Martha Washington Geranium - Completed

Martha Washington Geranium ~ Oil on Canvas panel ~ 5" x 7"

Here is the completed painting. I like the petals of this flower. They have such nice contrasting color and veins.

Martha Washington Geranium - In progress

Here is the work in progress. I am painting this with oils on canvas panel, 5" x 7". Please stop by again to see the finished work.

Martha Washington Geranium

The next painting is going to be this beautiful flower. I have seen many different varieties of geraniums, but this was new for me. Such wonderful patterns and contrast, even my cat seems to enjoy the flowers.

Anemone flowers - Completed

Anemones~Acrylic on canvas panel~5" x 7"

Here is the completed painting. Hope you like it.

Anemone - Work in progress

Here is a photo showing the next step. Please visit again to see the progress.

New painting WIP - Anemone

I have started a new painting. I have posted the 2 pictures to show the steps in progress. Please visit again to see the progress. This one is in acrylics on canvas panel.

Golden kitty

Golden Kitty ~ 5" x 7" ~ Acrylic

Another painting of my cute little kitty with wonderful soft, silky hair.

Rose - Completed

Peach Rose ~ 6" x 6" ~ Watercolor

Thanks for all your comments. I painted sevaral layers to get the rich dark background. Hope you enjoy the completed version. I have listed this on eBay. Click here to bid

Rose - Work in progress

My new watercolor painting in progress. I think I'll go for a dark background.

Cat with yarn

Cat with Yarn~Acrylic~5"x7"

My calico cat grabbing on to the yarn. She can play for hours even with the simplest of things and also finds the sunny spots in the house. Please e-mail me if you are interested in purchasing this work.

Foxgloves at Members Exhibition

Members Exhibition~Robert T. Wright Gallery of Art

My oil painting Foxgloves is on display at the Members Exhibition at the College of Lake County, IL until February 21. The opening reception was on January 15 and well attended. I enjoyed conversations with many of my artist friends.
For information, call 847-543-2240 or the gallery web page http://gallery.clcillinois.edu/

My cat - I

Cat - I ~ Acrylic ~ 5" x 7"

Here is my cat sitting by the window taking in the morning sun. I worked on Claybord for this painting. The subtle reflections in the window pane was a challenge but I am happy with the end result.

My Kitten

I adopted a kitten and am having a wonderful time with her. She is a beautiful calico, adorable and palyful. I have taken plenty of pictures and might paint one soon. I have never painted a cat, so I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Foxgloves - 12" x 12" - Acrylic on canvas panel

Foxgloves ~ Acrylic ~ 12" x 12" ~ (Framed size 15.5" x 15.5")

Thought I would post this painting of Foxgloves that I did some time back. I have the following picture when it was in progress.

Yellow Orchids - Completed

Yellow Orchids ~ Watercolor ~ 11" x 14"

Here is the finished piece. I like the rich royal blue background for these yellow orchids. I want to see how it looks in a frame. Please email me arunanitin@gmail.com if you are interested in purchasing this.

Yellow Orchids - Work in Progress

Here is a picture after painting the second layer of background. Much better don't you think?
I have painted the center petals. Little bit finishing touches and I'll be done.

Yellow Orchids - Work in Progress

I worked on the background so that I could see the flower clearly. This first layer is quite splotchy. I hate this stage when the background looks like this. But the next layer should fix it. Patience! I tell myself.

Yellow Orchids - Work in progress

I was craving to paint a watercolor for quite some time and decided to paint these yellow orchids in watercolor. The size is 11" x 14" on 300lb paper, that I don't need to stretch. Here is a link to few of my watercolor paintings: Aruna's watercolors

The colors on these yellow orchids are so delicate that I can hardly see anything at this stage. Instead of painting the center petals, I will paint the background next. This will help my eyes and I can also judge the values better.

When the flowers are really pale like these, I sometimes paint the delicate shadows first before painting the petals.

Nuttington Lake - Completed

Nuttington Lake ~ Water mixable oil on panel ~ 9" x 12"

Here is the completed painting of Nuttington lake with a little place for birds to rest. Hope you like it.

Nuttington Lake - Work in progress

I have painted the background trees. There will be a small rock island where the birds rest. I'll paint that next.

New painting - Nuttington Lake

I used to live in Billerica, MA and had to pass by this lake every day to work. It was a pleasure to see it change over the seasons. My colleague has a home by this beautiful lake and we have enjoyed several summer BBQs by this lake. I will be painting the background trees next.

Orchids - part of Members show at Jack Benny Center

My painting Orchids (previous post) is currently on display at the Lake County Art League members Fall show at the Jack Benny Center for the Arts.

It will be on display until November 16, 2009. The address for the center is 39 Jack Benny Drive, waukegan, IL and Phone: 847-360-4700

Please stop by and enjoy the show.

Orchids - Final

Orchids ~ 24" x 36" ~ Water mixable Oil on stretched canvas

Here is the completed painting. It has taken me a long time to complete this piece, but I have enjoyed every bit of the process. The background is a rich gradation of blue, lighter at the top, gradually becoming rich dark at the bottom. Doesn't show too well in this picture.

Here is a close up of a section of the painting... Hope you like it.

Orchids - Work in progress - Flower details

I worked on the other petals of the center flower. I have added the first layer of red shading. Will be refining that more once the paint dries. I have to move on to the shading on the adjoining flowers.

Orchids - Work in progress

Here I have worked on some of the petals. The two white petals will be next...

