the Children need to be awaken inside us-- dedictaed to Childhood memories

Hello friends..

last two days I was busy searching topics inside my heart.. yes.. sometimes the child that lay hidden inside us need to be awakened.

lots of memories, dreams and fantasies, which we adults seldom recognize.. need to be cherished very often.. for our own good actually..

I was trying to just doodle with my Mungyo watercolour crayons and fine fineliners on 200 gsm papers..

I was literally astonished by seeing them.. and immense happiness and satisfaction.. I cannot describe,,

this one is dedicated to all the mushrooms in dreamt, colored and got inspired with..

though I am very scared of lizards... but thought let me make it little  funny and mischievous...

the next was for my love to scarecrows... I always find them funny and cute...

love autumn,,, its my favourite season... love fall colors. bright yellow, oranges and reds... with patches of green...

next one is dedicated to all the winter Christmas illustrations  that I have grew up with..

 in India.. winter is like spring in US and European countries... its nothing like this... but I fantasized and dreamed to experience such winter days...

 

fighting Monday boredom with colors and flowers..

Hello friends


yesterday, when I was tired of finding some more subjects to draw for my art journal, other than the chessboard.. http://mysticcanvas.blogspot.in/2014/08/chessboard-monday.html..

I thought let me try to locate some subjects, that may lying hidden in my heart...

I took my Mungyo watercolour crayons and 200 gsm brustro watercolour papers- homemade sketchpad. ofcourse..

in normal sunlight..

I kept drawing whatever was coming my mind.. and believe me.. and with every line I was drawing, the Monday blue was disappearing ...

in artificial yellow light..

I loved the vibrant colors of Mungyo watercolour crayons... it was relaxing...
 

chessboard-- Monday..

Hello friends

sometimes its really tough to maintain daily art journals.. as most of the days.. I find myself totally lost. with no subject to draw..

Yesterday was Monday... and as usual I was trying to find something to fill my art journal pages with..

small things here and there... suddenly our chessboard game looked interesting..

what if our war zones can look like this,,, across the table.. only if our politicians can understand...

reminding me of an old Pete Seeger's Song..

 

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young girls gone, long time ago?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Gone for husbands everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the husbands gone, long time passing?
Where have all the husbands gone, long time ago?
Where have all the husbands gone?
Gone for soldiers everyone
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing?
Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Gone to flowers, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn? 

 

 

Peace of Mind---

Hello

A very good Monday afternoon to all.

Its all about the mood.. the same painting.. same arrangement, same place.. but its only the way we look at it..

I experienced it again today.. suddenly  I  found the right object for my today's journal

a closer look..

I made this sketch with waterproof 0.9 fine liner... a very satisfying composition

then I used the Koi half pan watercolour set... finished product came out quite neat...
a closer look may be...

a day well spent.. I must say... feeling very peaceful and happy really...

heaps of cloths

Hello friends..

I thought, let me share my THE most lazy and disorganized nature with you all.. specially when it comes to organize my wardrobe...

I am very particular about organizing my art supplies and books though, but not my cloths and wardrobe.. that's the most painful household work for me.. believe me.. I enjoy heaving my cloths outside the closet... heheheee

yes, that's exactly how my cloth hangers and cloth stand look like...

 BTW.. I sketched them with a waterproof 0.2 fine liner and mungyo water soluble crayons - 36 assorted colours.

let me show you in details... these hangers were suppose to be inside of the closet behind.. but I am just fine to see them outside of the closet instead....

just next to it.. was a cloth drying stand.. which serve differently now days.. well of course I am too lazy to shift those dried cloths properly pressed and stored inside the wardrobe.. you can even see my hobo bag along with those cloths..

I know, I am shameless... and I will never be organized in my life, that's for sure too...

BTW... can you see my stand... its just hidden ... well under the cloths... hehheee. that's the question of the day.. can you find my poor steel cloth hanging rack???!!!... lolz.. !! wow... height of shamelessness..


 

its fun to sketch people secretly...

