This is the project I've been working on the past few weeks.

Ferrari in Garage
Oil on gallery stretched canvas
36 x 24 x 3 inches
Unframed

The painting in a digital frame.

The second stage done in acryllic tonal wash. Dark and light areas are defined in acryllic. Painting in oils was begun a day later, when this layer was thoroughly dried.

The sketch, done in pencil, directly on canvas, then erased sufficently before painting. This way I ensure that the pencil lines don't show throught the oil layers.
I used up one whole eraser (!) to get it down to the way I wanted it! Talk of being lazy!! A good swipe at the end with a dry brush gets rid of all the unwanted graphite.

Because I needed to get familiar with the form and construction of the Formula 1 racer, I made this card model of the Ferrai, based on plans available on the net.
Parallel to the construction of the model, I also read up on as many facts as I could read about Formula car construction.


Did you know that the tail fin of the Ferrari can hold up to 16 grown men standing on it? Awesome facts you come across when you study these things!!

Face II

From my sketch book again.
Charcoal pencils, hb, 6b pencils, on cartridge paper.

Back after a long gap. Sorry to all my viewers. But Had to go away for sometime.
I found this bunch of old empty perfume bottles, which look nice in the light.
So I combined them with an old Ship model I had.
Result:

Ol' Spice with friends.
Oil on board.
10 x 8"

Cup with Banana
oil on board
6 x 7"

Its flower time here, and these wonderful white lillies are part of our front garden. Thought I'd post them here. This will form part of one of my paintings to come.

Photo.

Back at my easel after a break! This glass salt shaker, part of a cruet set I picked up, makes an intersting object to paint, and I'll be including it in some more of my paintings.

Wine glass with salt shaker
oil on canvas
6 x 6 "

If you noticed my absence, then its because I've been busy.
Working on a big painting, about 3 x 2' subject is automotive art.
Also I made a smaller easel in addition to my big studio easel.
Nailed and hammered it myself.

For today, its this copper-bottom bowl, with a couple of aubergines.

Copper bottom with aubergines.
Oil on board.
6 x 7"

This red large petaled Hibiscus, grows in our garden, and does brighten up the room, if you put it in a vase.

Hibiscus
Oil on board
6 x 7"




Image free of copyright:

Pomegranates. They have this lovely orange crimson blend, its a delight to paint.
This painting was done live, without reference to the photograph.

Oil on board
7 x 6"




(Image free for use)

I re-did the Mug with Onion , but this time, I used the photo as reference, copying values directly from the pic. You can see the difference by scrolling down.
Painting from photo reference does help a lot, but its always good to do a dry run live and without photos, before doing the final version with the help of photo images.


Mug & Onion re-done
6 x 7" Oil on board

Pawpaws, or Papaya , as it is called here, are a treat in summer. Just slice a few of the flesh, drop it in your blender , add sugar, and you have yourself a fine juice, and its great for your stomach. Cures all your stomach problems.
Besides, depending on the color of the papaya, you can get a deep orange color in your glass.
After a short break Im back at the easel. Had a bit of work this week so I couldnt paint. But today, Sunday, I did manage one.

Pawpaw.
Oil on board.
6 x 7 "






(Image free of copyright.)

Along with daily painting comes the new job of finding new things to paint. A not so easy task, I might add. I see some daily painters painting even needles, pins, and what not. Yesterday I picked these glorious looking egg-plant at the market. So I wan't to experiment with mauve as the central color in a painting.
The shadow is Viridian green mixed with blue. Viridian Green is the near complement of Mauve.


Eggplant
Oil on board.
6 x 7"

Two Apples

Apples! I love painting and eating them! I am far from reaching the level I like, but getting the right colors is always a challenge.
I painted directly , the photo was taken later. Mauve was used in the shadow areas of the apple.

Apples
Oil on board
6 x 7"




(image free of copyright)

Painting cracked coconuts is interesting! Especially because they have this dark band of the shell encircling the white coconut flesh.
This painting was done using Copal medium, a first for me , as I've never before worked with Copal. But I love it. It has a flow and handling that suits alla prima.
This painting took about 90 minutes to finish.
Interesting thing you can do here, is, if you wan't to put in the fine fiber of the coconut, just reverse your brush, and scratch in the hairs. ( Oooops!! Secret out!)

