Painting with Sella

Taylor Swift in Arlington TX

2011-10-11T21:26:00.000-05:00

Taylor Swift Concert at Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, TX onOctober 8, 2011

We wanted to surprise our daughter Anjana with tickets toher favorite singer Taylor Swift’s concert. We bought tickets way back in Marchbut didn’t give them to her until her 10^th birthday in August. Wewere moved to see her literally in tears with joy when she opened the envelopewith the tickets.

As D-Day approached, we could see her excitement buildingup. She was doing her own count down. By then our neighbor told us that she hadbought tickets for her two daughters.

We live just a couple of miles from Cowboys Stadium and ourneighbors offered to drop us and pick us up and we offered to be their kids’chaperones! Win-Win, huh? Beat that Jerry!

The girls dressed up in the most shimmering outfits theycould lay hands on. I decided to make them stand out with the help of my newfound passion – henna tattoos! Of course it was all about Taylor Swift and thetwo younger ones couldn’t stop showing them off.

The concert itself was a blast as you may have read in thepapers. To say that Taylor really rocked would be putting it mildly! Herenthusiasm and energy were contagious. She does have a mesmerizing stagepresence. True to her name, she was swift – moving from one stage to anotherbuilt around the huge stadium.

And she is lovely. Even in extreme close up shots, blown upby the Jumbotron, she appeared flawless. And she gave the audience value fortheir money by belting out one after the other all of her run away hits. Shemade it look like the show was over before coming up with a few more. Her grandfinale of course was Love Story..she glided through the stadium on a floatingstage!

Only after we exited the stadium did we realize it had beenraining. The non-stop screaming by the 55,000 plus crowd, mostly teenagers inTaylor look alike dresses and leather boots, completely shut out the noise ofthe downpour outside.

2011-10-04T20:18:00.002-05:00

Sting Fling Festival-Azle

I received an invite from theAzle Chamber of Commerce asking me to participate in their Sting FlingFestival. I was excited and set up a booth. Word quickly spreadand a line began to form in front of my booth. People of all ages were eager toget one. I had a variety of designs for them to choose from. Here are a few pictures from that event.

Although it is hard work and requires skill and patience, I immenselyenjoy doing it.

I have already signed up to participate at an Elementary School in Eagle Heights.

I am receiving invitations to private parties and events.

With Halloween just around the corner, I am designing scary tattoos….like the skull and bones and scorpions! Hopefully I will drum up some business during October!

2011-09-29T19:47:00.001-05:00

How I became a tattoo artist!

I am an artist and untilrecently I expressed myself mostly through oil on canvass. However, when my daughter’sfriends came over to our house to celebrate her tenth birthday, I decided togive them all a temporary tattoo – with Mehendi (Henna)! Iwas amused to see the girls sit around patiently waiting for the Henna paste todry.

A couple of days later my dear friend Linda, seeing my Hennahandiwork (on myself as well as on my daughter) invited me to a holistic fairthat she was hosting in Springtown, TX. She wanted me to set up a temporarytattoo booth and I readily agreed. What started as a hobby quickly turned intoa small business! Here are a few pictures of my workat that fair.

Oil on Canvas Painting - Landscape

2008-08-21T19:16:00.005-05:00

Nature is resplendent with vibrant colors. Historically, mankind has dabbled in colors for centuries. Their love for colors could be seen in their attires as well as their dwellings. Rainbows certainly must have given them the first inkling into the effect of colors on the mind. Tranquility sets in when a rainbow appears in the horizon changing our mood from gloom to joy.

Surely anyone who loves to paint must have seen the works of Bob Ross and his TV program The Joy of Painting. I recently attended a three day workshop that taught his style of painting. As you may know, Oil on Canvas was his passion. The three paintings shown here were completed at the workshop itself.

Snow Capped Peaks

The Snow Capped Peaks and The Serene Village look alike in many ways. Both have snow capped mountains gleaming in the sun, while a gentle stream flows silently by. The end result may appear to be similar but an artist would be able to notice some subtle differences. The Snow Capped Peaks was done on a white canvas, Serene Village was done on a blackened canvas.

Serene Village

The oil painting below captures the lush green foliage against a blue sky back drop. The brown chaffed tree trunk provides the needed break in the dominating smooth bluish green hue.

Tranquility in Green

I used Bob Ross Landscape Brushes, Bob Ross Oils Landscape Painting and fine quality medium texture artist canvas.

How to paint mountains? Click and learn!

How To Draw or Paint

2008-08-21T13:48:00.003-05:00

How To Draw or Paint Any Subject With Ease....Even If You Have Never Drawn Or Painted Before!
- by Jean Littman & Ray Hogan

Just imagine being able to draw and paint any subject with ease.....all from the comfort of your own home.......even if you have never drawn or painted before!
Let's face it, most people who have never painted before believe painting and drawing is a very difficult skill to master - and that it's even more difficult if you believe you have "zero talent". Impossibly tough in fact!

