Farmstead

15" x 10.5", Acrylic on canvas

Painting Barns and  pastoral scenes is a landscape artist's delight! And, doing this one brought so much joy to me. Posted this painting for the Green Palette Challenge for this week's topic-"Homestead". Painted this from a reference photo that I have been having for quite some time. I wish I knew the name of the photographer who captured this beautiful scene somewhere in Canada. With due credit to him, I post this. I added the sheep to create interest.

Still Life with Cantaloupe

12" X 16", Acrylic on Canvas

This is done for the PADT challenge.  Its from the photo posted by Lela Stankovic which I found to be beautiful with many reflections bouncing to and fro. It seemed intimidating at first and the more I thought how to approach it, the more difficult it seemed. But when I dived into it, the going got comfortable. Capturing the subtle reflections and value changes was challenging.  Lela's detailed instructions on how to approach the subject proved very valuable. Overall, I'm happy with the outcome, especially because, I didn't spend more time fixing it. This time, there was an urgent sense to wrap it up quickly

Dutch Countryside

14"x10.5", Acrylic on Canvas



Off and on, I enjoy using Google street view to gather some good scenes from different places to paint. This is one of them and I had painted this in early Jan. This is somewhere in Holland and I  loved the serene locale. Yes, there are many things going on here, and as you may know me by now, I like putting in details. :-) Whenever I look at this, I wonder about the family living here. How lucky they are! Their lifestyle- peaceful and idyllic! One of the joys of painting landscapes is the feeling of actually having gone there, spent some time wandering and returning after you have done with the painting.

Windmill at Norfolk, UK

6"x 8.5", Acrylic on Canvas

Windmills make interesting subjects for painting. I painted this from one of the many artist reference photos available for free on the net. When it comes to landscapes, I usually paint on bigger canvas sizes. I realised it was difficult to paint small, especially on canvas, given  that I tend to put in details. Maybe  painting smaller landscapes on smoother surfaces will give good results. A lesson, learnt. :-)

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

12" x 10", Acrylic on Canvas

I painted this yesterday for the Studio Atelier Challenge. This is from a photo of the Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, taken by Barbara Benik. Am fairly satisfied with this, as I did a hurried job of it.

We Two

6" X 6", Acrylic on Canvas

Getting back to painting after a long time! Sometimes, other priorities simply take over, and I decided its best to stop fretting about not being able to paint regularly. I painted this one today for the Rookie Painter Challenge. Jen's photograph of the onions was very inviting. This will be part of the 6"x6" Kitchen painting series that I have in mind. For the first time, I used modelling paste (Liquitex brand) to get the texture on the wall. Its fun, fast and easy to use.



Breakfast Friends

Acrylic on Canvas, 14" x 10.75"

I finished painting this one today from the reference photo provided by Barb Benik  for the Studio Atelier Challenge. Animals are a lot of fun to paint, especially farm ones. I had always wanted to paint a horse and this challenge forced me to do one. Moreover, barn and pastoral scenes are so pleasing to look at. I started off pretty quickly, but struggled when I got to do the foreground (ground, especially)which gave me problems. I had to force myself to stop because I wasn't getting any better with it.

Swiss Countryside

Acrylic on canvas, 14" x 10"

I hadn't been posting in a long while. Reason being, we moved houses couple of months ago, and it has taken me this long to settle down into a somewhat comfortable routine in our new house. It feels so good to get back to painting. I'm still a bit busy these days, but I cant wait any longer.. :-)

This scene is painted from one of the photographs taken during our trip to Europe in the spring of 2010. This is a Swiss country side scenery and I had photographed it from our coach enroute to Interlaken. The beauty of Switzerland goes beyond words and I would love to visit again someday. I took quite a lot of photos and I hope to paint some of them.

Snowy

10"x10". Acrylic on Canvas

I loved painting this dog. Her real name is Zoe and she belongs to Mr. Lee A. Brown, who is a great photographer and hosts a painting challenge on his website-A Day Not Wasted.