Coconut
Oil on board.
6 x 7 "






(Image is copyright free)

Pineapple

Pineapples! I love them! Although you can't eat a lot of pineapples, 'cos they do this thing to your teeth, so normally I juice them. Being summer I drink a lot of pineapple juice.


Pineapple
6 x 7"
Oil on primed board.




(Image copyright free)

At the moment I've decided not to work from digital images.
I feel I need to get a firm hold of Alla Prima before resorting to digital pics.
One needs to be able to transcribe what one sees into colors, values, the right hue, saturation. Only when I feel I have a firm grasp of that, will I paint directly from digital images.

Working from digital photos makes the job of placing the hues much simpler, although some would disagree. It all depends on one's own style of seeing things. How much you can train yourself into recognizing the values and colors from life.

Its a nice habit to look around , frame a picture of what you see in your mind, then turn it into a painting,(in your mind), first trying to see it in a monochoromatic tone, then as pigments. Then make a color menu out of it. Nice habit to keep!
Blurring your eyes will help a lot. Carry around a camera, or if you use a mobile phone with a camera, keep clicking away, then come back to your favourite image editor, and experiment with the tones and colors. You can call it your digital sketch book. Archive it regularly , soon you will have a library of your own images.

Mug with Onion

Today I'd made up my mind to do a painting. Amid frequent visits by freinds, clients, I managed to lock myself into my studio, and get this going.

The finished painting
Mug with Onion
6 x 7 " Oil on primed board




The middle stages,the background is covered with Yellow Ochre , Cobalt Blue, and a little Burnt Umber. The steel mug is laid in with Cobalt Blue, and the reflection of the onion with the same Blue plus Alizarin Crimson.





The first stage of the painting. I had toned a canvas with a mix of crimson and burnt umber. I sketched in with brush , and laid in the dark tones.




I found this steel mug in the kitchen , I really like it, and it makes a good subject. (Image is for your use, copyright free.)

Cup with beans and a tomato

Ooops! I thought I could, but obviously I couldnt!! Lol.
But Im back with a painting. Fact is I got busy and involved in training people in graphic software. So my day got filled up. But if you bear with me, the intervals of abscence will gradually decrease , and I will eventually level out with daily works postings.
To all those who were keeping tabs, Im sorry for the absence.

This is a painting I did today of a cup , some green beans, and a tomato.
Im getting better at alla prima gradually, so I expect to see some real improvement in the future. But to me who 's been painting the classical method wet on wet is quite difficult to master.

Cup with Tomato and green beans
Oil on prepared board. 6 x 7 "



And here's the photo of the still life. (Copyright free, use it as you will.)

My camera is a low resolution one. About 3.2 Megapixels.
So you will be seeing most of the paintings in that
resolution.


Cucumber with a potato and bottle



 
oil on panel , 6 x 7"

Like I menitoned earlier, with my schedule, I'd be grateful to manage 
2 painitings a week! Sorry for the absence, but there was an
architectural project that I had myself in upto my head for a week.
Today I painted a ketchup bottle with a tomato and some lemons.
How do you paint lemons on a white background? Lol , they're
all but invisible. Im still far from satisfied with my alla prima.
But we all have a learining time. So there....

As usual , this pic is copyright fee. no restrictions.
Nice to learn still life. Have fun!




Kechup bottle with tomato and lemons



6 x 7" oil on hardboard panel.

 

Just about getting the hang of alla prima. Needs more work though.
Today I did a couple of onions with a white ceramic bowl.





Onions with white bowl



Oil on hardboad panel, 6 x 7"

 

Here's a pic I took today. I thought I'd do this today , 
but I didnt think my technique in alla prima was  mature
enough to handle it, so I settled for just the pepper.

You may use this pic as you see fit.
No restrictions on its usage, no copyrights.

Good for a still life study

Did you notice I canged the name of the bolg, from  
"THE DAILY PAINTER" to "THE PAINTER'S DIARY"?
Why? Because I know given the schedule I keep, it will be most
difficult to keep the pace of a painting daily. Other things come in
the way. So I 'd rather maintain a log of my daily or weekly activities,
than proclaim I do a painting daily, and then look for an escuse for
skipping a day!
So there, ....now this blog is my artists dairy. Not a daily Painters blog.
I will be posting othere things here, drawings, tutorials, photos etc.


