Durga and Dashami

This painting idea was in my mind for last 5 years but this was not how I visualized it as a final one. It was completely different. This happened over the process and I am not very happy with it. I used one of my old photograph as a reference and want to mention that it's not a self-portrait. 

Close up 1

Close up 2

Close Up 3

"Durga and Dashami"

Acrylic on canvas 

(20" X 24")

Newly Wed

I kicked off this painting with absolutely no vision in my mind, striking large brush stokes throughout the canvas. Then as I outlined a face with lighter skin color , it struck in my mind to portray a Bengali woman with big and bright eyes. Interestingly as a Bengali, whenever you think of  big bright eyes, the very first thing that clicks in your mind are Kalighat and Jamini Roy's unique style of Paintings. Kalighat paintings and Vishnupur temple's terracotta inspired Jamini Roy and he blended this heritage with his signature bold use of line & sweeping brush stokes. Undoubtedly he is one of the most influencial and respected Indian artist of the 20th century.

Constantly having Jamini Roy's " Maiden" at the back of my mind, I knew I was going to  portray "Maiden" in my own way as soon as I finished the face with large eyes. How does a real woman look like in her "Maiden" form ? What if she is no more a maiden but gets transformed into a newly married woman with all the blushes of her pristine happiness? Her first Durga puja after marriage when she is dolled up to go to the temple with the fresh fragrance of shiuli flower is all I could think of as the quintessential "Newly Wed" Bengali woman...... my answer to all these  questions !

                                                                                       

     Maiden

     Photo taken from a article by Alok Deshwal

                                                               

 " Newly Wed"

         Acrylic on Canvas ( 16" x 20" )

Sunset Landscape

Water and reflections on it kind of attract me more and more these days although  I haven't been painting anything of late because of my crazy schedule. However I wanted to gift one of my originals to a very important person in my life on his birthday. It had to be quick and something that I would love to paint. So I tried my hands on this imaginary sunset landscape with my signature use of bright colors.

water

 I enjoyed the most doing the sky.

                                                                      "Sunset at lake"

                                                              Acrylic on Canvas ( 18" x 24" )

Adora Art Project

Hanan Levin is a single dad from Corona, CA who has cute, little, adorable daughter named Adora He recently requested me to contribute to his on growing and unique Adora Art Project . I was very touched with his innovative way of expressing love and affection to her daughter.  Check this out and I bet you'll feel the same like me.  Other than his affectionate mind, he has also provided a great platform for various artists to showcase their work. Here's a Write Up of this cool initiative.

Here's my painting, I used this photo as a reference.
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Maroon Bells

My dear friend Ankita made a recent trip to Colorado with her family and subsequently shared some picturesque snaps in Facebook. That's how I got to see this photograph of Maroon Bells below captured by her husband, Niladri. Since I didn't know about this place, I immediately googled "Maroon Bells" and  found lots of photographs on this heavenly site. All of them were equally amazing but I personally got hooked to this one and decided to use it for my next Landscape painting. The reflection of the rocks on the water surface in this photograph attracted me the most. I must say Niladri did a real good job in capturing the serenity of the place.

                                                         

Photo Courtesy Niladri Das

Lemme tell ya - normally, any Landscape painting with a water body makes a huge difference to it, whether it's a running stream or a quite lake.  In the case of  the running stream, the flow of  the water creates the magic but for quite water body, all that matters is the reflection. Maroon bells is widely popular  among artists for the reflection of these peaks. Normally Artists use the wind effect on water surface to differentiate the reflections  from the real objects and I must admit that's not a very easy job. But the photograph Niladri took is with calm reflections just creating a perfect  mirror image. Only difference is the presence of rocks on the water surface which according to me is the key to differentiate real objects from the reflections. Only thing I have changed in the painting is adding fall colors to the mountains.

Thank you Ankita and Niladri for this awesome snap.

