Lata Mangeshkar

Pencil, 8" X 10"

This is a portrait Lata Mangeshkar, the legendary playback singer from the Indian  film industry.

Two pears

Pastel on paper 8" X 10"

Wasn't quite ready to move on from the pears. So I put them together to make a painting.

Still-lifes with brass, copper, wood and drapes

Pastel on paper,   18" X 10"

Pastel on paper,   8" X 10"

Pastel on paper,   11" x 14"

These are some more still-lifes  that I made recently. 

Kishore Kumar

Pencil sketch 8" X 10"

Drawing a portrait after a long time! This is a sketch of Kishore Kumar, one of my favorite play-back singers from Bollywood.

Ghoti

Pastel on paper,   11" x 14"

These are all old traditional household utensils commonly used by Indian people. The pot on the left, called "Ghoti" in Bengali,  holds a special sentiment in my heart because my grand father, used to drink water from it. He drank lots of water, and whenever he called me, I thought he would ask me to get him some water to drink. Mostly, I was right.  That was a long time back, but this ghoti always brings back such fond memories.

Wooden Vase and apples

Pastel on paper,   11" x 14" 

I have had this wooden vase with me for a while, waiting to be painted. I particularly like the shadow that it casts on the wall. You will certainly see more of this vase in my future paintings!

Copper Utencils

Pastel on paper,   11" x 14" 

I haven't been blogging for a while. In the mean time I painted a few still-lifes with different types of metals. This one is one of my favorites, an assortment of copper vessels. I got these utensils on my last trip to India, simply love them! I will upload the other paintings soon. Thanks for visiting my blog!

More Tulips

Pastel on Sennelier La Carte paper  8" X 10"

The Tulips I made earlier were still fresh, I decided to change the setting a little bit and paint them again!

Tulips and a plum

Pastel on Sennelier La Carte paper  8" X 10"

I was at the local farmer's market, these beautiful tulips caught my eyes. Couldn't resist getting them home to set up a still-life. Wasn't that easy to paint, the stems  kept turning and the buds were opening too fast. I wish my still-life would stay still! :)

Statue of the Lion

Pastel on Sennelier La Carte paper  11" X 14"

This is a painting of a sculpture outside of Saciyamata temple in Rajasthan, dating back to 8th-9th century AD. Generally, the lion figure in Indian art symbolizes royalty,  or is in association with deities like Durga, Parvati or Vishnu. I am always fascinated by the amazing craftsmanship of the ancient Indian architecture, and hope to eventually make a series of paintings based on them.

Elephant sculpture -2

Pastel on Sennelier La Carte paper  8" X 10"

I haven't been blogging for quite a while. Took a break from painting to prepare for my music show. Getting back to painting was difficult, and blogging even harder.  Hope I can pick up the momentum soon. 

Anyway, I had made a similar painting to this a while back in oils, you can see it here. I let my daughter give it to a friend for Christmas. Looks like I wasn't too happy to part with it, so I decided to make another one for myself.

Salt and pepper shaker

Pastel on Sennelier La Carte paper  8" X 10"

I made this painting about 10 days back, but didn't get a chance to put it up on my blog. The reason being that I have a singing performance coming up in two weeks and so I decided to take a break from painting. Well, that has given me a chance to evaluate my growth in art, and think about where I want to go from here. I think I will try painting slightly larger now, at least no more 5" X 7"s. In the meantime, I have been framing most of my paintings. I can't just keep putting them in a box when they are done! 

 My program is on the 6th of April and I am sure I will be back painting full swing soon after that.