Dharmatala Street Scene

[Balaji]

This is an approximately 8.5" x 5.5" watercolour loose sketch on 250 gsm Canson grained watercolour paper, painted from a 1968 b/w reference photograph, with the Tipu Sultan Shahi Mosque, Kolkata in the background.

 

[Joy]

Your renderings are getting mote enjoyable each time/ I really look forward to them! It is amazing how you can show so much detail without being too fussy and overworking. This is just the right amount of color and the dark areas are excellent for the contrast. Composition is very nice too - so many areas of interest.

 

[Jo Castillo]

Beautiful. Always look forward to seeing your work.

 

[Donna T]

So beautifully done, Balaji! I really like the colorful clothes you chose for the people!

 

[Balaji]

Joy, Jo, and Donna...Thank you for such lovely and very encouraging comments.
Joy...For decades I wanted to sketch in colour, especially watercolour. But I was very diffident and would always choose a pen over a brush. During the enforced covid lockdowns I found the time to do one watercolour sketch every day for many weeks, and thus got over my reluctance to wield a brush. I also have several mentors, some of them know that they are my mentors, and some of them I follow silently without their knowledge, and learn from their work. As a result, for some time now, I have made a conscious effort to simplify my drawings and paintings, and to suggest details without acually drawing or painting them. I feel that his has helped improve my artwork.

 

[Bartc]

Your paintings are magnificent! Keep going, Balaji!

 

[snoball]

Excellent, Balaji. It looks like so much detail when actually there isn't that much, but it sure gives the impression of being very detailed.

 

[Joy]

Balaji, I wish I had your talent and patience with a pen. My struggle is with interpretation of a subject, as I cannot decide which details to leave out. We are told to use a minimum of detail convey the subject, but how does one decide what is necessary? So I tend to overwork as "a little" doesn't look finished enough to me. Frequently I procrastinate attempting to produce art, as I am unhappy with the result and get frustrated with myself. Of course, that does not help the process.

 

[Balaji]

Bart, Margaret...Thank you.
Margaret...I take advantage of the fact that the mind sees what it thinks is there, or what it wants to see.

 

[Balaji]

Balaji, I wish I had your talent and patience with a pen. My struggle is with interpretation of a subject, as I cannot decide which details to leave out. We are told to use a minimum of detail convey the subject, but how does one decide what is necessary? So I tend to overwork as "a little" doesn't look finished enough to me. Frequently I procrastinate attempting to produce art, as I am unhappy with the result and get frustrated with myself. Of course, that does not help the process.

Joy...I don't know about talent, but I know that I do have lots of patience and persistence.
I learnt to reduce details accidentally. I was a couple of minutes into a plein air pen and ink sketch that should have taken me around 45 to 60 minutes when it started to drizzle very slightly, threatening to actually rain. I therefore rushed through my sketch and finished it in another three of four minutes. And surprisingly, I found that I liked that sketch very much and so did most my friends who saw it. After that I started doing a mix of quick sketches, medium duration sketches, and slow careful sketches. And the next step was to retain only the stuff that I sketched in my quick sketches, even in my other sketches. But even now I have the tendency to show too much, and I have to constantly remind myself to simplify and cut out details.