When I started painting, the adventure was on and every painting was a process of discovery. Painting medium, different styles, different surfaces made the journey exciting. But I soon began to want a style to express myself. Of all the styles that I have worked on a blend of cubism and expressionist style feels the most liberating. There is a level of abstraction with the subject and random brush strokes that feels like a grounding yang to my day job that relies on logic and accuracy. Anyway....here is my latest work titled COMPANY. Hope you all enjoy this work. 

I wanted to do a painting based on a Hindu mythological theme for a while and it took me some time to land on this particular story that I think needs to be told. The story involves the holy trinity Gods, Brahma - the creator, Vishnu - the protector and Shiva - the destroyer. As the story goes ​there was a dispute between Vishnu and Brahma as to who is greater. The dispute was settled by Shiva with a condition as the one who saw either end (head or feet) of Shiva is greater than the other. Brahma transformed to a swan went up to see the head and Vishnu transformed to a boar went down to see the feet. After several days Vishnu could not find the feet and returned humbled. Brahma also traveled several days and could not see the head and was about to return but at that time he saw a fragrant screw pine flower (Thamzhampoo in Tamil Language) coming down from high above. Upon enquiry the flower said that it was coming from the head of Shiva. Brahma requested the flower to give evidence in his favour that he had seen the head. They came and told Vishnu that Brahma had seen the head of Shiva. Knowing what had happened all along Shiva got very angry with Brahma and the flower for telling a lie. He plucked out the 5th head of Brahma and cursed that Brahma will not be worshipped at any temple. Also cursed  the flower should not be used to worship him in any temple. This is the reason why in India, a country where there are thousands of temples for Vishnu and Shiva there are only three temples for Brahma. 
In this painting, Shiva in his avatar is represented by the giant ball of fire, while Brahma assumes the form of the Swan and Vishnu, the boar. To the top left you see the flower falling from the above. 

"Lady and Cello" my latest addition to my modern cubist influenced series. I am definitely stretching the boundaries that I am comfortable with such painting but I happen to be very happy with the creative direction I went with this work, not just with the colors and the style but the subject also. Of the four paintings done so far subject wise this is probably my favorite and I tried to be very original. I will let the viewers decipher all the nuances of the piece and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. 

This painting titled ….(well I am still working on a title) was done in a manner very different from the way I generally paint. This one was done in a rush with a lot of spontaneity and urgency. I did not think a lot as I worked through this piece, the divided regions do not have a fine coming together of colors or a fine crisp line dividing them but rather have big bold brush strokes dividing regions with the hope of conveying the big picture. And the result of this rush job, I love it. It is very different from anything I do, well outside my zone of comfort but at the same time I find it immensely captivating. I feel it at some level it borders on the style of Cezzane but I should probably not have his and my name in the same paragraph ever. This is also the farthest I have pushed myself in a sense of impressionism and abstraction and yet feel comfortable with it. It isn’t for everyone but it is definitely new boundaries I am pushing myself to like. 

Here is the next painting with a mild cubist influence along with my own creative style incorporated. The lady in the hat was my way of combining a sense of contrast realism as I tried to convey with the face and the hair combined with a blend of planar, cubist sense around the rest of the image. I particularly fell in love with the manner in which I approached this painting with the colors, the way I chose to divide the image and the blending. I also had a great deal of confidence through various stages of the painting, something I can rarely say about any of my earlier works. Anyways let me know what you think about this work. 

It has been a while since I last worked on a painting. The journey of exploring what I want to do continues. Realism, impressionism, post-impressionism, Cubism, I am trying to play with all of these, learn from the great and modern masters to further my understanding of techniques. And while these efforts are sometimes futile and frustrating, in some other cases turn out to be a journey like none other. Right now I have an interest to explore a lot more of cubism and at the same time I am also curious to explore the style al la Van Gogh, painting in a frenzy of colors and energy like no other artist portrays through his work. However focusing on this moment here is the new painting I have been working on. "LADY and CHAIR". I have generally never been a patient painter. The longest I have dragged a painting is for 2 days at the most. So to have worked on this painting over 2 weeks is somewhat of a success for me on the patience front. As you may have already guessed I am going for cubism here and spent a good amount of time learning the graduation of colors, the blending of tones and achieving the effect I wanted. Hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your thoughts and comments. 

Collecting artwork has always fascinated me. Some people do it for the art itself, others for its provenance, some to study the artists style and some others who have a deep passion/appreciation for the artist itself. The originals, the limited editions, the honest fakes, the prints, letters photographs and the list goes on. I always wanted to collect works of artists I like/admire but my desire to clean and tidy up has always conflicted with owning things that are not absolutely necessary :). 

This article though is not about my quirks. This is about a few pieces of artwork I have added to my minuscule collection. These are lithographs from the 1960s and 1970s some of which I shall share over a few blogs. The title of the blog should have given you some clue but for those who haven't been enlightened yet these are lithos from the works of Margaret Keane. Now if your an art history buff or one who was reading the papers in the early 70s, the name should strike you right away. Margaret Keane was famous as the painter of the kids with big eyes filled with emotion and sometimes sorrow. The case was more famous because throughout the 1960s Walter Keane her husband took credit for the paintings and sold works of art under his name as he kept Margaret aside and had her sometimes spend 16 hours a day just painting in a room. The tale itself is pretty moving so much so that one of her art work collector director Tim Burton is coming up with a movie on her titled "Big Eyes" staring Amy Adams and Christopher Waltz. Google her and you will find tons of tales stories and interviews of her and her life. It wasn't until the year 1970 that she, on a radio program announced that she was the original artist of the pictures. After some back and forth battle of words the case went to the courts where the judge is dramatic fashion asked both of them to recreate a painting in front of everyone. Walter suddenly developed a shoulder problem while Margret finished the painting in front of everyone in 53 minutes flat. You can't just come up with this stuff. 
Anyways it was important to share this information because these prints that I have actually state that this is work done by Walter Keane the husband who took the credit for Margaret's work. Most prints available today actually has Margaret's name on them. This squarely put this print in the pre-1970s period when they were printed. The details of the eyes are particularly amazing and detailed. In most of the big eye paintings the spotlight is just below the eyes typically highlighting the nose and mouth areas almost as if saying here are these big eyes brimming with emotion but thats really not where the focus is. It has been mostly stated that during the phase when Margaret was shuttered by Walter from social interactions her sadness was reflected through the eyes of the children she painted. I have a few of her prints and these are two with the big eyes that I thought were unique for this reason. Do share this story with others cause it is a beautiful one. More artwork coming in other blogs.......

Here it is the next of the "Lady in the red skirt" series and I must say it feels great to be back for another winter season. It's been a pretty frigid weekend with the first mild snow shower hitting the ground just in time for me to start my painting again. I have been preparing for a while with thoughts on whats next in this series. The good news is I have ideas for the next couple of paintings lined up. The challenging part is that although my vision of the next few paintings is incredibly clear they are going to be hard to execute so I am mustering my courage to take the big step. In the mean time I have decided to probably share some of the new collectible art work I am acquiring in some of the blog posts. Nothing fancy but definitely interesting ones. I feel this is going to be a fantastic season cause I am brimming with inspiration. Hope you all had a fantastic Halloween weekend and I shall see you all through the season.