Morning Bliss - Oil Painting

This is my first attempt at oil painting. I cherish my morning coffee. Almost always, as I look down at the few sips of coffee left in my cup, I start thinking about the upcoming day and the challenges I know it will bring me. I ponder over the fact that all good things must come to an end, and sip the coffee slowly, just to prolong the blissful time before the start of my day. But eventually I realize that the coffee is cold, and good things don’t always stay that way. I realize that the only way to return to this blissful state is to live the upcoming day to its fullest, wake up the next morning, and brew a new cup of coffee. In this painting I capture, in an abstract way, these contemplations and thoughts that motivate me for the day.The liquid in the cup should have been a little darker. Maybe I'll go back to it someday.

Artist: Chandni Valiathan
Size: 18in by 24in
Medium: Oil on canvas

Dusk - Watercolor

I completed this painting last night. My friend Ericka Noonan took this picture while she was vacationing in Kerala, India. I tried to work loosely here, especially with the foreground mud, the bridge, sky and the boat in the distance. However, some parts, like the boat in the front, had to be painted a little more carefully.

Size: 11in by 15in
Medium: Watercolor on paper

Baby Duck - Watercolor

Here's my submission for the PADT challenge. I like the way the baby duck turned out - it looks all fuzzy and chubby. I had a hard time painting the water, and it may still need some more work. Maybe I'll come back to this one later.

Size: 11in by 15in
Medium: Watercolor on paper

Lake Aquitaine - Watercolor

Here's my submission for the PADT challenge. I think the sky got a little dark, the clouds lack highlights and the painting lacks depth. The reflections were really hard to do, and I don't think I captured it entirely well - maybe next time, I will try another painting with water and reflections.

Size: 11in by 15in
Medium: Watercolor on paper

Leaves- Watercolor

As I was walking to work one day, I noticed the leaves that were sprewn on the ground. Some were yellow-green, others light green and there were some that were dry and brown. Looking up, I noticed that those on the tree were a dark green. I found it amazing that leaves from the same tree could take on so many different colors or rather shades of green and that sparked the idea for this painting.

At first the painted leaves seemed uninteresting, and so I added in the veins. Determining the background colors also took some thought and planning. I think the final colors eventually pulled the painting together and made the negative spaces visually interesting. The upper left corner could use some enhancement, but I decided to stop here and move on to another painting.

Size: 15in by 15in
Medium: Watercolor on watercolor paper
Contact: chandniv at gmail dot com

Lucky to be Ugly - Watercolor

This is my entry for the PADT challenge. When I looked at the reference photo I thought that the strawberry looked strange, and that if there was another normal-looking strawberry next to it, I would eat the latter- hence the title "Lucky to be Ugly"

Size: 9in by 12in
Medium: Watercolor on paper

One experiment, two experiments, three experiments, four; why do I bother, there're so many more!! - Abstract Watercolor

I was in lab one day doing many many experiments at once, when I looked down on my tubes and saw colorful rectangular tube holders and circular tubes holding my different reagents, and I thought to myself- I should paint something like this. Here is the outcome of that moment's thought. This is for all the scientist not just in my life, but anywhere in the world :)

Size: 11in by 11in
Medium: Watercolor on paper

Moonrise - Watercolor

I completed this painting last weekend. It started off as an abstract branch. Then the flowers appeared, and as I started painting the background, I thought of putting in the moon. Now, the painting is about the moon!! Sometimes, you just have to let the painting paint itself.

Size: 11" by 15 "
Medium: Watercolor on watercolor paper.

Tulip - Watercolor

Here's a painting I completed yesterday for a challenge on the "Paint and draw together" blogspot. I thought I would do an abstract background that mirrors the colors of the tulip.

Medium: Watercolor on paper
Size: 9in by 12 in

Sunday Afternoon -Watercolor

I just completed this painting today. It took a long time to complete because every object in the painting was interesting and intricate. The vase and water lit by light, the flowers, the lampshade, the chair, the surface of the table- everything taught me something new. The final painting seems like a Sunday afternoon to me - bright and happy, except it seems something dull or blue is looming over the picture :P

Size: 15" x 20"
Medium: Watercolor

Maasai herdsman - Watercolor

Here is a painting that's different from the others I've posted here. I usually enjoy painting carefully, observing the various shades and shapes of objects, but sometimes, it takes so much effort and the painting seems so overworked. So here I tried painting a little more loosely. I had no reference picture to study and paint, only some images in my head from my childhood. I also wanted to complete this painting in two hours. It ended up taking three hours instead, but that wasn't too much off the mark. Although the painting didn't quite come out the way I imagined it would, I still like the way it looks - especially the impression of the cows.

Size: 9"x12"
Medium: Watercolor on watercolor paper

A pair of pears- Watercolor challenge

Here is my latest painting that I completed for a challenge posted on this blog I liked the composition on the reference photo, with the colors on the pears, the reflection on the marble surface and the cool background.
Size: 9in by 12in
Medium: Watercolor on watercolor paper

The Elephant-headed God - Watercolor

This is my painting of an elephant-headed Hindu god, Ganesha. The idea behind this setup was that I wanted only one source of light, and long shadows in my composition. I also wanted to try depicting something metallic and painting fire or light. Since I was just beginning with watercolor paints and Ganesha is believed to be the remover of obstacles, I thought this composition would be perfect. I really liked the way this turned out :)
Size: 9in by 12in
Medium: Watercolor on watercolor paper

Watercolor- Tropical Hibiscus

Here is another painting I did last August. In this painting, I tried layering to obtain different shades on the painting. So I painted the dark areas of the flower with blue or green and later painted over with red to obtain the various shades of purple or grey-red. Similarly for the brighter areas, I had an under-painting of yellow before painting red on top. I had a lot of trouble with the background on this one. The original background on the picture was a light gray, but I wanted something darker and cooler that would make the flower and leaves in the foreground stand out a little more. I also wanted some of the leaves on the left to be less defined to give the illusion of depth. The end result looks very tropical. I am not sure I like the final composition, but I decided to stop here and move on to another painting :)

This is a scan of the original painting, with an embedded watermark. For some reason, the colors here are a little different than the original painting. I think I need to figure out some setting on the scanner to get the true colors on the scanned image.

Size: 9in by 12in
Medium: Watercolor on watercolor paper

Just Peachy -watercolor

Here is my first real painting that I completed last June (as you can see from the date on my signature!). My favorite aspect of this painting is the reflections of the peaches on the cup behind the peaches. Of course my name is not painted on, but is just a watermark I added.

Size: 6in by 9in
Medium: Watercolor on watercolor paper