Scarlet Dreams

It is good to be back with blogging and to exhibit my paintings after a very long while. I had missed the fun as well as serious activities and discussions in the blog world and the pull of his old habit was too much to resist that I must say I am back. Though I have made umpteen declarations to this effect several times before, I really think I am here to stay on a regular basis. I am divinely motivated..Lol! My mind is crowded with images that feed my dreams and these images have a strong bearing upon my inner consciousness, which, in one way or the other speak my own thoughts in my own voice which, ultimately paint I must!

As always my gallery is a place to view works of art for all those who love to understand, appreciate, critique, and create works of their own. It is also a place to take a stroll, sit, stretch your back and relax as the pores of your soul absorb the essence of these paintings. It is a meeting place of likeminded wandering souls like my own self. Comments are essential to any work of art, to enrich and embellish it with various points of view. After all, what is more important is what a painting does to you than what a painting is in the eyes of its creator.

Let’s see what this painting does to you.

Title : Scarlet dreams

Medium : watercolour on coldpressed paper (300 gsm)

Size : 14.5 x 21 cms

Vinod Laxman

BFBM : Portrait of A

Portrait of a friend painted with watercolour on smooth grained handmade paper. Reference was a mediocre quality photograph taken with flash. It is difficult in such a context to define clear cut light and shade. However, to achieve her radiant expresion I had to eliminate a lot of middle tones and the result is something that made me happy. It is always an excellent experience to paint portraits in monochrome using the traditional wash technique. Wash technique involves painting in layers or placing various transparent tones of the colour layer upon layer. It is the first time I painted on this paper and I am impressed with the result.

Plein Air Painting

The proper understanding of concepts like space, volume, depth, distance, perspective and 3dimenstionality comes only when we translate nature as we see it; with colours,light and shade on to a two dimensional surface.

This is why 'nature study' or 'Plein Air Painting' is essential for every artist.

Title: Landscape No.1

Medium: Oil Pastels on Fabriano Pastel Paper

Portrait of byegone era

It is great to be back once again in your midst. I must confess I really missed all my blog friends. Friends, who are now an integral part of me and my world that is my gallery. I have been too busy with stuff at work and home. To be precise, I have been managing my time badly due to which I lost the staying power and stamina to be active online. I believe I am in a better position now, as far as my willpower goes to be active as I used to be 3-4 years ago in 360. The closing down of 360 was as predicted. Yet when the moment of truth arrives there is a soft, sweet pain of nostalgia.

 

Many friends have gone away and things will never be the same without them. That is life after all. Everything undergoes the natural process of change. Our backgrounds change, situations change and so are the moods and temperaments. So has it been with me. As an artist who is engaged in constant conversation with life and works, the changes around me has had its impress on my works of art as well. I have been like a researcher spending days on end in the laboratory experimenting with new compounds and formulas. I have been experimenting on the extends of possibilities on mediums that would suit my current lifestyle and available time. Acrylic on canvas has taken a back seat. So has it been with the meticulously detailed works in Gouache. I have taken up Soft pastels (dry) for several reasons. One, they are pigments in the purest form capable of imparting the original and pure colours. Two, they are dry, and can be worked with much faster than the wet paints. The result is always instantaneous. 3) the feel of the soft pastel sticks with the fingers give a direct connection with art work. Believe me, this ‘feel’ is magical which, a brush or a pallet knife can never produce. Soft pastels suit my present state of mind which is fascinated by bright and vibrant colours. It also suits my current enthusiasm to do away with too many details- to work with the bare minimum details in forms and shapes. In short I am celebrating the impact of colours in the mind more than the impact of a rigid translation of the objects in nature, with traditional mediums such as water colours and oils. However, as it always has been, I cannot stick to a style or genre for a very long time. For me it comes and goes in cycles, which means I would cycle back and forth between new styles and the old ones every now and then. 

Title: 'Portrait of byegone era’

Model: Mayra

Medium : Soft Pastels on paper

Size : 21cm x 29cm

Note:  Composed in the style of high renaissance portraits, yet finished in a completely contemporary fashion. Only warm colours used to define the fiery character of this beautiful young lady.

© Vinod Laxman 2009

Absence : Pablo Neruda

 

Absence
~ Pablo Neruda

I have scarcely left you
when you go in me, crystalline,
or trembling,
or uneasy, wounded by me
or overwhelmed with love, as when your eyes
close upon the gift of life
that without cease I give you.

My love,
we have found each other
thirsty and we have
drunk up all the water and the blood,
we found each other
hungry
and we bit each other
as fire bites,
leaving wounds in us.

But wait for me,
keep for me your sweetness.
I will give you too
a rose.

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Ausencia

Apenas te he dejado,
vas en mi, cristalina
o temblorosa,
o inquieta, herida por mi mismo
o colmada de amor, como cuando tus ojos
se cierran sobre el don de la vida
que sin cesar te entrego.

Amor mio,
nos hemos encontrado
sedientos y nos hemos
bebido toda el agua y la sangre,
nos encontramos
con hambre
y nos mordimos
como el fuego muerde,
dejandonos heridos.

Pero esperame
guardame tu dulzura.
Yo te dare tambien
una rosa. 
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Watercolour on handmade paper

Model: Rashmeet

________________________________________________________________

Vinod Laxman

The Portrait of Amma, The Hugging Saint, The Divine Spiritual Master.

 

 
 

Presentation of the portrait to Amma on 18-04-2009.

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For more info on Amma, the Hugging saint : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Amritanandamayi

http://www.amma.org/

http://www.amma-europe.org/


______________________________________________

Title: Amma 
Medium : Watercolour on Hotpressed paper
Size: 7' x 5'

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Mirrored images

I tried this style after a very long while. I'm not particularly fond of this because it requires a hell lot of calculations, and believe me, a minute seemingly insignificant stroke placed wrongly, destroys the reflected image completely. After having wasted several sketches, this one finally came through. I didn't have a good cylindrical mirrored reflector to capture the image without abrasion. The tiny dents and imperfections of this steel reflector have caused some distortion in the reflected image. Kindly excuse that :D

(model : Shruti)