Painting the photo seemed intimidating and wondered whether I'll be able to do enough justice to the great shot taken by Lee. And then, my husband saw the photo and he loved her instantly and even renamed her as "Snowy". Upon his insistance, I decided to give it a go. I'm pretty happy with the result. I had to force myself to stop as I was getting carried away. I wish I could have captured the glow of her white fur better.

Three Vases

6" x 6", Acrylic on Canvas

This painting of the vases is done for Rookie Painter Challenge hosted by Jen. Painting the reflections and shadows was quite a challenge.

Merry Cherries

4.25"x4.25", Acrylic on Canvas

This goes as a submission to PADT Challenge. 

Temple in Kyoto, Japan

7"x9", Water color pencil on Canson paper

This is a painting of an old temple in Kyoto, Japan.  This goes as a submission to Virtual Paintout Challenge for April. Done in water color pencil, an entirely new medium for me, it was quite a challenge to get the blending right. Though not entirely satisfied, I thought it came out ok for my first attempt. I realised, acrylics are so much more forgiving when it comes to undoing mistakes.

Cape Town, South Africa

Acrylic and Oil on canvas, 10" x 8"

This scene was painted as seen from Victoria Road, Cape Town, South Africa, using google street view. Cape town is a gorgeous place with many mountains, blue-green ocean views from along the highways, lovely houses etc. This painting goes as a submission to Virtual Paintout Challenge for March.

Spring Bloom

Acrylic on Watercolor paper, 8"x8"

This is done for The Monthly Painting Challenge website hosted by Pam Van Londen for this month. Here is the reference photo given.

"Where's home? What's happening Momma?"

Acrylic on Canvas, 8"x7"

This painting of the cute Polar bear cub was a submission to The Green Palette Challenge for this week's topic-Global Warming.

Frankly, I didn't feel good painting this scene. The sheer helplessness of the animal drifting away on the Arctic ocean,  is disturbing. Nevertheless, I had to paint this, to emphasize the issue at hand.

Persimmon on Lace

Acrylic on Canvas, 6.25" x 6.25"

This painting of Persimmon fruit was done for the PADT Challenge.

Waiting to ferry

Acrylic on Sketching paper, 13"x 10.5"

I painted this a year ago from a reference photograph of a scene in Norway.

Mountain Chickadee

Acrylic on Canvas, 6.5" x 6.5"

I painted this one today, as a submission to Gary Keimig's Wilderness Art Challenge for this month. A photo of the mountain chickadee was given as a reference.



The Coffee Jar

Acrylic on Canvas, 6"x 6"

This painting was done for PADT blog. A photo of the coffee jar alone with a plain grey background was given. In my painted version, it was challenging to give a suitable background. I thoroughly enjoyed the process.

Prayer Stop



Acrylic on Canvas, 7"x9.5"

This painting is a scene from Romania found using google street view, done for the Virtual Paintout Blog for the month of Feb.

The Red Apple

Acrylic on Watercolor Paper, 4.25"x4"



I painted this Red Apple as a submission to this month's challenge at Rookie Painter. As I had never painted any apples before, this one was a lot of fun. I am happy with the outcome, more so because, it's my first still life painting! I loved putting the water drops. I'm now looking forward to try painting other fruits and veggies.

Aspen Grove 

 

Acrylic on Canvas.  Size:  8" x 10"

  

I painted this for Pam Van Londen's Monthly Painting Challenge  in January.

County Clare, Ireland

 

  Acrylic on Canvas. Size- 10"x3.8"

                                               

                                                  

This painting was done for Virtual Paintout Challenge hosted by Bill Guffey, during Dec 2010. County Clare in Ireland is a beautiful place with greenery in abundance. I enjoyed painting this scene, found using google street view.






Monarch Butterfly

  

                                                 
                                                  Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 5.5" x 7.5"
  

This was done for PADT  challenge hosted by Lela Stankovic for the month of January.