                                                                       "Maroon Bells"
                                                              Acrylic on Canvas ( 18" x 24" )

"Sonar Horin" - The Golden Deer

Back again with my "calendar-style" painting !  Of Late I have been very busy with my work, but that doesn't give me an excuse to be away from my favourite leisure job for so long. I promise myself to be more regular in future .... anyways no more hanky panky, lets talk about my latest venture. It has a very interesting mythological story behind it which is one of my all time favourites as well .

Yes! you are right this painting is from "Ramayana". Those of you who are still wondering, this is a depiction of one of the famous scenarios of the Indian Epic "Ramayana". Although  given the size of the book, no wonder very few Indians have actually read the whole epic. Most of us have been satisfied watching the TV series "Ramayana" directed by Ramananda Sagar or at max have read a few chapters from it (thanks to our middle school curriculum !) . However we all can somehow recollect the whole story for sure in bits and pieces. I vaguely remember the episodes of "Ramayana" but thanks to Youtube for providing us access to those golden childhood memories. 

I highly recommend Sita sings the Blue by Nina Paley where she has tried to catch the emotions of Sita through her wonderful animation. Though it's mainly sarcastic, still it's well enough to unravel the inner message beneath. 

Another song I would love to share here is from the Bollywood movie "Swadesh" - Pal Pal he Bhari. The only essence I get from it is Sita's palpable love for her husband - even after so many days of hardship, she is all praises about her husband. The enormous magnitude of love and trust that she has for her dear husband is the highlight of this song. Although "trust" is one of those very few adjectives that is perhaps not applicable to Rama. Infact it was this very "Trust" that didn't bring happy ending to Ramayana , even the deep love that he had for his wife Sita could not save it. Check out the video of this song if you feel like.

Rama and Sita 

The picture that I have drawn this time is the focal point of the story. I'm not going to get into the details - in short, Sita was amazed by seeing the golden deer (which was Maaricha, a demon in disguise) and wanted to pet it.  

              Maaricha - the demon in disguise

She insisted Rama to fetch it for her. Now Rama was very much aware of the fact that Golden deer was a myth. Still he went to catch it because he was so much in love with her and  all he wanted was to bring a smile on her face. Here I wanted to capture a moment of their undying love for each other. 

I have tried to create the serene beauty of Panchavati  forest ( where Rama, Sita and Laxman were staying during their exile). I chose Hibiscus, Ixora (also known as Rangan in Bengali , Tagar or Chadni and small summer sunflower as garden plants ( these flower plants are very common in West Bengal as well as in all parts of India). Waterfall is enough to pop the beauty and almost in every calender you'll find one. 

The "Panchavati" Forest

Original Painting

This is a high resolution picture of my painting "Sonar Horin - The Golden Deer" done in June 2013. The original was painted in acrylic paints on 16” x 20” Canvas. Please email me at huensplash@gmail.com if you are interested in buying my original artwork.

" Sonar Horin " - The Golden Deer

Acrylic on Canvas ( 16" x 20" )

Fall Trail.

Huh! it has been roughly two months since I posted my last painting....courtesy to my famous laziness : P This time I badly wanted to do a landscape; specially after coming back from our weekend trip to Smokey Mountain this summer. So I was checking all my old photographs and definitely different landscape photos from internet. I realised that indeed one needs a lot of practice in order to capture the rustic beauty of nature. However the creative ability of artists to blend the beauty of nature with their imagination is the key to success. Every person has his / her own perception about mother nature and I believe that's precisely how artists end up with their specific painting style. Infact somewhere in-between lies the gateway of abstract landscape painting.

 I have always dreamt of painting a landscape about Fall Color. The bright and vibrant red, orange and yellow colors always instigate me to play with them. Here are some of the fall color pictures in my neighbourhood taken by my loving husband today evening.

 Although Fall color is never very prominent in Kentucky;   still its obvious enough to force me putting them in canvas. This is my first attempt of landscape painting - " Fall Trail"

Fall Trail

                                                         

                                                      Acrylic on Canvas ( 16" x 20" )

Original Painting

This is a high resolution picture of my painting "Fall Trail" done in Oct 2012. The original was painted in acrylic paints on 16” x 20” Canvas. Please email me at huensplash@gmail.com if you are interested in buying my original artwork.