New painting in progress - Orchids

I am working on this huge painting (24" x 36") of Orchids. You can see the closeup details in the first 2 photos. I'll start painting the petals a shade of peachy yellow with lots of pink radiating veins.

Yellow Pansies - Final, SOLD

Yellow Pansies ~ 6" x 6" ~ Acrylic on stretched canvas ~ SOLD

Here is the finished painting. Did a lot of minor refinements and veins on the petals. Hope you like it.

Yellow Pansies - 3

I painted leaves and background. I layered the big pansy with orange veins. I can't wait to paint the center of the flowers.

Yellow Pansies - 2

This is how it looks so far. I am painting this in acrylic medium.

Yellow Pansies - 1

I started painting these beautiful pansies. This is a reference from the Chicago Botanic garden.

Garden Walk - Plein Air

Grandma's planter ~ 9" x 12" ~ Acrylic on canvas panel

After a nice vacation, I am back to blogging. I was invited to paint at one of the gardens selected for the Antioch Garden Walk. It was a beautiful garden with fragrant roses and a really nice host. After I wandered around the garden and took pictures of the roses, I decided on this subject for my plein air. I had never seen something like this before and did not really know what it was, but I thought it made a nice flower planter. (I was told by the host that it was her grandma's coffee grinder). I was attracted to the rustic beauty, the shadows, the bright red geraniums and the little pink blossoms swaying gently in the breeze. It was a wonderful day and the owner of the house also bought one of my flower prints. My thanks to all gardeners out there for bringing so much beauty into life!

Plein Air checklist

I enjoy plein air (painting on location) with a couple of artist members from the Lake County Art League. I have struggled to remember all the supplies I would need. So, I made myself a checklist of all the things I may need. Although I may not take everything on this list, it will help me decide quickly, based on location and weather conditions. Here is my list for acrylic or watercolor media.

1. Hat
2. Canvas/Paper
3. Paints - acrylic/watercolor
4. Brushes in holder
5. Water container
6. Bottle of water.
7. Mist sprayer (to keep acrylic paints wet and for other effects)
8. Palette (I use a disposable paper palette for acrylic)
9. Easel (I use a valpod which has tripod with a attachment for board and palette holder)
10. Sketch book
11. Pencil
12. Kneaded eraser
13. Paper towels
14. Artist apron
15. Drop cloth/table cloth
16. My reading glasses!
17. Camera - check battery, memory card
18. Business cards
19. Insect repellent, SPF
20. Nuggets of dark chocolate and water bottle.
21. Artcomber (This is a product I can't do without. It can hold all your supplies in and also doubles as a chair and has good wheels to roll on the entire bag)
22. Driving directions/GPS to the location.
23. Wallet with driver's license! (In the frenzy, we might sometimes forget this)

Well this is my list. Let me know what works for you.

Tulips - Final, SOLD

Tulips ~ 6" x 6" ~ Oil on stretched canvas ~ SOLD

Here it is...the completed tulips. I refined a lot of details. Mainly the leaves and repositioned some of the blue flowers in the background. Hope you like it.

Tulips - 5

The flowers now come alive with the details in the center. Need more work on the leaves.

Tulips - 4

Here I worked on the background. I did not want the bright yellow flowers in the background (from the reference picture) to compete with the main tulips. I used the complement blue flowers instead. I can't wait to finish the center of the flowers.

Tulips - 3

I started with water-mixable oils and began with the yellows first, then orange and then red. I blocked in the background with dark and light greens.

Tulips

My new work in progress. These look more like yellow tulips at this point. Sometimes I use the yellow underpainting to give warmth. These will eventually become reddish orange tulips. This first layer is in acrylics.

Tulips

I will be painting this next. Feel free to use the reference picture if you want to paint.

Plein air session - Kingfisher

"Kingfisher" 6" x 6" Acrylic on stretched canvas

On Saturday, I went to the Field Museum of Natural History with a group of artists from Lake County Art League for a plein air (painting on location) session. Even though my paintings on location never look finished, I keep going because I enjoy the whole experience. This time, I am very happy with the result. I guess sometimes you get lucky!

Purple pansies - Final, SOLD

Here it is, the finished piece. "Purple Pansies", 6"x6" acrylic on stretched canvas. As you can see, I have changed some elements from the original reference. Do you know which ones? You can write to me in the comments section as to what you think has been changed from the reference, and whether you like the change.

I will share the answer later.

Purple pansies

Work_In_Progress...

Purple pansies

Work-In-Progress... I am painting this on a stretched canvas 6" x 6" in Acrylic medium.

Purple pansies

I visited the Chicago Botanic Garden over the weekend, my favourite place in Chicago. I took this picture of purple pansies, so fresh and colorful! I will be painting this next. Feel free to use the picture if you like to paint it yourself. I can send you a bigger picture if you need one.

Peruvian Vase - Final

Here is the final version. Smoothed out the background, put highlights on the flowers and the lip of the vase, darkened the shadow under the vase etc., etc... Finally, signed it! I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed painting it.

The painting is 9" x 12" on Raymar canvas panel.

Peruvian Vase - Details

I completed the lace, the shadows and the pattern on the vase. I like the colors on the vase a lot! That's what got me to paint it in the first place.

I always love flowers, that's a different thing.

Peruvian Vase - Evaluation

I had initially decided to go all white lace below the vase. But after evaluating, I felt that the painting may look top heavy (because of the darker background). So I decided to show the background at the bottom so that the painting looks anchored and balanced. Then I was really looking for a simple lace pattern. Decisions, decisions, decisions...