You are invited..

You are invited for "The More the Merrier: Salon-Style Holiday Art Exhibition & Sale" @ ART ARK GALLERY, San Jose.



This a group show of 45 bay area artists and I am exhibiting as one of them. Opening Art Reception is this Friday, November 4th 6-9pm and there will be two more receptions - on Nov 19th and Dec 2nd. Hope you can make it for one.

Please feel free to pass this invitation to your other art loving friends :)

Avenue of Giants - Oil painting

The 33-mile Avenue of the Giants drive which parallels U.S.101 offers one of the most spectacular views of the Redwoods. Though we have stayed in the cabins and hiked the many redwood groves in the area, this is by far the most outstanding display of these giant trees in the entire 500 mile redwood belt. This breathtaking pillars of redwoods never fails to make our jaws drop everytime we drive this route.

This painting stayed as a work in progress for many months and I finally completed it last week to display in a holiday show. Family is in love with the way this looks on a frame and doesn't want me to take it to the gallery. I am torn between the number of paintings committed for the show and lack of time to produce more. I told them if it doesn't sell, it's theirs :-).

Done on a 11 X 14 Canvas with water soluble oil. Mostly done impasto style with the knife with some brush work here & there. Again, this is one of those painting that I always have trouble photographing the true texture,look & feel. Looks much better in person than what my photo has captured here.



Here is the framed look.

Cypress & Ice plants - Acrylic painting

Cypress and ice plants of Monterey in spring. A big deviation from the reference image. Changed the colors quite a bit to get this unique look. Done on a 16 X 20 canvas with acrylic paint and a combination of knife & brush. Hope you like it :)



Here is a closeup of the iceplants

Colors of Autumn - Acrylic painting

Didn't get a chance to do much of fall photography this year. So I turned to canvas to paint these autumn scenes instead. These two paintings are going as part of the holiday show to a gallery in San Jose, CA. Both done on 12 X 12 wrapped canvas with a brush & knife combo.

Autumn Reds



Autumn Yellows

Two Hydrangeas - Acrylic painting

Getting ready for a holiday show and did these two small hydrangeas. Both paintings are done on a 6 X 6 gallery wrapped canvas with acrylic paint. The flower was done impasto style with knife and the leaves with the brush strokes.

Pink Hydrangea



Nikko Blue Hydrangea

Middle McCloud Falls - Oil Painting

Every now & then, I like to pick challenging subjects to paint and I would consider this as one of them. During my travel to Northern California, I took numerous pics of waterfalls out there. This is a painting of Middle Mccloud falls based on my photograph. This huge falls project three layers of cascade, part of it is always hidden in the shadow. This is an intimidating waterfall to photograph let alone paint.



Done on a 20 X 24 canvas with water soluble oil mostly impasto style using knife & some brush.

After 12 hours in to this, I am happy with the progress so far. I would like to call it done, but like many other artists I also suffer from the tendency to over work on my paintings. I am letting it sit on the easel and staring at it whenever I pass by to catch something that I don't like. Well, can't stare at it too long as I am hoping to enter this for a juried show soon. Hope you like what you see..

FAA 4th Annual Plein Air Paint out 2011

I had so much fun painting at Lake Elizabeth, Fremont during this event. My painting "Reflections of Lake Elizabeth" won second place in the competition. It was such an honor to paint, display and win amidst the other talented artists. And I am thankful for the same.



Here is a close up of the painting.Done on a 11 X 14 Canvas panel with Water Soluble Oil in about 90 mins..

Santa Cruz Natual Bridges - Oil Painting

I started this painting as a demo in the gallery/store that I am showing in Petaluma and just managed to finish it over the weekend.

Another one of my favorite photographic location in Santa Cruz, CA is the Natural Bridges State park. This painting is based on my photo from that location. Two of the three natural bridges responsible for the parks name have collapsed. The only bridge left forms a natural arch near the shore. The arch is a nice backdrop for a tranquil beach scene. And as you might have noticed from the blog, I love painting beach scenes. The wetsand and the waves always lure me in.

Done on a 16 X 20 Canvas with water soluble oil. The arch and waves are done with knife and the rest with the brush.


Details on the arch & the waves..

Rocks of Pacific Grove - Oil Painting

Situated on the famous 17 mile drive, Pacific Grove is an artist haven. I have always been fascinated by Pacific Grove's rocks and the small coves with little sandy beaches that are sheltered between those protruding rocks.I have done some serious photography here and took numerous refernces shots of rocks to paint later.

Here are two of the paintings based on my rock photography :-). I tried to keep the style loose and focus more on the values. Done on a 5 X 7 canvas panel with water soluble oil with a combination of brush & knife.




Here is how it looks framed..

Another Chocolate Cupcake painting

Cupcake is back on popular demand... Another small 4 X 5 cupcake painting that I did for portfolio sample for a gallery. Similar to my previous cupcakes on a 4X5 canvas, impasto style with acrylic paint.

