 min approx.
source: live

a detailed study of a floral mural pattern on a house wall. i think i will do this again in monochrome to understand the brilliant forms.

medium: watercolor on sketchbook
size: 5 3/4" x 8"
time: 40 min approx.
source: live

 

a suburban cattle shed somewhere in front of my house, well not exactly, which i can see everyday. a weathered, worn out structure is always artist's fascinations as it holds so much of character and if this has been added with late afternoon sunlight, then i think hardly any artist can resist the temptation to make an expression of it in one's own visual language. so here's my attempt :)!

medium: watercolor on sketchbook
size: 8" x 5 3/4"
time: 60 min approx.
source: live

this was sketched just in front of my house. i wanted to sketch this almost at the end of the day just before the sun goes down as at those moments light is always very nice and glowing and the shadow is really interesting too. so i did the line work initially and observed for few days at what time i should start the sketch and reach that special time of the day when i can capture the shadows. at this hour of the day, sun moves very quickly and shadow fades away in minutes. i am glad finally i could capture this working in couple days with breaks, a nice experience!!

medium: waterproof gel ink on sketchbook
size: 8" x 5 3/4"
time: 60 min approx total
source: live

this is showing the initial line work and the loose watercolor wash on top it. 

the food grain carrier. there's a big storage area of Food Corporation of India just across the street of where i stay and every morning these trucks will line up to go in and come back loaded with the food grain sacks. they will wait for sometime before making there journey's to their destinations. this one caught my attention because of the beautiful sun and shadow it was casting with its loads. to add on this, while sketching this [about 65 %], there was a monkey attack :)!! these two monkey came and entered my house and took out some potatoes, a pack of flour and peanuts and was not moving at all for an hour. they also drank and threw away my water sources of painting! finally when they left, the truck has already gone. so i had to finish the rest of this sketch from my memory. i am glad that i had put enough input in this sketch already before the drama began.

medium: watercolor on sketchbook
size: 8" x 5 3/4"
time: 60 min approx. with breaks
source: live

the great indian presuure cooker :). every household's essential cooking friend. if it is not there in the kitchen it is not complete. i think almost every single coking place in India has this in various sizes from tiny little to the huge ones!! it was a good exercise to study reflective metals, tonal values and subtle changes of hues.

medium: watercolor on sketchbook
size: 8" x 5 3/4"
time: 60 min arpprox.
source: live in the kitchen

one of the many fruit sellers at the neighborhood weekly suburban market. they come in their vehicle loaded with all these colorful fruits and set up the same as a makeshift shop, i think they keep going to different localities 7 days a week! i loved these weekly markets that are held in different parts and corners and mostly i guess outskirts of the city. they are very colorful and full of characteristic. this weekly market is just 5 min walk away from my home and is held on every thursday. i went to this market few times before and always thought of sketching the next time i visit again. today, i took my sketchbook and colors and did couple of sketches. and it was a very nice experience as i was working with two sketches at the same time as either one of the subject will be blocked by crowd or vehicle!! btw, i bought some vegetables also :)!!

medium: waterproof gel ink and watercolor on sketchbook
size: 8" x 5 3/4"
time: 45 min approx.
source: live

sugarcane juice seller at the neighborhood local weekly rural market.
 
medium: waterproof gel ink and watercolor on sketchbook
size: 8" x 5 3/4"
time: 45 min approx.
source: live

the moment i saw this picture, i felt like sketching it and that also in a very loose way. thanks again Sawan for sharing this picture from your parents place at bangalore.

medium: waterproof gel ink and watercolor wash on sketchbook
size: 8" x 5 3/4"
time: 60 min approx
source: from a reference picture

another two great tools for water color artist. a garden or plant sprayer and a common body sprayer recycled into a mist atomizer. they are handy to spray over the paper while working on dry condition to keep the paper moist, hence buying more time to work on watercolor washes keeping them wet. they also are very handy to create texture by spraying water on freshly laid washes. the mist atomizer is also very useful to fill with liquid water colors and directly use as a spray painting tool creating nice forms and textures! u can have few of them filled with different colors and have fun!

medium: watercolor on sketchbook
size: 5 3/4" x 8"
duration: 60 min approx
source: live