Hello

last week, we had a trip to local diagnostic centre for a routine check up.. 

before I hooked up with this journaling idea.. we used to visit such  places without much happy mood actually.. a trip to doctor's place is never a fun.. you should agree with me...reading old magazines.. staring at TV, cautiously observing at other people and their activities.. scent of medicines and sickness... all those things made the trip most unwelcome one...

but now I carry my small notebook with water brush pen and water soluble crayons and believe me friends .... I feel more relaxed.. even if I have to spend more than hours waiting for my turn to meet the doctor..

My new found interest make me more content..as I find it thrilling to sketch unknown people in public places.. without letting them know that they are being captured in my notebook forever... heeehheeeee...

 

I saw this aged gentleman in traditional Indian cloth (Dhoti and Kurta) was waiting outside the ultrasound department.. he was dozing off on a nearby chair...while I was sketching him.. as soon as I finished the sketching.. he left to meet his doctor.. I was lucky indeed to finish the  sketch just on time..

in another section of the same centre... It was world cup time ..... so that's how people spend their waiting time in diagnostic centres... I am no big football fan.. but sketching people watching football.. and that too while waiting for doctor's appointment was real fun to capture... couldn't resist....

 

a box of Crayola Crayons-- Its for my rainy days..

Hello Friends...

Poured a cup of hot sepia coffee in a wisteria flowered mug, dandelion sunshine spilling through the periwinkle sky. ~Terri Guillemets

Yesterday, I received my first ever --a box of Crayola Crayons--... yes... you read it right,... my first ever Crayola Crayons.. and I am going to be 34 years old in August this year... :)

I read a lot about these crayons lately and was very interested to buy atleast a set for my own rainy days...

It all started when I was just a kid.. I used to notice these yellow green crayon boxes in English movies or in TV dramas or picture books and couldn't avoid to notice it's intense and vibrant colors... and wanted all of them for me.. Badly... :(

it was my childhood dream to own a box of crayons.. in India, these Crayola crayons are new... our new generations are lucky to have them in their schoolbags, along with other famous brands...we were not so lucky then,,, we never had.. all what we got was very weak substitutes of these crayons.. those were made of lots of wax and less colors..

yesterday, I was as excited as a 5 years old would have been.. I got it through Amazon.in... they are  also new in India and quickly learning the trick to capture Indian market.. but they have local challenges.. their delivery was fine.. packet came totally intact..



courtesy: Amazon.in 

I smelled the wax.. yummm yummm.... and the first thing I did, was to swatch those beautiful happy colors on my sketchbook... heehee.. I made a list of 64 colors that I received in the box...

I loved the names... tumble weed, wild strawberry, purple mountain majesty, Granny smith apple, Robin egg's blue, asparagus and soo on... :D

yes, I know it looks childish.. but I thought it would be helpful for those, who wish to buy this big box of Crayola crayons.. and wonders what all colors they will find inside,,, this blog is of course not for them, who loves surprises..

I am going to use these colors to uplift my moods. whenever I feel lonely or sad..

Working with watercolor crayons on A5 160 gsm Sketchpad = happy feelings

Hi friends,

well... what could be the best way to simplify a long blog into an one-liner....

Life is about using the whole box of crayons. ~RuPaul
 

that what I was doing for couple of days.. and its really addictive.. lots of colors... I am soo obsessed..

Last week I bought, a A5 sketchpad with 160 gsm paper weight.. as you can see, it looks quite hardy and sophisticated.


A5 Sketch pad- 160 gsm- good for watercolour crayons and light wash.

I am little shy to display my whole watercolour box set in public. I got wary, under curious unfamiliar eyes, so I decided, will be carrying watercolour crayons instead.

It is more peaceful to work without much public curious attentions. crayons are very easy to carry secretly in a pouch.. I also carry  koi water brush pen for light wash and 0.2 waterproof fine liner.


Mungyo watercolour crayons

 


36 crayon box







can you see all happy colours, and believe me they are really vibrant. its a Korean brand. I ordered it through snapdeals.com..

I was little apprehensive about, how the A5 160 gsm sketchbook pages will respond to these highly pigmented crayons.. but it turned out to be quite satisfactory..

