Sunday works..

This Sunday I had a sudden urge to get my canvases, paints and brushes out to paint.. and this is what I made..

Lemme know how you liked it...

"Reflected colors"
Oil on canvas paper
11 X 16

"Bloom"
Oil on Canvas Paper
12 X 18

Lately I have been obsessed with color  mixing and creating patterns, as you can see I did in the background of my second painting.. and well, seascapes have always been my favorite!!!

My Latest Work!!

I have been doing a lot of portrait study lately.. I guess I just want to get better at it...

Here is my latest work..

Pencil shading "Sketching"
12" x 16"

Watercolor
12" x 16"

Do lemme know what you think about it??

I'm working on..

Well, I have been on a long break after I came back from India.. and now it's time to get back to work..

These are some things I've been working on :

1. Still trying to hone my skills.. for portraits.. so I am working on another one..

2. A big oil painting for one of my dearest and best friend..

I have definitely not forgotten about the blog..
It's just that I have been on a break and Painting takes time!!
Thank you so much for sticking with me... I really appreciate it!!

The "Love" theme

The "Love" theme for my exhibition came to my mind when i saw the painting I gifted my Dad for Father's Day. I asked my Dad if I could display it in the exhibition and further expand the theme and put in some flowers and moments that I had captured in my camera. It included some pictures that I took on my honeymoon in Goa as well as other places I visited with hubby and had loads of memories attached to it.

I included a painting of the inside of a rose which is a spectacular pic taken by a friend.. So I borrowed it...

Tulips being my favorite flower and "they" being the flower that adorns our home whenever it is our anniversary, birthday, valentines or for that matter any special/non special occasion, so "they" had to be included..

So, here are my paintings for the "love" theme..

I Protect you
11" x 14"
Oil on canvas

Love buds
11" x 15"
Oil on canvas

Blossoms
9" x 13"
watercolor on paper

Fly high
12" x 16"
Oil on canvas

In pink of Rose
12" x 12"
Oil on canvas

Morning blues
9" x 13"
Watercolor on paper

Together
9" x 13"
Watercolor on paper

Silhouettes as my next theme.. in my next post...

The Sketchbook Project 2012 Tour

The Sketchbook Project 2012 tour has reached finally reached L.A.

It's here only for 2 days.. Friday May 25th and Saturday May 26th 2012.

So if you wanna check out the awesome sketchbooks which artists around the world have submitted.. including mine.. if you like..

head on to :

• iam8bit
• 2147 W. Sunset Blvd.
• Los Angeles, CA 90026

P.S. You can also register for sketchbook project 2013 on the arthouse coop website.. for your very own sketchbook!!!

Will be posting the pics in my next post!!

My first SOLO Exhibition..

My surprise trip to India gave me the biggest surprise.. an oppurtunity to display my talent.. my first ever SOLO exhibition.. and I am all excited about it..
As I had little time on hand I could create just 19 peices which included 3 different themes...

Love
Travel
Silhouettes

The peices include water colors and oil paintings.. with a touch of acrylic paints in it.

I am really thankful for this oppurtunity given to me by Ms. Neepa Sharma and a big thanks to my husband and my whole family for being by my side this whole time and encouraging me to move forward with my dreams. Love you all...

Special Mention..

I joined an artist community BlueCanvas.com.. 


They have a magazine same named,they include the latest news, features and interviews about the art and photography world.. It's kind of an artist portal where you get to meet people, make friends and share your works..


 My latest work "Innocence" was invited by a group called "Blue" recently!! and today I got an email telling me that they have featured my painting in the "Special mention" section!!! 


M so honored!!  Love the feeling.. 

You can visit their site www.bluecanvas.com or click on the link to go directly to:

http://www.bluecanvas.com/art-detail/353836

1http://groups.bluecanvas.com/BLUE/forum/post/247  


to view mine and  all the other artists who were featured... all their works are amazing and a heartiest Congratulations to all of them!! :)



Thank you once again To the Blue Group for giving me a special mention!! I really appreciate it!! :)

Innocence

Nothing defines innocence as the face of a baby... new to this world and totally unknown to the outside world...

A few days ago I was going through my photos from my recent trip to New Hampshire, missing my family back home in India.. and remembering the wonderful time I spent there with my family members... It had been a long time since I met them and i cherished each and every moment I spent there.. It felt like I was home again...

I came across a photograph of my niece and masi (aunt), my niece Disha looked so innocent and cute in the photograph, I immediately wanted to paint it... 

