TEMPLE GOPURAM

WISHING ALL A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR. Lets start the New Year 2008 with blessings from the Almighty.

The first painting of the New Year 2008 is TEMPLE GOPURAM a painting of classic South Indian Architecture. This is an oil painitng of size- 16"x12".

This painting is a ground level view of the 'Chamundeeshwari Temple Gopuram' Mysore. Done in an impressionist style, I have used colors for the painting, although the original gopuram has a natural earthen finish and is not painted.

Water LIllies

Water Lillies is an acrylic painting of size 28"x21". I did this painting in response to a call for artists by the online art gallery called 'Galleryfront.com'. They had invited artists all over the world to paint on a theme called 'Peak Oil', which is a major global issue today after 'global warming'. It is about the depletion of natural oil from the earth, and how it has affected our living, eg. everrising oil prices, and destruction of earth due to unrestricted oil mining.
My paintings 'Water lillies and 'Red oil green earth' were both selected by Galleryfront.com, and published in their September-October issue of their art magazine. The online version of the printed magazine can be viewed in the -SCRIBD- that I have released in the post dated-10th December 2007. Just click on the 'SCRIBD' to view the whole magazine by scrolling!

'Water Lillies' --says that there may still be hope and we may find a way out of this global issue just like the 'water lilllies' that are growing in spite of the oil slick!

The 'Trinity Acres show' at Sarjapur

I am so excited to write about the show that was held at 'Trinity Acres and Woods' community at Bangalore, on the 8th and 9th of December 2007. I got to meet a lot of people and got to hear their first hand opinions of my painitngs.

For details of the show, visit my blog 'The Trinity Acres and Woods Show' blog.

View my paintings 'Green earth red oil' and 'Water Lillies' published in September-October issue of Galleryfront.com magazine.USA

A Christmas / New Year show at Sarjapur

hi friends

I have been busy preparing for the upcoming show of my paintings at Sarjapur. The show is to be held at the 'Trinity Club House'- in the 'Trinity Acres' community on Sarjapur road. Good friends Yoga and Champa have kindly taken up to arranging for the show along with my husband, and I just have to get prepared with the paintings. The show is to be held on the 8th and 9th December, 10a.m-6p.m.

All are invited!

So I will be posting only after the exhibition with news about the show, and also images of the new paintings that are right now getting ready for the show. -

usha

SMILE PLZ - FACES OF INDIA

Smile Plz - is an oil painting on canvas of size-12"x16". During my recent visit to see my father who is staying in a beautiful village near Madurai in South India, I had equipped myself with a digital camera, to click some great shots of the beautiful sceneries there. But what really struck me was the people themselves rather than the sceneries. The life style there is very slow and leisuely. Nobody is in a hurry to finish their work, nor tensed to get anywhere. They always have a ready smile for visitors, and ever ready to pose for photograhs! I saw this grandma-grandson duo washing clothes, and casually asked for permission to click a photo. They immediately gave brilliant smiles which could match only the sunlight there! I did not have the heart to tell them to give me a natural pose, and so clicked them as they were--that is in their natural themselves! So I was lucky enough to click not just the beautiful sceneries in the village, but the essence and mood of the people there! I am really glad to paint this picture, because I was able to live through the smiles and happy mood of the people as long as I was painting them. I hope the smile has caught on to u too.

Champagne and Roses

Champagne and roses are the best combination for a present on a memorable day. These roses and the champagne bottle were a present to me. I arranged the roses in a glass vase, and placed the bottle beside it, They looked so good on the dining table, that I immediately pulled out my easel and painted on a canvas. Thus it became a subject for my still life painting.

This is an oil painting on canvas of size 12"x8".

Bird Of Paradise

Bird Of Paradise -is an oil painting on canvas of size 21"x13".

This paintings is done in response to a painting project for about.com. It is done in the 'fauvist' style. Vibrant colors are used in an expressive way in this painting.

Transcendental Meditation

Transcendental Meditation- is an oil painting on canvas of size 24"x32". This painting is framed.

This is my facourite painting, because I meditate everyday and have experienced the flow of positive energies into self, driving out the negative energies. This painting is actually representative of the traditional meditation pose. The man/woman is seated in this traditional posture on a mat with hands resting on knees and fingers showing the mudra ( finger posture). There is much more to this painting, and I will be glad to interact and answer questions.

Kanchi Saree

This is an oil on canvas painting of size 13"x18".

I do love to paint sarees especially heavy silk sarees, which have a fall of their own. Kanchipuram is a small town in South India where this type of heavy silk sarees with real gold borders are hand woven. Hence the name -Kanchi Saree. The Kanchi saree is worn and preserved and passed on from generation to generstion because of its high cost and also because they do not degenerate easily. Yes you guessed right. This saree was passed on to me by my mother. Each saree is a masterpiece creation of the weaver, and I only hoped here to bring out the beauty of the saree.

SCENT OF A WOMAN - KANCHI SAREE

Scent of a Woman- is an oil painting on canvas of size-30"x22"-and framed.