I started decorating my sketchpad with some happy drawings...



address page

 yes.. that's how my cover page is looking like...



paper strength testing-- for watercolour crayons

next two pages, were for colors and paper strength testing... which was good.. light crayon swatches.. that's all you need.. otherwise you may get little pigmented stains at the back of your pages....

 

i keep my crayons in this small box...

 

This is a recycled souvenir-box-turned-into-essential-travel-art-case, now it contains 2 ml water brush pens, 1 fine liner, small water container and crayons..

it s a magic box actually, that helps me to be invisible in public...

 

I am loving this new meduim.. even planning to buy some Crayola crayons... 64 colors.... <3.. don't know if there is any cure for such color hunger... heehehee

 

Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment. ~Claude Monet

till i come back... have a colourful day... <3

our other Bookcase

Hello...

I was again clueless about what to add in my todays journal.

late afternoon, I suddenly found the Tabla Set displayed in the lowest shelf of our Bookcase, among the other books of Dan Brown and William Dalrymple, quite interesting ...

 Though, I did made similar sketching, a couple of days before-- portraying A handmade photo frame and our once-upon-a-time-Tibetan-singing-bowl- now-the-lucky-bamboo-pot  displayed with series of books by Rick Riordan and others...

Happiness in Hobbies

for both the sketches, I used Brustro 300 gsm Sheets, that I glued together to give a shape of a journal.. yeah I know.. glue idea didn't work... I had to use paper clips to keep those sheets together.. as they are falling apart...though these hard and toothy papers with ivory white tone help the colors to come out really vibrant. and that's quite satisfactory really.

 

After all... happy happy colors on happy papers make me real HAPPYYYYY..... 

 

I am going to receive a new 160 GSM sketchpad today.. I am keeping my finger crossed so that I can make some real colourful and vibrant sketches with my watercolour crayons on it... Hope it supports the load of pigments and washes...  

 

 

 

My new 110 gsm sketchbook

Hello friends,

its 09.44 pm at night, the whole day wasn't much exciting though.

Today, I have received my Brustro A5 110 gsm sketchbook through Snapdeal.

morning I was really excited and happy seeing its lovely stitched bound black cover and beautiful ivory toothed papers, a real rich vintage look it has, just the way I wanted.. but all my excitement went down when I found, other than Pen sketches, pencil sketches or dry crayons, these papers don't support ink and wash techniques,, its become blotchy with a little load of extra water or pigments.

 

 

 

though its working little better with Koi watercolour cakes but not with my Mungyo water soluble crayons.. and definitely not with my water soluble Pilot fine liners...

 

I am still trying to find out how to work with such challenges... whole day passed by and I am still experimenting.. hope will get some or the other satisfactory solution for this..

 

My Art supplies for daily quick Ink and wash sketches

Hello..

Its late afternoon and I had not drawn a single thing today.. but I have something else to share with you.. its about my art supplies for ink and wash daily journal. I am soo in love with them..

I had bought these a couple of months back, while researching about how to start my own ink and wash journals..

While watching YOU Tube Video of Diana Gessler and Cathy Johnson.. I have seen couple of things they used in their journals and got inspired, as a result I have started buying those staffs.. (whatever available online in India.) for me.



My complete Ink and wash supply at home.

here are the staffs,,,

now, if you want to exclude or include my wooden hair fork--which comes handy (for me of course) to pull back my unhealthy thin hair back into a bun-- others are really compact and useful supplies for loose ink and wash sketches.

• One Water-soluble fine liner black - you can use Pilot or Staedtler or any other brand.. just for loose and soft initial sketches..
• One waterproof fine liner - am using Staedtler 0.6 Pigment Liner for final works wherever necessary,, and of course for captions or stories related to my drawing..
• Staedtler technical pencil... comes handy, when I am not so confident about how I will be drawing things correctly.. you know-- sometimes cheating can be forgiven... heehee
• A water brush pen.. now these things are really handy and cool, you can even travel with them without much spillage and spoilage... This one came along with 24-Piece Sakura Koi Assorted Water Colours Field Sketch Set..
• A water spray bottle - recycled of course from Aroma room freshener mist spray bottle..
• A small water container- here it is Johnson and Johnson ear bud container- recycled and coloured..  
• A small piece of sponge- for cleaning brush or some special effect
• A small cut out of old Credit card- for scraping out colours or give special effect
• Watercolour field sketch box-- customized for maximum variation of colours

and finally my home made Sketch Book--

don't know, whether was it a good idea or bad. I actually bought 6 sets of Brustro Watercolour Paper (7 x 10 inches) - 300 gsm (Pack of 2-each pack has 9 sheets) from snapdeal.com.-- they are quite good for stationary purchases..

