Imli

I created these for my friend A as a gift for her birthday. Check out the steps of the process here.

Just got a message from her that she loves the paintings. I am so happy about that :)  

Here are her comments:

"Omg!!! Sooooo amazing!! Wht a surprise! Babe thank you sooooo much these are outstanding and so special!

My parents were agape too! Damn do u know what a business there is in pet painting? You could rake it in hahah. Gosh i love them so much babe. Means so much to me thank you soooo much."

If you are interested in having a portrait of your pet made, post a message below and I can send you the details.

Thank you.

Flower garden

20 x 24 Acrylic on stretched canvas.

Loosely based on my previous painting  'Flower meadow'.

Steps and changes.

Beboo

This is one of my youngest nieces.. "Beboo or Renee'"! Super cute and super chubby, just like I remember her mom was at this age.I was having a hard time getting the mischievous smile this little one had on her face.

Here are the intermediate steps, though I didn't get the pictures of the early process.

Evening clouds

 

A painting of evening clouds with the beautiful colors created by the setting sun reflecting on the clouds. Check this for the steps and modifications.

Bouganvilla

J is a big fan of bouganvillas for some reason. For me personally, growing up in Pune, it was one of the most ordinary flower. It grew everywhere and in abundance. Almost every compound wall I new was covered by it, making yhem a nice cozy environment for my nemesis,  the common gecko! Uuggghhhh....

Anyways, J had a nice flowering bush in his little patio garden this Spring and I had an extra canvas.

This was half way through my class at WAM as well. So I painted it using the shape technique, not painting flowers, but asking myself what shape I see and is it cooler or hotter than what's next to it.

I love the outcome.

Calm pond

 

This is based on a beautiful pond J and I discovered on the very last day of our NH trip for my birthday. I did not have enough time to finish it plein air and I could only take limited and very poor reference photos as we had lost functionality of both of our phones and my camera when our canoe tipped over the previous day. I am still making changes to this from memory. I will update the final version soon. 

Click for more details.

P. L. Deshpande Park 1

This is based on a picture of P. L. Deshpande park or Okayama friendship garden, a new Japanese style garden in my home town Pune, India by Ajay Adiya.

I really really like this painting. I like the effect of sunlight, I like the rocks, that I have been able to paint for the first time. I like the water and rocks in it. I like the bushes and distant trees and reflection of sun on water.. basically I am excited about this painting!

 

Here is my process of creating it.

Flower meadow

This is an imaginary painting I did for a friend of mine. She wanted something springy or fall like.. but sadly (note heatwave!) its summer. Here are my steps and references.

Flower shop

Acrylic on canvas board
16 x 20.

This one was based upon a picture of a flower shop in San Jose farmers market back in early spring. (:-[ California and its mild weather, huff!!!)

The painting has more of a 2D feel, which was intentional. I love it for the variety of colors.

The setting sun

 

This painting is based on a picture taken from my living room window which overlooks the Indian lake. The sun was setting, bathing the sky and the back forest in beautiful colors. It took a few trials and errors, but I love the final flaming sky.

Cat in the hat cake

I tried my first attempt at fancy frosting today. Love it! Can't wait to try it again! Here are the details steps, failures and successes.

Backyard pond

We get these beautiful views from our bed room window. This is a backyard of one of our neighbors as seen from our window. An early spring morning, the red buds had just started sprouting and coloring the gray canvas that winter had left us. When I saw this view, I knew I had paint it.
Steps and reference photo.

Red twig dogwood

Material: Acrylic on gesso board

Size: 11x14
Time for completion: 8 hours

I recently ended gifting this to my friends A and S. I think it will go with their modern decor.

Check this page for additional photo and reference.

Free style abstract painting

I created these paintings upon request by my friend M.

What do you think?
Here is my process and more information.

Hairy Caterpillar

Hairy caterpiller Based on photo challenge at about.com
Medium: Acrylic on gesso board
Size: 8 x 10

Sunflower field

After working from home for three weeks in SJ and waiting for J to come home every evening, I have gotten back into painting.. and for once it is not painting walls!
I started a sunflower field painting while in SJ. I continued on it when I got back.... but I felt like I did the steps wrong.
So, I started it again. And got stuck again at filling up the field.

Finally, I just brushed on some blue glaze on the faraway areas and called it a day!

This was a previous version of the same that I didn't care for much. But doesn't look bad in retrospect.