This painting is surrealistic in style. Scent of a woman really means essence of a woman. As I said I paint from my experiences ( as an Indian woman). In this painting I hoped to have captured the essence of the Indian woman. The heavy-brocade bright, reddish-orange silk saree popularly known as Kanchi Saree (hand woven in Kancheepuram), the diamond studded traditional design nose-ring and the scent emenating agarbathis (incensce sticks) are representative of the scent of a woman.

BRIDAL WEAR - KANCHI SAREE

Bridal Wear - is an acrylic painting of size 36"x30".
The bright short colored (two differnt hues of blue here) heavy silk Kanchi saree (hand woven in Kancheepuram) with real gold woven border is representative of our traditional South Indian wedding dresswear. The long string of woven jasmine flowers is worn on the hair along with lots of bangles for the hands. A South Indian bride is dressed very colorfully. I hope to paint a figurative version of the Indian bride- some time in the near future.

Traffic in a Blizzard

Traffic in a Blizzard- is a mixed media paitning done on canvas of size 36"x30".

Heavy winds and rain was lashing against the window of our car as we drove home after seeing Christmas celebrations at a mall (Texas). The roads and headlights of cars were only vaguely visible through the glass. I did this painting in an abstract style using acrylics for rain drops and oils for the rest of the paitning.

Wet Traffic

Wet Traffic - is an acrylic painting on canvas of size 24"x30". This is a view of traffic as seen from the rear windscreen of a car while driving on a flyover road at high speed (Texas traffic). The roads were rain kissed and the sky still heavily clouded waiting to shed more rain. All this and the glare of the headllights of the cars behind us led me to try this scene on canvas.

Joggers Path- winter time

Jogger's Path - winter time - is an oil painting of size 30"x24".

Enthused on seeing my painting of the 'Jogger's Path - spring time', my son-in -law clicked some photos of the same jogger's path scene covered with snow during winter, and sent me via email (I was back home in India). As I had already been in this same spot and had a feel of the place and atmosphere here, I was able to transform it into a painting. This paitning is for him.

Joggers Path- spring time

Joggers Path- is an oil painting on canvas of size 30"x24"

This jogger's pathway in a community in Texas USA, is lit by the afternoon sun. There were no joggers at this time, and so I clicked some photos to capture the sun and the shadows on canvas at a later time. And so here it is.

The Flowering Tree

The Flowering Tree - is an oil painting on canvas of size 30"x24".

I saw this tree from a second floor level window, and was struck by the beauty of mother nature. Luckily I clicked some snaps from behind venetian blinds the same day. Otherwise I would have lost the opportunity of having references for this painting-because, when I peeped down the window the next day, I saw that the tree was totally bare!

The American Chapter

I visited the US (Texas) last year same time, to meet my daughter who lives there. It was my first and only visit to the US(as of now). I had a short opportunity of experiencing the air of US, the vastness, the nature, the communities, the people, traffic etc etc., so different from my place! So I clicked a few photos and translated them into paintings at leisure when I returned home. The next few paintings shows the US as seen through my eyes. So beautiful!
usha

The Grinding Stone

The Grinding Stone - is an acrylic on canvas painting of size- 24"x30".

This is a grinding stone traditionally used in India to wet grind while cooking. With the invention of electric wet grinders, this stone is used less and less nowadays. But I can assure you, that 'chutneys' made by grinding with this stone tastes way better than if -ground in an electric grinder. I guess this is because, the food is press ground in this, unlike being cut by blades in an electric grinder.

THE PIT

The Pit-1, and The Pit-2 are acrylic paintings on canvas of size 21"x27".

I was fascinated by this pit where some bamboo sticks and some vessels and sacks were stored -because of the play of sunlight. A rather uninteresting subject, but I couldn't resist trying it out on canvas. I did 2 paintngs under 2 different angles of sunlight. You can see them both here.

Hampi on Tungabadra-2

Hampi in Tungabadra-2 is an oil painting on canvas of size-24"x30".

Like my previous painting, this is also a view of the temple ruins of Hampi as seen during a boat ride on the River Tungabadra.

Note that the light has changed, as the sun had gone down, and the color of the boulders and water, and the sky have all changed.

Hampi on Tungabadra-1

Hampi on Tungabadra- is an oil painting on canvas of size 24"x30".
Hampi is a beautiful historical place in Karnataka famous for its temple ruins left by Rajahs (Kings) of yester years. One such ruin can be seen here on the hill. Photographs were taken during a teppa (boat) ride on the River Tungabadra, and used as reference for this painting.

Lone Fisherman

Lone fisherman- is my first large acrylic painting. Until then I used to paint only in oils. This fisherman was seated facing the hot sun, oblivious of time and surroundings.
This paintng is an acrylic on canvas creation, of size 24"x30".

Blue Moon

Blue Moon - is an oil painting on canvas of size 24"x36". This is especially a favourite painting of mine because, - firstly- I finished it at one shot, and secondly- I had sent it for a project called-'clouds' to about.com, and Marion Boddy Evans described it as-'very moody and intriguing'!

The Wave

The Wave- is my latest painting completed. In the background is the Western coast of India -Kerala to be exact. The evening sunlight falls on the wave. I really enjoyed trying to get this effect while painting. This is an acrylic on canvas painting of size 12"x16".

Welcome note

Hi all
Welcome to my blog of fine art.