The Figurative Art of Painting the Face



A work in progress

Firstly, it is the face that attracts anybody. As an artist, the thing I love to paint foremost is the face. It would be very easy so find the reason if one analyses it. But I would just like to say that emotions affect me. And the face is the part of the body where emotions show most easily. In that case, I would be an adherent of the Expressionist school of art, I understand.

Slowly I am getting to know my art. Why do many kinds of things? Why experiment with so many colors? Isn't it the right time to choose, to focus on some, and block out the rest. For a signature style, isn't it necessary to choose?

And layering - of colors - so that it shows in depth, is essential. For some time now, I had been concentrating on small size paintings. I had moved away from my size, which is large. In India, when I started off, I started with the large size. Due to the economy, I have forced myself to do the small sizes. But that has not been very satisfying. That should not be the case, but that's how I am feeling. My personality likes big paintings, and I should not confine myself to the small ones.

With this thought process, I am preparing the ground to restart work on the large ones. Hope this is the right path. What do you say?

Some New Thoughts on Art

Can there be any new thoughts on art? The same things keep coming and going. They rise in the mind, then disappear, then rise again.

This is most true of work that has been started, worked on for some time, then abandoned for some time, and then picked up again. Why does some work (most work, to be correct) require such an incubation period/ And why do they emerge better, afterward. Even though the initial thought with which the work was begun, had changed.

Fair Weather

Oil on canvas

50"x40"

Artist: Anuradha Rajkumari

Status: sold

The above mentioned painting is one such example. It was started and finished in the year 2007. But much went into its initial conceptualisation, then execution. Not only because it was a large canvas, but also because I was experimenting with colour and texture.

How does an Artist Feed herself???

Creating art is the main aim, the life's goal of an artist. She would do anything to create, hold a paint brush and make the marks on canvas. Stroke by stroke, the picture emerges. A thought that takes a shape, color, produces vibrations. Connoiseurs stop and look at it and sigh in amazement.

The result of an artist's labor is breathtaking. It brings happiness, knowledge, inspiration, to others. And mostly that is what an artist gets. Admiration from people, acknowledgement about her talent, encouragement, publicity, fame.

The more mundane of all the things hardly crosses anyone's mind when they look at an artist's work. How does the artist sustain such a passion, day after day, holding brush and mixing paint, giving shape and color to one vision after another, for the world to see? Is it just her passion? How does she get her material like paint and canvas? Does it come from an unknown quarter? Is it being donated to her for free from art lovers? Who sustains an artist while she is at work, creating the breathtaking striking works?

Some time the artist has to stop, while she is working, as sher stomach makes her lose concentration. She cannot live on air. And she has to live somewhere, store her supplies in some place, under some shade. From some shop she has to procure her supplies.

Most people expect an artist to just thrive on plain air. As if, due to their exalted profession, they do not require food, clothing and shelter like the rest of the human race. Such an outlook is harmful. It has not helped the artist one bit to be looked at with such regard. People have to look closely at an artist, and recognise her for the work, the hours put in, the labor, the expenses. Art is sometimes just ground level hard work and logistics.

On being Unattached

Title: Mendicant, oil on canvas, 30"x20"

Original: $600

Giclee: 150

Print on paper: $70

Indian philosophy and religion have, over millenia, tirelessly pointed to one thing.

In religious discourses, public commentaries, cultural practices, that is the only thing that describes everything else. That of renunciation.

The yogis and the mahatmas have followed a lifestyle that is intricately connected to this philosophy. The general population too have not been too far away from this philosophy.

Take the example of Sri Krishna's teachings in the Bhagawad Gita. Krishna exhorted Arjuna to follow the call of duty, and renounce everything else. He asked Arjuna to ignore his feelings and emotions, and also any expectation of a fruit from his work, or labour. But just to do his duty, and participate in the Mahabharata war.

We have seen in art the theme of renunciation, not only among Indian artists, but also from other religions and cultures.