Shakuntala and Dushyanta

The Story of "Shakuntala" is one of the most prominent and sought after stories of Mahabharata. I'm not getting into the details of the story as anybody interested can go through this famous Indian Mythology only by  typing "Shakuntala" in any search engine. In short this story is all about rejuvenating lost love between Shakuntala and King Dushyanta.

                                     
                                        Shakuntala & Dushyanta -The main characters 

My painting depicts the time when King Dushyanta fell in love with Shakuntala at first sight. Kavi Kalidasa had given a vivid and wonderful description of this moment in his epic "Shakuntalam". But that is not the sole reason for me to choose this subject for painting. I have a completely different source of inspiration and I want to share it here.

                                   
                                          Shakuntala's friends - Peacock and the deers   

My Father gifted me the first six volumes of "Saradindu Amanibus" in my 14th Birthday. From then onwards Saradindu Bandhyapadhyay became one of my Favorite Bengali Authors. I have gone through most of  his stories hundred of times.He literally created magic with his short stories and periodic fictions. Other than that, he is also well known for his detective novels and stories. Infact he is the creator of the cult bengali detective character "Byomkesh Bakshi". For most Bengali teenagers, perhaps Feluda is their favorite Detective Character but for me it has always been Byomkesh .

My inspiration imbibed from one of the famous Byomkesh Stories named "Banhi-patanga" in which Byomkesh solved the case from a painting of Shakuntala. You can go through the story or see the hindi telefilm version of the same in youtube if you want. A brief synopsis of the story is as follows -  The female lead character named Shakuntala in this story was young and beautiful who married a rich, old man for his wealth by leaving her old college day boyfriend. Shakuntala's husband was poisoned and there comes Byomkesh to solve the case. From the beginning it was clear that Shakuntala has a secret admirer, but who was he? It was quite impossible to guess that and Byomkesh also had a hard time in solving the murder case. The nature of any secret affair is that the lovers can't share their mutual feelings and wonderful moments with friends and family in a bid to protect their coveted love affair. However there is always an insatiable appetite to express the same in a different way. Here also Shakuntala, once drew a picture from Kalidasa's "Shakuntala" where Shakuntala was sitting on a rock and King Dushyanta was stalking at her. But the eyes of Dushyanta was blue which was quite uncommon for Indians. It was a beautiful picture and nobody can have any doubt from it. However when Byomkesh saw the picture he noticed the blue eyes from a different perspective. The painting was not just a beautiful picture for him, rather it was the main key to solve the case. Only one person among all the main suspects / characters involved had blue eyes and with further investigation it was found that he was the one who was actually Shakuntala's old college days boyfriend cum the culprit of the heinous crime.

                                                        
                                                        Natural earthy surroundings

Well, My Dushyanta is not blue eyed ! But this part of the story impressed me so much that I had always wanted to recreate the same painting in my own way. I chose to cast these famous mythological characters in natural earthy surroundings; a depiction commonly adopted by the Indian "calender-art" and ancient mythological literature.


                                          Shakuntala and Dushyanta

Acrylic on Canvas ( 16" x 20" )

Canvas and Photo Prints

 Original Painting of "Shakuntala and Dushyanta" was done in Acrylic paint. Original Painting is no more available. If you would like to order individual prints of my painting, there are a few different options listed below for you to select before ordering. All these prints are processed from a high-resolution image on archival paper / high quality canvas. The watermark will not appear on the print. It has been signed and dated at the corner of the image.

Ship prints to your home

Canvas Gallery Wrap 5x7	$ 30
Canvas Gallery Wrap 8x10	$ 40
8x10 Photo Print	$ 15
11x 14 Photo Print	$ 20
12x16 Photo Print	$ 25

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

SHIPPING:The print will be shipped within 3 working days of confirming payment. It will be received in a transparent file inside a sturdy envelope through PRIORITY US Post (with tracking) and should reach you within 2-3 days of shipping. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
Please Do not print, copy or use this art-work without my knowledge. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License. (for details about this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/ )

Options

Lost in the Sunflower Field - Canvas Gallery Wrap 5x7$30.00 USD  Lost in the Sunflower Field -Canvas Gallery Wrap 8x10$40.00 USD  Lost in the Sunflower Field - 8x10 Photo Print$15.00 USD  Lost in the Sunflower Field - 11x 14 Photo Print$20.00 USD  Lost in the Sunflower Field - 12x16 Photo Print$25.00 USD

 

Lost in the Sunflower Field.

