Roses de Nice on a Table

September 21, 2018February 27, 2019Leave a comment

Roses de Nice on a Table is Henri Fantin-Latour’s painting that adorns the wall of National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. I was fortunate to visit it within few weeks of viewing the paintings in National Gallery in London. That gave a whole new perspective to appreciate paintings of famous artists in two of the major art galleries of the world across continents.

The Dutch and Flemish galleries were very impressive. In the French galleries it was a surreal experience to be amongst some of the most celebrated works of Renoir, Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Van Gogh and Fantin-Latour in the West building and that of Matisse and Picasso in the East building. The gallery also presented an opportunity to appreciate the works of great American, Italian and Spanish artists.

Roses de Nice on a Table

Once again, I have chosen to paint roses. What better choice could be there than to paint Fantin’s roses. Roses de Nice on a Table is a painting from the French Gallery. The title of the painting is attributed to French city of Nice situated in Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur. So here I present my attempt at Roses de Nice on a Table. There is one red rose among the white, pink and yellow roses. As with ‘A Basket of Roses’, this painting too has a number of leaves. While painting, I always wonder how the white roses have tinges of red, yellow and blue in them.

Happy viewing!

floral painting Pink Roses in a Rose Bush original oil painting by Navdeep Kular

The English Rose Vines

September 6, 2018February 27, 20191 Comment

The rose vine with roses laden all over depicts the abundance of nature. The English roses have soft petals and glow like diamonds on a sunny day. Rose Vine 1 oil painting has an appealing one-three-four-four-one rose composition, slightly tilted towards the right.

Pink Roses in a Rose Bush oil painting by Navdeep Kular

Rose Vine 1

The multi layered roses blossom with all their beauty. Many petals shine in the sun and become almost translucent. The roses are surrounded with leaves, big and small, all around in different directions. Varying colours of green in different layers provide the thick foliage and give three dimensional look. The roses become more prominent with the highlighting of few leaves. The textured cream panels of the background contrast the dark green foliage. The worn out panels give the artist opportunity to play around with colours. The settings provides rustic charm and blends with nature.

Rose Vine 2

The joy of painting a rose vine was too much to be given up after one painting. So, Rose Vine 2 was created as a sequel with a different setting. This painting is unique with bunches of rose buds and roses that signify continuity of life. Abundance is the common theme in both the paintings.

I hope you have as much joy looking at these paintings as I had while painting.

floral painting Pink Roses and Rose buds in a Turquoise Vase original oil painting by Navdeep Kular

Pink Roses in a Turquoise Vase

July 19, 2018February 27, 2019Leave a comment

Pink Roses and Rose buds in a Turquoise Vase oil painting by Navdeep Kular

Pink Roses in a Turquoise Vase

For a while I had been thinking about painting flowers in a turquoise vase. I had painted red, blue, green and glass vases in the past but never a turquoise vase. The colour evokes mystery and is appreciated only by discerning viewers. Others just categorise it as a general blue colour. In a painting, light changes the basic colour and makes the vase more interesting.

Which flowers to paint? Roses were uppermost in my mind. Next, the decision was to be made about the colour of the flowers. The white flowers would go best with the turquoise vase. For a moment, I visualised white lilies in a vase. Then thought about white roses with various hues of yellows and pinks in the petals. But white flowers would shine only on a dark background and I was not in a mood to paint dark background. Most of the roses I had recently painted were in tones of vermillion hue. So thought of using crimson lake with its varying hues, values and tints. The buds which I painted in the end fascinated me the most. Each one is placed at a different angle and is of different size. They serve as eye magnets to bring the attention to the central rose flower. Enjoyed the challenge of painting a sheer table cloth with few petals scattered around.

floral painting Love is in the air red rose oil painting by Navdeep Kular

The Magic of RYB

June 12, 2018February 27, 20191 Comment

RYB denotes the three phases of electric current that was learnt in college. Nature combines primary colours into millions of hues to enchant us. From engineering drawing to free brush strokes with oil paints on canvas, it has been a long and eventful journey. Enjoying every moment of it.

Love is in the Air

Red roses symbolise love. ‘Love is in the Air’ is an oil painting on canvas that depicts the intricacies of a loving relationship. The petals overlap and create a mystery. The nature’s beauty is captured by the formation of a heart at the centre of the flower.

Sunflowers 1

Sunflowers

Sun powers the universe. Sunflowers absorb this energy and exhibit the vibrancy of nature. ‘Sunflowers 1’ and ‘Sunflowers 2’ paintings are a salute to this mighty power of nature.


: Blue Iris