Snow Flakes

Howdy all ! Hope you are enjoying your holiday season.. Been a bit busy the past months travelling/photographing and haven't been able to post in the blog.

This is a painting that I have been working on for quite sometime and I am ready to call it finished. You guys know I paint mainly landscapes, right ? Portraits and figures have always been a challenge for me. I did this painting mainly to get out of my comfort zone.

I have always enjoyed watching Nutcracker ballet during the holiday season and the snowflakes are my fav part in the whole show. This is an adaptation of a post card that I had and just in time for the holidays :-)..

Done on a 18X24 canvas with water mixable oil.

Hope you like it..




One more close up..

Point Lobos - Rocks and Surf painting

Haven't had much time to paint this week. But managed to finish this one for my Pacific coast series. This is based on a reference shot that I took along the north shore trail close to Whalers Cove. I was fascinated by the pounding surf against the rugged cove and dying to paint it ever since I took the shot.

Done on a 8 X 10 Canvas with Water mixable oil.


Here are the details..


The rocks were done with a combination of brush & knife. I was wondering how to tackle the surf. And my daughter came home from school with weird looking tiny pieces of color sponges that she found on the play ground. I borrowed it from her and it worked perfectly ;-).

Monalisa Revisited - Oil painting

Being a landscape painter, I have always had an aversion for portrait painting for some reason. To help me overcome that and appreciate portraits more, I did this painting as part of my art enrichment class. Not that I am not a fan of Italian renaissance paintings, I never really cared for Da Vinci or Monalisa until my mentor picked it for me to paint.

Here is my version of Monalisa - done on a 16 X 20 Canvas, with water mixable oil.



More than Mona Lisa what drew me to the painting was the rocky, dream-like background that gave an illusion of surreal atmosphere. The challenging part for me in this whole painting is her hands - the play with the lights & shadows and just the suggestion of nails. And then there was the struggle to get her to do that faint smile and not make her look so serious.

Here is the close up of her face.



Though this hasn't convinced me to take up portraits, the main take away for me from this whole experience is to appreciate the expression & feeling that the artist is trying to convey. Needless to say I did a whole lot of appreciating when I went to the "Birth of Impressionism" exhibition @ Deyoung Museum here in SFO last week. I spent quite a lot of time looking & studying the portraits which is a big deal for me :-).

Pacific Coast Series - Mendocino Paintings

I love painting water in any form and particulary drawn to the pacific coast. I have accumulated tons and tons of reference shots from my numerous trips all the way from the northern to southern California coast. There is no way I will be able to finish painting them all in my lifetime but I am attempting to make a small series of the coast that I adore.

Trying to do this in a smaller size canvas panels as studies and may do couple of bigger size paintings later. You will also see that I am slightly moving away from my usual style of painting with details to more of a painterly approach in these studies. I am training my eyes to see the shapes, color values and capture the mood rather than working on the details :-).

First and second in the series are from the reference shots that I took along the Mendocino coast - each painting took about an hour. Hope you like it.

Enroute to Elk - 8 X 10 Canvas panel, Water Soluble Oil


Along the Mendocino Coast - 8 X 10 Canvas panel, Water Soluble Oil

Mount Shasta Lavender Farm

Done on a 8 X 10 canvas panel with water mixable oil.

Based on a reference shot taken during my recent road trip to Mt.Shasta. The smell was divine and scenerey was breath taking.

I tried to keep my style loose for this painting. Didn't want to get bogged down by the details like I usually do but focused on the shapes, shadows and color. This whole painting was done in less than an hour.

Little boy and the big lake

"The mountains are calling and I must go."
— John Muir

Little boy and the big lake , 18 X 24 Canvas with Water mixable oil

My latest painting based on a shot that I took @ Tenaya lake in Yosemite. You know how much I love taking photographs for reference and for pleasure. I was setting up the tripod and the angle when this little boy came running in to the frame from no where. The massive granites, the enormity of the lake and tiny little boy was quite a scene to look at and triggered that shot. I have been itching to paint this ever since and finally calling it done. Hope you like it. Here are the details..

The mountains and the trees are done with the knife.


Details on the foreground rocks, done mainly with brush.


Details on the little boy.

Dana Meadows and Mammoth Peak - Yosemite Painting

I cannot get enough of this place. We drove up to Tuolumne during the long weekend and it was beautiful. Missed my easel & canvas but had my camera. Here is my new painting based on a reference shot that I took during the trip.

Done on a 11 X 14 Canvas with WMO. The mountain and some of the trees in the meadow are done impasto style with knife. Sky and the clouds are done with brush. This is the first painting in the high country series that I intend to work on this summer.

Here is the painting,


Here is the reference photo,

Beach day @ Carmel, CA

Here is my latest painting , based on a reference shot that I took in Carmel beach of my daughter & her aunt. I went back to acrylic to do this. The sand & reflections are done in a watered down paint to get the watercolor look & feel.



