First oil pastel

Yes, yes, it took longer than expected. One rule was already broken (oh, the horror!)

But it is finally here. The first oil pastel, inspired by a crystal and its pouch, given to me by a friend.

In case you are wondering, yes it was deliberate that I made the crystal in the painting much, much bigger than the original. It was not a mistake... Honest!

I found pastels 100 times easier to control than the dreaded water colour, and I think I will stick with this medium for a while.

Right now, I am waiting for inspiration for the next painting, and since I have visitors & plans through the month of June, till mid-July, the next painting will probably show up in August. Sorry :-(

Update

Folks - I'm very mindful that April has already missed a painting! Work has been keeping me pretty busy and engaged. Let me assure you that I did do one painting in April that I have not had the time yet to upload, and will hope to do so sometime in May.

On another note, I have been struggling with the water colour medium, and I believe it is finally time to move on! I've ordered a few oil pastels from Amazon.com and am going to test them out in May. Hopefully I can have "better control" over the painting than I have had with water colour. We will see, but we have to wait till June to see the very first results!

An inpiration from the Tirol mountains

This painting is inspired by a visit to Vomperberg where there is a great Pyramid with a bright white Cross on it. Really quite magnificent! Following an inner feeling I took the concept and extrapolated to a Pyramid in the desert.

But once again I struggle greatly with water colour (hence why the painting took this long), am not satisfied with the level of "depth perception". It feels a little too much like a "cartoon", and not enough detail as I wanted. My biggest challenge with this painting was the trees and trying to get the colour just right. I found (much to my chagrin) that the paint tended to run all over the place, leading me to do quite a bit of cleanup. I actually spent more time cleaning up than actually painting. Perhaps I'll try to improve it one of these days.

Nevertheless painting is really therapeutic for me! The more I do this, the more appreciation I develop for those water colour artists who have mastered the art. Maybe it's time for me to start researching oil paintings. I heard from a friend they are a little easier to manage. I guess I'll find out one day...

'Tis the season...

... for roses!

Hence... a rose!

It took me about a week and a bit (on and off) to paint this fully. We have a rose in one of our rooms which I used as part-inspiration, especially the stalk, stem and thorns (the flower itself was my idea of what a rose should look like). I could have probably centered the rose better in the frame, perhaps gotten the lighting a little bit brighter on the petals. However, I struggled a bit with mixing the colours to get exactly what I wanted (hence why it took a while). One comment I got offline from a viewer was, "Are you going to add more roses?" Umm... no. Maybe if I decide to paint a rosebush I'll do that...

The rose, of course, signifies love - and the world celebrates Valentine's day with roses. My advice to anyone reading this is - this year, don't wait for Valentine's day to give a rose to a loved one. Do it today! (Remember - Valentine's day is for those who don't remember to express love on any other day.)

The First Paintings: Christ

Presenting - the first two paintings in watercolour:

1. Christ with the Crown of Thorns
2. A Portrait of Christ

And yes, these are indeed the first two paintings in watercolour I have done in over 20 years (anything before that was a very simplistic childish attempt at comic strips, super-heroes, colouring books, etc.).

I began the painting of "Christ with the Crown of Thorns" on January 8th evening and completed it early January 10th morning. The "Portrait of Christ" I began on January 10th evening and have been working on it every night until January 13th. The photos do not seem to capture the paintings completely, and if possible, I will try to upload another attempt later this month (Or perhaps I should just get a scanner!).

The "Christ with the Crown of Thorns" was *very* simplistic - I was learning to use the brush and the different paints for the very first time. The "Portrait of Christ" enabled me to focus a bit more on facial features and learn about different shades, contrasts and lighting. Obviously I'm not there yet, but am still learning.

So, why Christ? Well, The Message of Christ is very dear to me, and I felt that it be only right for me to honour this Bringer of Truth. His Message can be summarised in just these two lines (which Christ Himself is recorded to have said in the Bible):

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your intellect
2. Love your neighbour as yourself

Now, hopefully I can actually live this Message (that's, of course, the important thing). Thanks for stopping by!

(All images copyrighted)

The Path to Painthood - The Beginning!

Greetings!

The "Path to Painthood" is to be a lifelong project of mine, and intended to answer just one single question:

How long will it take for a person in his 30s, who has not painted for a long, long time (at least since his childhood, and that too nothing spectacular) to develop the art of painting?

Let me emphasise one thing right away: we may never find out the answer to this question, but we have a hope! A hope that one day, perhaps one fine day we may find the author of this blog a fairly "decent" artist.

There are a few simple rules on this my path to "painthood":

1. Every painting I do, no matter how unappealing or uncreative, shall be made available on this website for all readers to track my progress (or otherwise)
2. I am to provide a photograph of a new painting at least once a month on this site (initially I'll start with water-colour, and then later, oil). Of course, I might excuse myself from this rule due to extenuating circumstances
3. I shall, under no circumstance, take any official classes for painting nor shall I solicit professional help of any form (it is a different matter if professionals contact me to offer constructive feedback; also, another exception to this rule: I reserve the right to search websites for useful information about painting, but that is as far as I will go)

Some of you may wonder whether this is an egotistical endeavour on my part. I can assure you, dear readers, not at all! My goal here is not to shine or project myself as a Wunderkind of some kind (for I know, at least in the field of painting, I most definitely am not!). Rather, I believe very much in the arts and that every person has at least one thing, if not more, that is creative within him- or herself. I believe that art has this unique power to inspire, to unite people of all kinds, to uplift and bring life and vitality to the weary human spirit today.

Hence the Painthood project - to demonstrate this my conviction, to inspire the flame of creativity and art, no matter how miniscule, in everyone!

Please do join me on this path! Watch from a distance, comment or write to me if you feel to, either is fine by me. But do join me, and let us see whether the above question can be answered! At the very least we will all have a good time seeing the results of a blunderer's paintbrush!