You know Alla Prima isn't an easy technique to master!
Especially when you're switching from one style to another. 
However....I think given my background, my enormous patience,
attention to detail, will get me there. ahem!!
Like Sergei Bongart says..patience....!

Green Capsicum



6 x 7" Oil on Hardboard Panel



 

Sorry, no painting today! I ran out of supports!
Had to prepare some panels. 6 x 7". I had this big hardboard sheet.
Which I cut down to small daily painter sized panels, primed them.
This photo was taken prior to sanding them down.
I want to try a smooth shellac surface, compared to a rough
textured surface. There will be some obvious differences.

Panel preparation

Confession time:

I am new to Alla Prima. I've never painted in alla prima.
Mine was the old classical technique. Layered oil painting.

Here's how my work flow normally went>

1. Charcoal sketch
2. Followed by acryllic or oil outline.
3. Oil light and shadow wash, usually in Burnt Umber.
4. First layer of oil paint, dark tones.
5. Second layer of oil , the mid tones.
6. Third layer , the light tones.
7. The finishing touches, and the highlights.

That's how I used to paint. But Alla Prima was attracting me
very much with its natural style, and the rather attractive
impressionistic results you can obtain.
Here's one of my paintings from my archive, one I did in 1999,
for a Resort hotel. The client wanted an extra huge painting for his
new Conference-cum-Marraige hall. So I did a recopy of E.M.Ward's
"Dr. Johnson in the ante room of Lord Chesterfield, Waiting for an audience" . 
I had to stretch out the original size to
ten feet though , as the clients requirements did not match
the actual painting. A bit of pulling , stretching did the work,
and the painting fit!

Here's the painting side ended to show you scale.
Thats me back then , on the right in white.

Oil on stretched canvas , 10 feet x 4 feet




Here's the painting right side up:



I also am very fond of american southwest art, especially Cowboys
and Indians. I used to do a lot of copy work of old cowboy books.
This painting is from a cover of a Louis L'amour cowboy novel.

Oil on primed hardboard panel.
I think it was about 24 " by 14". This was gifted to a friend of mine,
who after seeing the painting, just HAD to have it!!



So , there , thats my artistic history, old school.
So if you see some of my one day paintings a bit
on the squeaky side, you know Im learning.....!
 
I also LOOOVeee wild life. Its my favourite topic.
When I used to be down on money , I agreed to take on a lot of
portrait commissions. I have done some huge ones, 10 feet, 7 feet,
group portraits. But wildlife is easy. Even if you make a mistake in
a tigers hair or face, ol tiggy isnt going to mind!!!

Here's a tiger paiting I did long back, now with a collector in London.

If you can hear something creaking, then don't worry, its pretty 
natural. Its  been a loooong time since I sat down to do some 
serious painting,  and its  the gears trying to turn. God, there I 
was thinking I could  finish a 12 x 10  in about an hour, and
it took me ages!!! Apart from unwanted people dropping in ,
when they could have just phoned. Then I had to rush out to
take delivery of some photos that I'd given over the weekend.....
talk about planning stuff!  next time.....next time....next time...yeah.........

This is my first art in ages, so go easy on me! Reason Im doing this
daily-painter bit is that it will get me back in action after a long time.



Still life -  Oil on canvas panel. 12"x 10"

Hi , just got back to my abandoned blog, after a long time! So now 
Im just sort of settled in. A lot of things can happen in a single 
year, can't they? Lol. Just came back after a two month trip to 
Dubai. Had to go for an architectural rendering project. Dubai is 
an architects paradise. Lots of beautiful buildings. You will 
enjoy it , if you can beat the heat and stay cool.
Okay, back to my blog, I look forward to starting my 
new google powered blog, by the now popular " a painting a day"
theme. I guess this IS the BEST way to overcome my really 
serious condition of 'aritists block'. 
hmmmm...........................
I am going to start tommorow. 
Of course ' a painting a day ' doesnt really mean 7 paintings a week. 
Give or take thunder , lightning and other mundane stuff 
that taketh away our time. 
So I'm glad to be doing this, and a bit excited too. 
I take it that you guys will encourage me to keep painting daily!!! :)


White Flowers 12 x 7" Oil on canvas 



This definitely isn't a single day painting!! It took me a
week to finish! The reason its posted here is the place
looks empty, and I needed a filler.