Here is the painting with it's own easel

Pot of Lilacs - Acrylic painting

A fun acrylic painting experiment to loosen up my painting style. Done on a 18 X 24 Canvas. Heavily textured and done impasto style with knife, softgel & acrylic paints. The background has little bit of gold & silver iridescent acrylic paint. Hope you like it...

Tulip Paintings and more

Some small works that are getting ready to go to the store/gallery that I display in Petaluma.

The tulips scenes were part of the spring scene from Filoli garden this year. I had a wonderful time photographing them and equally wonderful time painting them. Done impasto style on a 5 X 7 canvas panel.





And another small one based on a scene from Napa. Mostly done with brush and the foliage with knife on a 5 X7 canvas.

Ed Levin park morning - A Plein air study

My first Plein air study after almost 5 years..
One of my goal for this year is to paint on location as often as I can. And I realized last week it's more than eight months in to the year and I haven't done anything. Many of you know that I am a painter and photographer. Though I carry my painting kit and my camera, what get picked as a first choice is always the camera. Who wouldn't right ?. It's easy, quick, captures the moment I want and I can always comeback home with a great reference to paint later. Photography is a distraction to me when I want to paint plein air. So, I left my camera, tripod, lens, filters all back at home to avoid any distractions :-). I did carry my trusty iPhone just in case if I need any reference pictures..

When I arrived at Ed Levin park, it was still a bit hazy. The sun just started to peek out, clearing the clouds from the hill and it looked beautiful. Swallowing the regret about the lack of my camera, I took a quick picture with my iPhone before I began and set the timer for an hour. Here is the scene.

Started quickly painting the hills first as I wanted to capture those clouds on the hill while it was still there. Boy, it was a challenge. A western scrub jay kept me company while I painted. I think he ( she?) was more interested in eating the paint from my palette than socializing. Anyway after about 45 mins, I got to this stage. The scene in front of me has changed quite a bit from where I started. The clouds were gone, the hills were shining from the sun.

I felt the painting was flat and grabbed my knife to add some texture. Here is the finished painting in an hour.

I like it but not necessarily happy with it. I thought a smaller panel might help to finish the painting quicker but it was way too small to capture the beauty of the scene and I lost the reflections of the sky in the water. I feel it's not painted in my usual style - no punchy colors or textures. Perhaps more practice will help me get there. I'm motivated to do more plein air from this location but not on small panels on the lap. I'll be carring an easel and atleast an 8X10 panel next time.

Proud Peacock - Acrylic painting

Sharing my latest painting. A slight deviation from my usual medium but I had so much fun doing this. Lot of things going on in this painting - I used acrylic soft gel for gloss & texture and iridescent acrylic paint ( both gold & silver). This turned out to be one glittery peacock.



Done on a 18X24 canvas and painted mainly with palette knife. Here are some details on the head and the plumage.





I feel the photo here hasn't really captured the texture & the shine of the painting. I guess you got to touch and see it in the light to experience that. If you are in my town, I welcome you to do just that at the Milpitas library this Saturday. I'll be displaying this & another painting in the Golden Hills art association member show at the library. Will post the details on the show tomorrow..

Caladium heart

Sorry for the lack of updates here on the blog. Summer is the time for family & travel. Thats what I have been doing the last two months. There are some painting in the works but mostly I have been spending lot of time behind the camera but not the easel. Just wanted to share a tiny painting of a leaf that is closer to my heart. Not technically on a canvas but any painting counts as an entry here, right ?

Caladiums are colorful tropical foliage with heart shaped leaf and magenta veins & white dots. You don't need any flowers to brighten up your garden, just a pot of caladium will accomplish that. While growing up, I was crazy about them ( still am). I always wanted to paint it someday.

Instead of canvas I turned to cold porcelain a.K.a air dry clay to paint them. Borrowed some clay from my daughter to construct the leaf. This kind of clay becomes super light weight when dry, almost like a paper. I then painted the leaf with acrylic paint and sealed it with varnish. While I was at it, I made a nice jewellery set for myself :-). Here it is and hope you like it..



In case you are wondering about the caladium plant, this is how it looks.

Painted Cupcakes

It's been a busy month with very few paintings completed. Here are some painted cakes from last month that I am just getting around to taking pics. What started out as a cupcake painting for my daughter became a more addictive project. Something to do with the fact that applying the paint with the palette knife has the same effect as icing the cupcake. I couldn't stop with one :-).

These are much smaller than my usual paintings. All on a 4X5 canvas with water soluble oil. Hope you like them...

Merced River Canyon in spring - Oil painting

Back to smothering paint with knife and loving it !!

Visiting Yosemite in spring has sort of become like a family tradition to us and we always make sure to drive through Elportal along the Merced river canyon. Spring this side is spectacular. Redbuds in full bloom along the Merced river provides a stunning contrast to the hillside poppies. This year there weren't as much poppies like previous years and yet it was still beautiful. This painting is based on a reference shot from up there.



Done on a 11X14 canvas with water soluble oil. Background sky & hills done with brush and the foreground foliage done with a brush & knife combo. Took me about 2 hrs over the weekend to finish this. Hope you like it :-).

