COURAGE TO IMPROVISE - Broaden Your Boundaries

There is always a feel- good factor about revamping your paintings; improvising and giving an extra dash of color that suddenly changes the way you have looked at it for years. Sure you have your limitations as an artist, but i would simply consider it as an exercise to broaden our creative senses. We never know what we might end up with.

The image you see above , is a painting I completed almost twenty years ago. It hung on the brick wall of my home back in kerala. Vacation time was around the corner and my family and I went on our yearly visit to our native. Seeing this painting hung in the living room of my house, I could feel my creative senses broadening. So many changes could be made to make it look a lot better. I asked my mother. After showing slight hesitation , she agreed on a condition that I bring it back on the next visit.

My reference for this particular painting was a wall calendar. The two little birds amused me in some weird way. At that point of time, I never realized that learning and reading up on subjects mattered while painting. I gave the birds colors of my choice; used up my freedom. (You may ask me anything regarding my techniques, but nothing about the species of the bird or flowers).

I started working on my 20 year old painting. I didn't see the need to change the way the birds looked. I left it as it was. What I did do was add more leaves and stems to the foliage to better the structure of the image. I made the two branches more prominent. I think you would agree that it did give a good composition to the painting. I used up the negative space by adding some sky there. ( Negative Space, speaking in artistic terms, refers to the space around and between the subject(s) of an image).

I am just glad that I could do justice to this painting even if it was after 20 years; extending the creative boundary within the limitations. 

MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT USING A PALETTE KNIFE

It was a random decision to give it a try with palette knife. A different approach from my usual style. 

Category : Floral Portrait

     Size : 45cm x 45cm x 1.5cm

Medium : Oil

"UPAJEEVANAM" ( Livelihood )

•  Category : Landscape
• Title: Upajeevanam (livelihood)
• Medium :Oil
• Theme : womanhood
• Size : 50cm x 40cm x 3cm
• Done on gallery quality stretched canvas

For an artist, there is a story behind each painting. I came across this reference photo as it was tagged on one of my friends Facebook page. Something about the picture caught my eye. My first impression was that it would have been better if it was lush with greenery, but the barren land was the very reason it caught my attention.  As with the progress of my thought process, the lady in the scene became the focus. I was profoundly caught by the confident posture of the lady. The way she walked, holding the staff and leading her cattle, as if she was the master of her trade. "She could be the only bread winner of her family" I thought.

I see lot of successful women and I admire their lives. But seldom do I think about the womanhood of the underprivileged women who works hard in the adverse circumstances but keep their self-respect and dignity. This painting is a tribute to those women to show my solidarity towards their womanhood.

This photograph was taken by Mr.Francis Joseph, a retired professor at Bharat Mata College - Thrikkakkara, Cochin - Kerala. He is a true nature lover, a passionate traveler and a photographer.
As he told me, this photograph was taken 15 years back with his old camera on one of his expedition through 'Attapadi' . (Attapadi Reserve Forest is a protected tribal area in Palakkad district of Kerala.) Thank you sir for graciously allowing me to use the photo.