I glued them together to give a shape of a compact sketchbook... but now the papers are coming out *sad eyes* ... but its still handy as long as I am using paper clips...





Now its time to tell tale about my customized watercolour box...

It is actually 24-Piece Koi Assorted Water Colours Field Sketch Set with brush.. it comes with 24 half pans, two sponges, one additional colour mixing palette and a very useful water brush pen. I added my own Daler Rowney 12 watercolour pocket half pans into it.. so now it has become 36 half pan set.. though there are duplications of colours.. but the brands are different so the color pigmentations are---and its ok with me.

as you can see the colours are vibrant..but Koi colours could be little chalky.

It is absolutely gorgeous for field sketches and must buy for sketchers... I will highly recommend them for travel sketching and leisure paintings.. if you want to go for serious painting.. please buy some artists grades from good brands like W & N cotman, Daler Rowney, Van gogh etc,,

that's all I have for my Ink and wash sketching.. which I usually carry at home, still trying to find that courage to bring it out in public... you know beginner's hesitation... but I do carry water soluble crayons and water brush for outdoor quick sketches... till than byeeeeee.... happy painting..

about my new hobby- Watercolor journalling

Few months, back while I was surfing through couple of websites and even checking out some You-Tube video tutorials.. I came across a very interesting arena  to express my daily observations, likings and amusements through paintings and sketches.

Mediums were many, though I liked the watercolour based loose sketches the most.

artists define these in different names and phases like urban sketching, art journaling, travel journaling, daily sketching, ... and soo on... and there are different methods too .. starting from more serious watercolour painting to loose ink and wash sketches.. from Plain Air acrylic to mixed media and image montages.. I liked the least detailed one of course.. Hee heee -- that's Ink and wash techniques.

 here are some sketches which I did..




Our reading place







Afternoon Nap




Urban Network



a piece of Sunshine

Loose ink and wash was my choice of expression on paper, nothing serious, just water-soluble ink sketches and light washes.. I felt soo happy after finishing a couple of sketches like that.. now I am working on how to build up the proper story lines to make it more journal kind of thing.








writing creative is another challenge for me... no very good with words and my grammar is ------... though..  but it is very relaxing and rejuvenating. loved it... and will continue...

past at present

its raining and clouded here.. hard not to mention that it is windy too .. I love this weather. today let me share some of my old works, as I had nothing specific to describe other than giving some past accounts..


here are some works, that had been shared in Facebook for more than 100 times already.
 you can visit all of them in the Face book page -- the mystic Canvas

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mystic-canvas/238636952841729?ref_type=bookmark



King fisher - oil on Canvas board



Tagore in Black and white- oil on Canvas



Women - oil on Canvas




series-acrylic on Canvas Paper



series2- oil on Canvas

Budda in peace- Acrylic on Canvas

Reading - Acrylic on Canvas Pad

Baul- Acrylic on Canvas Board

Prakriti- Acrylic on Canvas

Buddha Series- Acrylic on Canvas Pad

Leap of Faith - Acrylic on Canvas



Udaan- Acrylic on Canvas



Celebration - acrylic on Canvas

Hi

Hello Friends

This is my first entry in my first ever blog-- It will be all about my journey in the world of colors, creativity and happiness.

here, I will update all new experiences of mine as I journey further and dive deep into the world of art --- starting from reading books to painting.. poems to cooking or shopping.

please excuse my incorrect English, Though I will try to hide the flaw with numerous photos and other funny things.

Hope you wont be disappointed...


This is the place where I spend hours everyday..