Mexican Vase & Lemon - Oil painting

Here is a still life painting that I have been working on for a while... I enjoy painting landscapes and seascapes and try to avoid still life and potraits as much as possible. This was thrown as a challenge to me in an art class. For this particular study, it felt like forcing a right handed person to draw with a left hand ;-). But after a watercolor sketch of the same setup and two stainless steel practice studies later, I think I am finished with this.

Just from painting that stainless steel bowl, I learnt so much. No denying that still lifes are indeed foundation to capture the lights and shadows in a painting and I am sure I can take the learning to my semi impressionistic landscapes.

Done on a 16 X 20 Canvas with oil..



A Close up of the painting



My setup

Gallery show at Haus Fortuna

Haus Fortuna - A Petaluma store for fine Italian things will be featuring about 25 of my paintings from this month. Come and join us for the 2nd Saturday Art Walk - May 14 between 2pm - 7pm. If you are interested in attending the art walk on May 14th, send me a note and I'll look for you :-).The paintings will be up for couple of months. If you are passing through the town, do stop by Haus Fortuna and let me know what you think. Please feel free to pass this invite to your other artist and art loving friends..

Carnival Lights - Oil Painting

I absolutely enjoy looking at the motion, light and color of the carnival rides. "Looking at " is the key word here :-). While I cannot stomach the rides like I used to when I was a teen - I still give in for the ride on Ferris wheel once in a while. The view from atop that giant wheel is incomparable. Here is a little painting that unleashed my inner child..



Done on a 11X14 canvas panel with oil. I am not sure if the photo looks little pixelated to you. I might have to replace with a better quality one at a later date.

Help Japan Challenge from Daily Paint works

I have placed two of my paintings up for auction on Daily Paint Works- Help Japan Challenge. The proceeds from any sale will go to Japanese Red Cross for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. You can see this and many other paintings for sale by other artists, by clicking on the link below.

Help Japan Challenge

The theme was 'home' and anything that was meaningful to the artist. I chose to include Poppies & Lupines and the Mendocino coast paintings because both are the cheerful representation of California - the state I have called home for the past 12 years.


Share the link, see what you like, buy what you can, support your fellow artists and most important of all help Japan.

Pear in a silver bowl - Oil painting

So there was this left over blue, black & grey paint and I thought I'll do one more of the same stainless steel bowl but with the pears instead. So much for keeping it simple and focusing on painting metal... That colorful placemat was a wrong idea - took me twice as much time as the apple painting as I had to paint more details on the mat . But I am happy with the result. Done on a 8X10 canvas with oil.

My setup..

Sorry about the photo quality, most of you know I paint at night. Just wanted to click the setup before the pears became someones breakfast in morning :-).

Apple in a silver bowl - Oil painting

I am working on a bigger still life painting that involves a stainless steel bowl. Painting metal is way different from painting landscapes - a sheer frustration. So I decided to do couple of quick studies to get me over the hump. Grabbed some apples & a stainless steel bowl at home and started painting this. Done on a smaller than usual canvas(8X10) with oil. Took me about an hour & half to complete.

My setup..

Heathers and Willows - Watercolor Painting

This is a painting based on a photograph from my summer trip to Mendocino Botanical Garden. They have a beautiful Heather garden under an old willow tree that always has full blooms in summer. The photograph itself was an attempt to abstract both the subjects. I was quite happy with how the photo as well as my painting turned out.

The photograph..


The painting..


As for techniques, the background was wet wash with lifting & streaking with the brush. The foreground heather was intitally masked with some masking fluid and then finished with impressionistic strokes. Done on a 16X20 watercolor paper.

Both this painting and my previous one "Through the Cracks" are very different from my usual realisim/ semi realism style. I have entered both of them for Filoli Gardens "Expressions in color" exhibit and keeping my fingers crossed :-). I don't think I have shared all my watercolor paintings here on the blog. If interested, you can see more of my watercolors on my facebook album : Here

Through the Cracks - Water color painting

Wanted to share my recent latest watercolor rendering with you all. I primarily use watercolor just for sketching purposes but offlate I have been painting lot of abstracts/ impressionistic style landscapes. Here is one such painting..

Family thinks this looks like broken glass. But this is an abstract representation of tree & water through granite cracks. If you have ever been to Yosemite - Olmstead point, you will know what I am talking about. The inspiration was that but the colors were added for fun.

I used one of my favorite technique for the texture- wet wash with sap green, diox purple and turquoise and tissue paper on top. The tree & cracks were free style following the patterns formed by the tissue paper :-).

Done on a 16X20 Arches watercolor paper

Sattui's Neighbor - Oil Painting

11X14 Canvas Panel with Oil

Last spring when drove to Napa Valley and spent sometime at Sattui Winery. There was this little barn next to Sattui Castle amidst the mustards. I took a quick reference shot for painting and forgot about it. Now that the mustard season is in full swing, I went back to that old photo to paint this. Hope you like it..

Here is my reference photo