A Basket of Roses

January 30, 2023Leave a comment

Ever since I saw this painting in the National Gallery, London, I have been wanting to paint it. It is my tribute to the great artist Henri Fantin-Latour whose flower paintings are a treat to watch.

A Basket of Roses (8H X 12W in) Ode to Fantin — A Basket of Roses

There have been Dutch and Flemish old masters whose floral paintings too, adorn museums around the world. Van Huysum, Heade and Jan Bruguel are some of the famous old masters who created realistic paintings of flowers and were patronised by the high and mighty of their times. The vases with flowers of various seasons combined together on mostly marble table tops are the highlight of their paintings.

My personal liking is for Fantin’s paintings. The compositions, lighting and realism are all eye catching.

A Basket of Roses has pink, red, yellow, white and peach roses, all put together in a basket in an attractive manner. The roses toppled over on the table create a flow in the painting. While painting, I realised how many leaves were there along with the roses.

Happy viewing!

Daffodils in a Blue Jug

May 10, 2019November 5, 2019Leave a comment

Springtime gives an opportunity to paint different flowers. Mother earth is decorated with flowers of various colours, textures and sheens. I have been busy soaking in as much beauty of nature as possible. Spent the time admiring flowers and foliage. The different shapes and colours of leaves too intrigue me. The flowering trees add their own persona to the landscape. Tried to capture as many pictures as possible. Many memories of beautiful landscapes are embedded deep in the mind. They periodically come out in the form of paintings. I wanted to paint a blue jug and thought daffodils would go well with it. So here is the end result.

Serenity

Placed the composition by the window side on a wooden cabinet. Mixed ultramarine blue with crimson lake to paint the shadow side of the jug. For the base added a little bit of cobalt blue. With highlights and shine on the jug was able to define its roundness. Experimented with a few colours for the wooden cabinet and ultimately settled with the present one. Painted the lacy mat underneath the jug. The dark background compliments the light flowers.

Named this painting Serenity. Hope you like it.

Peonies and Blue Vases Oil Painting by Navdeep Kular

Peonies and the Blues

April 28, 2019November 5, 2019Leave a comment

Painting is a skill in which finesse comes only through practice and hard work. It is an intrinsic knowledge which gets embedded deep inside as one progresses on the learning curve. Elementary knowledge can be gained through secondary sources regarding the tools and techniques of oil painting but the learning comes only by doing it. What colours to use, what amount to mix, which medium to add, how to apply colours, which brushes to use, impact and direction of brushstrokes; one gets better and better at it through each painting.

As I was painting flowers in a vase, I realised how much I enjoyed painting the vase. The idea to paint more than one vase in a single painting occurred at that point of time. That is how the following two paintings came into being.

Peonies and the Blues 1

I wanted to mix the blues and experiment with different shapes of the vases. These paintings gave me ample opportunity to do so. Cobalt, ultramarine, Prussian blue were mixed with viridian hue, lemon yellow and titanium white for various vases. It was fun to paint the highlights on the vases. Once the vases were painted, I felt like painting some flowers in them. So added the peonies in one of the vases in each painting.

Peonies and the Blues 2

The colour of the background is in contrast to those of the vases. The table and the background were painted using the same three colours i.e. crimson lake, ultramarine blue and cadmium yellow. How the ratio of the colours in the mix can yield a vastly different end result is apparent from this study.

Peonies and the Blues 1

Peonies and the Blues 2

This is how the two paintings put together side by side look.

Happy Browsing!

floral painting Peach Roses in a Vase original oil painting by Navdeep Kular

Peach Roses in a Blue Vase

November 23, 2018November 5, 2019Leave a comment

Peach Roses in a Vase

Peach Roses in a Blue Vase is an original oil painting. Creative work is a source of immense joy and satisfaction.

The sharp front edge and softened rear edge of the wooden table provide depth to the painting. The shapes and colours visible on the vase intrigued me while painting. The reds, yellows and whites were used with blues for painting the vase. The colour palette started from titanium white and lemon yellow on one hand to crimson lake, ultramarine blue, cobalt blue and ivory black on the other side. The backdrop of this painting is unique. The flowers seem to be in symphony with the background.

Happy browsing!

Sunflowers in a Blue Vase

October 19, 2018November 18, 2018Leave a comment

Sunflowers in a Blue Vase

Sunflowers in a Blue Vase is an original oil painting. The bright, cheerful disposition of sunflowers brings sunshine in our lives.

I have experimented with mixes of cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, viridian hue, crimson lake and titanium white in this painting. All the yellows; lemon, ochre, chrome and cadmium along with tinges of reds and whites have been used for the flowers.

I hope viewing this painting brings sunshine in your life!