But now there's good news!.. It's much easier than you think!...
Recently a manuscript by highly acclaimed artist Alfred Daniels, has been re-discovered. Daniel's work is the secret resource many top artists used to perfect their drawing and painting with oils and watercolors.

Inside this standout work can be found nearly 60 illustration and plates, as well as 197 pages jam-packed with nitty-gritty information, tips and techniques to get budding artists drawing and painting in no time.

"Painting and Drawing Secrets" really is the ultimate guide for drawing, sketching and painting. Alfred Daniel's unique principles teach students to let their materials do the work, let their hands have their way and let their eyes dictate their impressions. Nothing is forced, but is left to happen naturally. After all it is quite natural to want to draw and paint!

This really is the ultimate book for the beginning or intermediate artist.
Click for more info.

Water color on paper

2008-08-02T17:54:00.006-05:00

Like most young aspiring artists, I too started with water colors. Little did I realize that it was one of the toughest media to start on! I quickly learned that water color on paper is an unforgiving medium and that I had but one chance to get it right or end up trashing a lot of paper. Though frustrating at times, it eventually gave me the patience and perseverance that are essential qualities in artists.

Dancing Duo

The discerning eye of an artist will at once see the flaws in the three finished works displayed here. The paper is warped and slightly moth eaten revealing its age. Yes, they were done in the mid seventies! Dancing Duo and Meera were painted on textured paper. Swami Vivekananda was painted on fine grain smooth paper.

Meera

Now that I am dabbling in Oil on Canvas, I decided to go back to my early water color paintings and paint these images in Oil. Meera is still on the easel and I hope to finish it soon.

Swami Vivekananda

Free resources:

Rod's Watercolour Painting Demos - step-by-step illustrated lessons on specific watercolor painting subjects, including instruction on how to paint magnolias, roses, a bowl of fruit, a garden fairy and much more.

Watercolor and More: How Did You Paint That? - brief, illustrated instructional overviews on how specific watercolor paintings and watercolor effects were created, with instruction on how to paint a watercolor leaf, watercolor snow and more

Watercolor-Online Articles and Tutorials - a collection of instructional material from a variety of authors, including "Make your Watercolors Look Professional", "The difference between "Mixing" and "Visual" complements", "How to paint Backward", "Facts about Watercolor Palettes", "Design Awareness" and more

handprint : watercolors - illustrated guides to a range of topics on watercolor painting, covering watercolor papers, how to test watercolor papers, how papers are made, preparing papers for painting, stretching papers, storing, mounting & framing, watercolor brushes, brush types & construction, selecting brushes, brush care & storage, other application tools, how watercolor paints are made, how to test watercolor paints, color psychology, color mixing theories, color wheels, mixing with a color wheel, tonal value, exploring a paint wheel, watercolor palette types, laying a wash, painting outdoors and more

Barbara Simmons: Watercolor Tips - an archive of watercolor tips and instruction on artistic principles, covering such topics as color dominance, composition editing, composition with a model, focal area, gradation, guidelines for creating a successful painting, making darks in watercolor, mixing color, negative space, positive shapes, principles & elements of design, semi-neutral or neutral colors, the design principle dominance, the light source, the tetrad, the third tetrad, warm/cool relationships, working with a large pallette selection, working with photo references and more

Work in progress

2008-08-02T17:52:00.006-05:00

Follow the link to see more of Ravi Varma's work

Hindu Gods - Fabric Paintings

2008-08-02T17:45:00.007-05:00

Before starting Oil on Canvas, I honed my painting skills on fabrics. My parents were very artistic. My father was good at pencil sketching and my mother would do embroidery work from those sketches. Growing up in a household where both parents were artistic certainly rubbed off on me. I used to watch my parents work long hours to create beautiful pieces of drapes and pillow cases. When I started working on my father’s sketches, I wanted to speed up the process and so began my adventures into fabric painting. I began to paint using his sketches and soon our home had colorful drapes, shelf covers, and pillow cases everywhere around us!

This picture of Hindu Godess Saraswathy was painted by Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) an Indian painter

Fabric Painting

2008-08-02T17:42:00.001-05:00

Damayanthi - Oil on Canvas

2008-08-02T17:38:00.004-05:00

What’s Princess Damayanthi whispering in the ears of her friend and confidant, the celestial swan, Hamsam? A message to her lover King Nala asking him to come seek her hand in marriage!
Inspired by Raja Ravi Varma’s original work, Hamsa Damayanthi, I painted this oil on canvas picture.

I am sure you’re wondering what’s going on in the trunk of my car? Well, a few years ago, my husband and I were forced to wait in line for days for a school admission for my daughter! I took the day shift and he took the nights. Sitting around doing nothing on the first day of our seven day wait, I decided to pursue my hobby- painting. It was cramped and uncomfortable inside the trunk of my car, but being petite, I managed to find a nice niche to sit and paint.

I finished Damayanthi and almost completed Meera before we accomplished our mission and went back home.