Done on a 11 X 14 canvas with Acrylic. Hope you like it.

Happy Father's day !

Happy Father's day to all the dads out there.

Here is to my wonderful husband and an awesome dad. Painted from a photo shot during one of those rare moments when an independent 8 year old let him hold her hands :-).



Done on a 8 X 10 canvas with Water mixable Oil.

San Francisco Nights

I love watching skyscrapers at night. Fortunate to live close to this beautiful city - here is San Francisco at night. Lighting up those buildings tooks more time than I anticipated, but I am finally going to call this done. This painting is on a 18X24 canvas with water mixable oils.

Finished painting

Details on the buildings and reflections

More details on the buildings

Details on the water - done with the impressionist brush strokes

Merced river cascade - Painting with WIP

Time for more rocks and water. I did this WIP based on the reference picture that I took during my Yosemite trip. Sorry for the poor quality of the WIP photos - been working on this at night after work and wanted to document the progress. Done on a 11 X14 canvas with water mixable oils. Hope you like it.

Here is the reference picture


Stage 1 : Underpainting with two acrylic colors - Pyroline Orange & Diox purple



Stage 2: Started on Water Soluble oil - Worked on Rocks & Trees



Stage 3 : Here is the finished paitning



More details on the rocks and water

Sunset Creek

Sunset Creek - 5 x 7 Canvas Panel, Water Soluble Oil painting.
Done for the monthly landscape challenge on WetCanvas.

Beached Boat

Beached Boat - 5 x 7 Canvas Panel, Water Soluble Oil painting

Done for the monthly landscape challenge on WetCanvas.

Yosemite Falls

During my recent my recent visit to Yosemite, I saw couple of paintings done by Penny Otwell in the Ansel Adams gallery. I was thoroughly inspired by her free style and colors. Though I tend to stick to realism for most of my paintings, I let go of myself from the reference image for this painting. Trying this style was very liberating .

Here is the result of my experiment. 11 X 14 Canvas, WMO painting.

Standing Tall - Yosemite's El Capitan

Here is a painting of Yosemite's El Capitan that I did from a postcard that was bought couple of years ago. Took me 12 hours spread out over 6 weekends to finish this.


16 X 20 Canvas, Water Soluble Oil Painting

The El Capitan rock and the leaves on the foreground were done with the knife. Rest were with the brush. The sky in the actual painting looks a bit more blue than what is seen in the photo here. But I am not fond of any image editing on the paintings, so leaving it as is.

Filoli Garden Spring Fling - Flowering Trees and Tulips

We visited the beautiful Filoli Gardens last month. They had a breath taking display of tulips and flowering trees. With an adventurous 7 year old around, it is not always possible for me to do Plein air paintings. I took tons of pictures and now working on a full series of Filoli Spring Fling paintings based on my photos.

Here are some I finished over the weekend.


Filoli Pink blossoms - 8X 10 Canvas Panel, Water Mixable Oil painting



Filoli Red Tree - 8x10 Canvas Panel, WMO Oil painting



Filoli Fire - 5X7 Canvas Panel , WMO oil painting



Filoli Tulips by the Pool - 5X7 canvas panel, WMO oil painting

Point Lobos - China Cove

Point Lobos - China Cove beach painting

The rocks were done in impasto style. The hardest part was the waves - I used a combination of knife and brush.

Here are the details..

Mendocino Mustards

11 X 14 Canvas - Water Soluble Oil painting

I think I have finally settled on a preferred style of painting - realism with a touch of impasto. This painting of Mendocino coastline is one such creation - Coast line painted with brush and the mustard done with the knife.

Poppy Field - Inspired by Monet and Van Gogh

Here is Monet's 'Poppy Field in Argenteuil'


Here is Van Gogh's 'Field of Poppies'


And here is Hema's Poppy Field :-)



16 X 20 Canvas - Water soluble Oil Painting

I tried to use the same impressionist style as the masters and it was hard. But I was happy with the result.

Big Sur

Big Sur - Along the beautiful Hwy 1.
16 X 20 - Water Soluble Oils

Roses from my garden

Size : 8 X 10 inch, acrylic painting

Golden Gate Bridge - Impasto style

Golden Gate Bridge - Impasto Style
11X14 inch - Done with water soluble Oils

My first attempt at impasto style and I thoroughly enjoyed painting this. I am never gonna let go of the knife now.

Rainy day - Knife painting

Here is another painting in impasto style.
8 x 10 inch canvas , Water soluble Oil

Pacific Grove , Carmel - Expressionism

11 X 14 Canvas - Water Soluble Oil Painting

Would you have guessed the place if I didn't tell you ?

The challenge for this painting is to use expressionism style - not use the traditional colors that you will see in a realistic painting. Purple ocean and green rocks , Hmmm.. As much as my daughter loves this, I am not sure if I'll do the same style again.