This time I wanted to give watercolors a try... especially for the portrait.. I have used watercolors for a lot of my paintings but never for a portrait.. and I guess I was able to capture the moment....

Process of "Innocence"
Watercolor on Watercolor paper
11" x 15"

Innocence
watercolors on watercolor paper
11" x 15"

Through this I just want to thank my Masi, Vinay Uncle, Mini (my sister), Jiju, Manu, Maneet, Rohan, Disha and my hubby for making this trip a memorable one... Love you all... :)

   

With Love...

Memories are something that stays with you forever.. and some of them takes you way back when you were a kid in high school.. and the first thing that comes to your mind is your best friend.. in my case it was Priyanka Wadhawan..

 We were inseparable or BFF's...
 As soon as we reached home from school the first thing we would do was run towards the phone.. well in those days we didn't have cell phones and texting... we would talk for hours and call each other multiple number of times in a day... My mom used to ask me "itni kitni baatein hai tumhare paas jo khatam hi nhi hoti?? ( what in the world do you girls talk about all day??) and I had no answer to that...
 We lost contact after I moved to another school and then we took different paths for college but one thing was sure we could never forget each other and especially the wonderful time we spent together.. the endless laughter, the phone talks, the seat saving in the bus... ohh that was a wonderful time.. I wish i could go back to that time.. but well now that I am thousands of miles away from her, the memories are the only things I've got with me.. We got back in touch.. a million thanks to facebook... and we've been in constant contact ever since....

Moving on to the art part...

 As you know I had no idea how to make portraits but always wanted to learn them I tried a few pencil sketches and put them on my fb page (here).. I never thought I would be able to make an oil portrait so soon.. But I really wanted to and the first subject that I always thought about was her....

 I requested some of Priyanka's photographs but did not want to make something that she would not like or rather I wasn't sure I could make.. so I waited, practiced some more and then one day it struck me, may be I am ready. I sat down to go through all the photos she sent me and some more from her profile pics.. so I could make my mind which would actually portray her nature, her mood.. and finally picked this one..

With Love...
Oil on Canvas
11" x 14"

With love ..
Oil on Canvas
11" x 14"

To Priyanka,

I hope I was able to capture it..
I want to make another one..
If I have your permission.. and for that you might have to model for me...
Waiting for your reply...



Love,
Mehak

There's another portrait coming up.. this time in water colors.. stay tuned...

Featured...

News update...

 My blog has been featured in Sketches and Jottings Daily.... It is a personalized newspaper built from articles,blog posts, videos and photos selected by J.Walters...

And it goes with the blog sketches and jottings.. I love the way he tries to promote new talents and their sketchbooks.

. You can log onto his blog to see all the wonderful artists and their sketchbooks.... or follow him @jaw501


 I am really thankuful to J.Walters for featuring me in the 29th feb edition...

 It was quite a leap for me on this leap day!!!



P.S.  There's a new portrait coming up in the next post... :)

Finally...

As you all know about my sketchbook project.. I submitted my sketchbook in January... and have been waiting for it to get documented..

I just got an email from the art house co-op that my sketchbook has finally been documented and can be seen at the Brooklyn Art Library on the shelves by the call number 139.14-2. and while on the tour by my name Mehak Mittal or by the number #S58993.

It feels so great to be a part of such a wonderful project!!! Looking forward to participate in more such projects and do have my eye on a few!!

They will soon be putting it online for everyone to see.. I will be posting a link for it soon....

They have also announced the tour dates for the project....  The tour starts on April 14th 2012 in Brooklyn,NY

and Here are the rest of the dates.. please drop in to view my sketchbook and other talented artists from around US and world as its a "world tour"..

• Brooklyn, NY
  April 14th-30th
  Brooklyn Art Library
  103A N. 3rd St
  Brooklyn, NY 11249
• Chicago, IL
  
  May 3rd-5th
  Hyde Park Art Center
  5020 S. Cornell Avenue
  Chicago, IL 60615
• Portland, OR
  
  May 11th-13th
  The Cleaners at the Ace Hotel
  1022 SW Stark St
  Portland, OR
• Vancouver, Canada
  
  May 15th-16th
  W2 Media Cafe
  111 W Hastings St.
  Vancouver, BC
• Los Angeles, CA
  
  May 24th-26th
  iam8bit
  2147 W. Sunset Blvd.
  Los Angeles, CA
• San Francisco Bay Area
  
  June
  Pop-Up Library
  
  
  Here's a sneak peek on it's cover
  
  

  

  
  It had a plain brown color.. so I tweaked it a bit.. :)

