100: Watercolour Painting: Temple by the River-bank

Temple by the River-bank...

Plein Air Watercolours...

270 GSM, 100% Cotton Fibre, Acid Free, Rough Textured Cold Press Handmade Paper

14" x 10"

96: Watercolour Sketch: Kasba Ganapati Mandir facade, Pune, India

Kasba Ganapati Mandir, Pune....

Located in Kasba Peth, one of the oldest residential parts of Pune, as the "peths" are called, this deity is the "Gramdevta" or deity of the village, built during Shivaji's reign. Most parts of its side facade are now covered with a plethora of unwanted political posters which are an eye-sore & take away from the beauty of the structure. Here, I have tried to avoid those very eye-sores.

Plein Air Watercolours...

270 GSM, 100% Cotton Fibre, Acid Free, Rough Textured Cold Press Handmade Paper

14" x 10"

78: Colour Pencils Sketch: Nageshwar Mandir facade, Somwar Peth, Pune, India

Entrance to the Nageshwar Mandir, Somwar Peth, Pune.... 

a 700 year old structure, built during the reign of Peshwes of Pune.. 

a magnificent stone & wooden structure, reconstructed recently with a lot of undoing & redoing efforts to bring it back to its original glory. 

Plein Air...

Colour Pencils...

11 1/2" x 8 1/4"

120 GSM Acid-Fee Medium Surface Heavyweight Paper...

77: Pen & Ink Sketch: Nageshwar Mandir courtyard, Somwar Peth, Pune, India

Nageshwar Mandir premises.... a 700 year old structure, built during the reign of Peshwes of Pune.. a magnificent stone & wooden structure, reconstructed recently with a lot of undoing & redoing efforts to bring it back to its original glory. 

Plein Air...

Pen & Ink...

11 1/2" x 8 1/4"

120 GSM Acid-Fee Medium Surface Heavyweight Paper...

68: Acrylic Painting: Art & Music fusion-1/2

Early this month, Dr. Martin Clayton & Dr. Laura Leante, ethnomusicologists from Durham University, UK, conducted a workshop on Khayal and Visual Art as part of their research project to which I had the honour of being invited to participate in at Studio7 in Pune.

We, a group of 6 artists of various backgrounds were asked to create works of art based on audio clips of a Khayal in Raag Raageshri, after a brief description of the raag sung by singer Surashree Joshi, a disciple of noted singer Late Smt. Veena Sahasrabuddhe, a leading Indian vocalist and composer of Hindustani classical music whose singing style had its roots in Gwalior gharana.

As per the brief by Surashree & the subsequent audio clip, the vibrations I felt while working on this painting were of sheer richness & magnificence of Indian Classical music by itself plus the fact that it used to be aptly performed in the darbars, mahals & havelis of yore. And so, what flowed through my brushes in this one of two paintings was the rich architectural features of these very darbars, mahals & havelis in the form of rich arches & columns etc. Actual rich gold & silver pigments were used to depict this. The steps in the foreground also represent the ups & downs of the swars or notes on the musical octaves that flow throughout the raag. All in all, the feel of the khayal was nothing but simply"Rich".

Acrylics on Oil Paper

Size: A1

45: Pen & Pastel-wash Sketches: Riverside Sketches, Pune, India

Annabhau Patwardhan Samadhi, VrudhheshwarSidhheshwar Ghat, Pune, India

Pen, Pastel Pencils & Wash...

Plein Air...

120 GSM Acid Free Paper...

11 1/2" x 8 1/4"

Vrudhheshwar-Sidhheshwar Ghat  Pune, India

Pen, Pastel Pencils & Wash on 120 GSM Acid Free Paper...

11 1/2" x 8 1/4"