Watercolour Artist - Sadhu Aliyur

"In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine." 
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Instagram is new to me and I have started posting my works on this social media quite recently. Blogging is about my art journey wherein I share my art, my techniques, my experiments and my general thoughts and feelings about creating my art. Instagram on the other hand is a faster way of uploading my work and most important, all my works can be seen in a gallery format. In conclusion, as an artist, I am enjoying being a part of Instagram.

Through Instagram I am getting to meet many different artists from India as well as all around the world. Some of them have inspired me in a lot many ways and I have decided to create a post about each one of them. Today I am posting about a great water colour artist Mr Sadhu Aliyur.

Mr Sadhu Aliyur is a Kerala based water colour artist. His finely honed skills, astute observation and refined aesthetic sensibilities help him capture the essence of a scene in a few strokes. He makes the common look uncommon. He transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.

In his hands, nature comes alive in all its richness, textures, hues and forms. With a wash here and a dab there, the overwhelming beauty of the monsoon, skies and rain drenched dwellings are frozen for all time for the eyes of the connoisseur. Read more about him.....CLICK HERE.
( COURTESY: SADHU ALIYUR )

All works created by Mr Sadhu Aliyur are absolutely vibrant and stunning. His thoughts, feelings, conviction, and many moods seem to come alive with bare minimal strokes. The simple landscape scenes capture the mood and atmosphere so well. I have been following his works for quite some time now and decided to share some of them with you.

Check out his other works on his official website.

Each and every painting by Mr Sadhu Aliyur is so unique in itself, be it a still life, portrait or landscape, that you can't help but fall in love with it. 

Follow my latest works and techniques on INSTAGRAM , where in I post my latest artworks regularly. 

Thanks for browsing through my blog.🙏

Soft pastel painting

"In nature, light creates the colour. In painting, colour creates the light."Hans Hoffman

Pastels is a vibrant dry medium and I got into using it a few years back. I started with Camlin and Mungyo and then went on to purchase Koh-I-Noor and Gallery too. My latest brand in pastel collection is Sennelier which is very very expensive, however it is very soft and creamy and has deep rich colours. I have not used it much but plan to do so soon as the last and final layer on my paintings.

My today's post is an old work, a scene .from Mahabaleshwar which I created a some time back. Evaluating older paintings has become a norm and I always find a few mistakes here and there. So I touched up this painting with Sennelier pastels and was satisfied with the final results. 

Subjects such as these ie "Forest scenes" with winding pathways appeal to me a lot. I also get inspired by the sunlight that perforates through the foliage to lighten up the pathway at places. The light that falls on all the elements of the nature defines the form and shape and with every painting that we do we learn to see and observe.  

Light at the distance

A soft pastel painting on Canson MT paper

Size 8"X 12"

The greens in the landscape are always the biggest challenge and it continues to intimidate me. This colour along with blue is so predominant that it can be a mystery which gets tricky to solve. The only solution I find is to continue painting, have a keen observation and with time and experience it all gets better. 

I created a post on "The papers I use for my soft pastel artworks" in May, 2016 wherein I have written in detail about my experience with different papers before shortlisting the ones that I use today.  

Thank you for visiting my blog and CLICK HERE to browse through my gallery of paintings in other mediums as well. 

Water colour painting of a mountain slope at Yumesamdong ( North Sikkim )

"Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew." Cicely Tyson

In a quest to discover the mystery behind the water and its role in the painting process, I continue pursue my passion experimenting and exploring this beautiful medium.

The water colour painting as below is a beautiful mountain slope covered with dense vegetation. I came across this view while I was on the way to Yumesamdong in North Sikkim at an altitude of 15300 ft. The two to three hours journey from Lachung to Zero Point or Yumesamdong offers stunning views of nature. The journey is as beautiful as the destination.

I have used flat vertical brush strokes to get the desired effect. This was a new and interesting experience for me and I enjoyed working with Campap paper. ( 200 gsm )

On the way to Yumesamdong ( Zero point )

Water colour painting on Campap paper

Size 5.5" X 8"

I purchased Campap paper a few years ago during some sale at a stationery shop and after using it for a couple of paintings I am beginning to like it. What I like most about this paper is the fact that I can easily lift off colour from the surface using a tissue paper or plain brush. I have placed an order for a 300 gsm Campap paper from Amazon as I want to try out this paper further.

If you are passionate about water colours then you must browse through the works of Alvaro Castagnet, an international water colour artist. His works are very inspiring. When free, I take out time to go through the works of other artists and it helps in lot many ways. Some day I shall write a post on that.

Thank you for browsing through my works and I appreciate your support which drives me to continue my art journey.

Reaching the shore - A soft pastel painting of a seascape.

I just completed another of my seashore paintings from Bamboo island, Thailand, using the soft pastel medium. Every painting that I create speaks to me of the moments spent there. Each painting is in fact like bringing to life some beautiful memories of the past. Posting below a few beautiful lines that I came across recently on the net but cannot remember the source.

"The sand may brush off

The salt may wash clean

The tans may fade

But the memories will last forever." 

I titled this painting "Reaching the shore" with reference to the waves that travel a long distance and then finally reach the destination gently washing ashore after a long long journey.

Reaching the shore

Soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 5.25" X 7.25" 

I recently came across some beautiful photographs taken by nature and wildlife photographer, Sudhir Shivaram. It is interesting to read the articles written by him and it is a pleasure to browse through the beautiful photographs. Presently he is Ranthambore and Bandhavgarh Tiger reserve and you can follow his works on his facebook page. 

As mentioned in one of my previous posts I have also started following another great photographer namely Rathika Ramasamy   who has been posting some stunning photographs of birds with their local and scientific names. It helps to know more about the bird and animal species around you and as an artist it helps to connect with nature.

A Quote

"I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart." Vincent Van Gogh

Portrait of a woman on toned paper

Of late I have been very busy with my weekend art workshops and I am enjoying them a lot as I am getting to meet people who are as passionate about art as me. Moreover just before the workshop I get to work in that particular medium which is a fresh change for me and it breaks the monotony of working in the same medium for long.

Being too busy with art workshop has however affected my blogging.I am struggling to find time to blog. Last week I took out some time to continue my "Portrait study". The image below is of a beautiful woman from Kutch ( Gujarat ). Absorbed in her own thoughts, with a little smile running across her face. She wears the traditional silver jewelry which gives her a unique identity. The intricate designs of the jewelry fascinate me a lot. 

An Introspection
Charcoal and white pastel pencil study work on hand made paper.
Size 5"X 7"

I got into "Sketching portraits on toned paper" quite recently and am enjoying working on it. Getting all the different values using just two different pencils ie a charcoal pencil and a white pastel pencil is quite a challenge. But the more you work with it the more things get clear and it is fun to explore and experiment. 

To check out some of my earlier portrait works CLICK HERE.