Sunflower is one of my favourite flower other than Lotus. Here I have tried to work with their bright and elegant yellow color. I always enjoy doing figurative art,  especially of woman. So, this time just tried to marry my love with my passion and enjoyed a lot doing this.

                            

    

                                     Lost in the Sunflower Field

Acrylic on Canvas ( 12" x 16" )

Original Painting

This is a high resolution picture of my painting "Lost in the sunflower Field" done in June 2012.Sunflowers are cultivated and harvested mainly in the northern parts of India. The original was painted in acrylic paints on 12” x 16” Canvas. Please email me at huensplash@gmail.com if you are interested in buying my original artwork.

Canvas and Photo Prints

If you would like to order individual prints of my painting, there are a few different options listed below for you to select before ordering. All these prints are processed from a high-resolution image on archival paper / high quality canvas. The watermark will not appear on the print. It has been signed and dated at the corner of the image.

Ship prints to your home

Canvas Gallery Wrap 5x7	$ 30
Canvas Gallery Wrap 8x10	$ 40
8x10 Photo Print	$ 15
11x 14 Photo Print	$ 20
12x16 Photo Print	$ 25

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

SHIPPING:The print will be shipped within 3 working days of confirming payment. It will be received in a transparent file inside a sturdy envelope through PRIORITY US Post (with tracking) and should reach you within 2-3 days of shipping. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
Please Do not print, copy or use this art-work without my knowledge. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License. (for details about this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/ )

Options

Lost in the Sunflower Field - Canvas Gallery Wrap 5x7$30.00 USD Lost in the Sunflower Field -Canvas Gallery Wrap 8x10$40.00 USD Lost in the Sunflower Field - 8x10 Photo Print$15.00 USD Lost in the Sunflower Field - 11x 14 Photo Print$20.00 USD Lost in the Sunflower Field - 12x16 Photo Print$25.00 USD

Radha and Krishna.

We were invited to one of my friend's (Rima's) place for Memorial day weekend. They have just moved in to their new house three months ago. The house is splendid, five large bedrooms, huge living place and a picturesque backyard . I wanted to gift them something with personal touch and what better than my painting. I was little skeptical whether they will like it or not, however I found out that they absolutely love it. I don't have any words to express the pleasure and satisfaction I had watching their happy faces. I wish them decades of togetherness with never ending love for each other like Radha & Krishna in my painting !

      RADHA & KRISHNA - THE ETERNAL LOVERS

                                                        Acrylic on Canvas ( 12" x 16" )

Canvas and Photo Prints

This is a picture of my recent Art-Work “Radha & Krishna –The Eternal Lovers". Original is done by Acrylics on 12" x 16" Canvas. If you would like to order individual prints of my painting, there are a few different options listed below for you to select before ordering. All these prints are processed from a high-resolution image on archival paper / high quality canvas.

Ship prints to your home

Canvas Gallery Wrap 5x7	$ 30
Canvas Gallery Wrap 8x10	$ 40
8x10 Photo Print	$ 15
11x 14 Photo Print	$ 20
12x16 Photo Print	$ 25

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

SHIPPING:The print will be shipped within 3 working days of confirming payment. It will be received in a transparent file inside a sturdy envelope through PRIORITY US Post (with tracking) and should reach you within 2-3 days of shipping. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
Please Do not print, copy or use this art-work without my knowledge. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License. (for details about this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/ )

Options

Canvas Gallery Wrap 5x7$30.00 USD Canvas Gallery Wrap 8x10$40.00 USD 8x10 Photo Print$15.00 USD 11x 14 Photo Print$20.00 USD 12x16 Photo Print$25.00 USD