• Greater Boston Area
  
  July 6th-8th
  LynnArts
  25 Exchange Street
  Lynn, MA
• Portland, ME
  
  July 11th-14th
  SPACE Gallery
  538 Congress Street
  Portland, ME 04101
• Toronto, Canada
  
  July 18th-22nd
  The Gladstone Hotel
  1214 Queen St. W
  Toronto, ON

• Philadelphia, PA
  
  Aug 23rd-25th
  The Painted Bride
  co-presented with InLiquid
  230 Vine Street
  Philadelphia, PA 19106
• Atlanta, GA
  
  Aug 29th - Sept 1st
  MASS Collective
  364 Nelson St. SW
  Atlanta, GA
• Austin, TX
  
  September 8th-16th
  Co-Lab Project Space
  613 Allen St.
  Austin, TX
• London, England*
  
  October
  Canada Water Library
  co-presented with The Albany
  and Southwark Council
  21 Surrey Quays Rd.
  London, SE16
  
  
  Melbourne, Australia*
  November 10th-21st
  NGV Studio
  Federation Square
  Russell & Flinders Sts
  Melbourne
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Pirates of the Caribbean..

Hubby wanted me to paint something for his office.. something from Disney...
He being a big fan of the Pirates Of The Caribbean series...
I painted this...
This is the sequence in which I painted it...

giving the base

Filling in the rest of the base and making the features

Completed with background and highlights..
8 " x 10"
Oil on Canvas
Pirates of the Caribbean

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Thank you..

A very big Thank u to all who helped me figure out the name for my painting.. I got some really thoughtful responses...

I have finally chosen the name for my painting...

"Pensive" suggested by Maneet (maneetgupta.blogspot.com)

Pensive
12" x 24"
Oil on Canvas

Still Waiting....

My seascape paintings have taken a halt as I have couple of projects at hand... I need to complete..

This was one such project.. It was also my first full figure painting with attention to details of the skin and of course the dress...
I have tried to give a different texture to the background..

Pensive
12" x 24"
Oil on Canvas

Please suggest a name for this painting.. I would really like to know your opinions and suggestions..
i will be really happy to hear from you.. :)
You can leave a comment below or email it to me on mehak3012@gmail.com
Thank you.. :)

Out In The Sun..

Seascapes are really interesting to paint as every time the water is different.. this time it's not exactly a seascape.. it's more of a "lakescape".. if that's even a word..

This was a photograph I took when hubby, me, my brother and parents went to Lake Tahoe on a vacation. One of my favorite photographs and now a painting.

and yes, these are my legs and those are my shoes..

Temme what you think about it... :)

Oil on Canvas
8" x 10"
Out In The Sun

Lover's Beach..

As I told you before I have fallen in love with seascapes and am planning to paint a few.. here is the second one in the series...

Lover's Beach...

Back in Cabo this was one of the most beautiful beaches there.. you had to take a boat ride to get there and may I mention " a glass boat ride ". Although not much was visible until u reach near the beach where you actually see fishes swimming in the water.. It's a beautiful site.... The water is Crystal clear and the weather there stays perfect all year round...

Lover's Beach
8" x 10"
Oil on canvas

Comments and suggestions are always welcome...

New Found Love for Seascapes..

Ever since i've been back from Cabo San Lucas, we went there to celebrate our 1st anniversary... A must visit place... ,I've been wanting to paint a seascape..

 The beaches at Cabo were breathtakingly beautiful...We would run to the beach every evening to watch the beautiful sunset from the beach, with ships and boats in the waters, it was so beautiful out there...

 I was thinking of our amazing time there while I was painting this piece.. The vastness of the ocean, the sound of the waves gushing towards the shore and ofcourse the beautiful sunset..

Oil on Canvas
8" x 10"
Cloudy Sunset

There are a lot more paintings on seascapes coming soon.. Stay tuned

Do leave your comments.. I love to hear from you all.. :)

Happy Birthday Maneet

Wishing you all a very happy new year...
 Hope you all enjoyed your holidays.. Like I did, visiting my cousins on the east coast and celebrating new year and loads of birthdays including mine.... It was an awesome time..
 I have been talking about a big project lately.. And in today's post I am going to reveal it... I made this painting for Maneet (u can check out her lovely blog here) for her birthday which was on 6th January and I wanted to gift her something personal..
 So I made this painting for her..

Oil on Canvas
20" x 24"
Sunshine in Seattle

I would Love to hear all your comments on this one...

And A Very Very Happy Birthday Maneet... :) :)