floral painting by Navdeep Kular
Pink Peonies
There are still more peony paintings on the way. A card given by a dear cousin served as reference picture for this peony painting. The dark leaves and colour of the vase provide ample contrast to the peonies. Another highlight of the painting is the yellow colour shining through pink petals.
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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 in a Vase
The beauty of peonies prompts me to paint these flowers again and again. A card given by a dear cousin was an inspiration for this painting. The challenge was to make the peonies stand out on a light background. In the end, I was able to illustrate the volume of numerous petals of peonies. I like the fluffiness of peonies, the roundness of vase and the sharp front edge of table in this painting. The shadows of the leaves lift them in the air. The cool colour palette of the foreground and middle ground has been contrasted with a tinge of yellow in the background.
Peonies in a Vase
Oil on Canvas
11 X 14
Oil Painting by Navdeep Kular
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.
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Roses, tulips and daffodils have been painted in a glass vase. The two images above show how an oil painting can be transformed. More depth has been added in the painting using various tones, tints, values and hues to depict the lit and shadow areas of flowers.
The shape of some flowers has been varied to incorporate the three dimensional effect. Two of the poppies in the original painting have been transformed into tulips. The foliage has been redone. The whites of the daisies have many more colours now.
The vase has been placed on a table. The transparent glass vase and the dark wood table provide a contrast in the painting. The background colour has been changed. The colour of the table and the background is visible through the glass vase. All this has resulted in a vibrant painting.
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White Roses in a Vase (11H X 14W)
Original still life painting of White Roses in a Vase by Navdeep Kular
Oil on canvas
11H X 14W
This painting is a sequel to ‘Still Life with Red Roses’. Along with the roses, the bowl of fruit is a common element between the two paintings. White roses have been painted in an impressionist manner.
Peonies in a Turquoise Vase
Oil on Canvas (14H X 11W)
Peonies with their multiple petals are fun to paint. Painting one turquoise vase was not enough for me, so I painted these peonies in one.
Peonies in a Turquoise Vase is an original oil painting. Peonies have been placed in such a manner that each flower is tilted at a different angle. Dark wood table contrasts the light background.
The mixing of crimson lake, ultramarine blue and cadmium yellow leads to many colours and I keep experimenting with them. The different wood colours ranging from yellowish to fawn to light brown to blackish brown, can all be obtained by the use of primary colours. Also painting the shadows is as much fun as painting the highlights. The variation of values in the shadows leads to three dimensional effect. The negative painting sharpens the edges.
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Red Roses in a Turquoise Vase
Another painting of red roses. Red roses in a turquoise vase is an original oil painting. The central focal point of this painting is the highlight on turquoise vase on the right. I like the gloss on the vase in this painting. I tried to achieve asymmetrical balance in this composition by placing a big vase on the right and balancing it with a bowl of fruits on the left. The colours red and orange are close to each other on the colour wheel, still I have experimented with placing them together.
Enjoyed painting the folds of white curtain in the background. I painted the window with adding whites, greys and little bit of brown to warm it up. I rarely use paint directly from the tube. It is too much fun mixing the basic colours and generating innumerable hues with them. The iris flowers in the wall hangings have been painted with blurred edges. The background colour was mixed using viridian hue with lemon yellow and lit bit of titanium white.
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While walking down the street one day in Halifax, I noticed white peonies blooming in all their glory. The landscape was so beautiful that I kept on admiring it for a while. The urge to capture the moment overtook me. The source pictures resulted in the following two paintings.
Peony Garden 1
Peony Garden 2
I am indebted to family and friends who fulfil my requests for taking pictures of flowers all the time. The pictures of flowers serve as useful study material. The paintings are never the exact replica of photographs.
I always wonder at the diversity of flora and fauna. How best things in nature are there for all of us to see and appreciate. In the humdrum of daily life, we are always short of time to take a pause and soak it all in.
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Peonies and Roses in a Vase
Flowers from special occasion always prompt me to record them in the form of an oil painting. These flowers are from a grand reception party. The bouquets were heavenly with rose buds and pink peonies arranged in a pleasing manner. I kept on admiring the flowers the entire evening. While the guests were saying their goodbyes, I was going around the tables and clicking as many angles as possible of elegant bouquets placed as centrepieces.
After months, I sat down to paint the reception bouquet. The painting is not exact replica of that flower arrangement. In the reception bouquet, the vases were barely visible on the tables as the foliage was almost touching the table. As I have been painting vases in the recent past, in my eagerness to paint the vase, I have lifted the bouquet up a bit.
This painting has turned out to be a bright one with the darkest darks placed against the lightest lights.
The beauty of rose flower is legendary. It has been etched in the pages of time by numerous poets, sculptors and artists in various mediums. I have tried to exhibit the beauty of roses through oil paintings.
Mauve Roses
Mauve Roses is a study of light and shadows which give depth to the painting. Roses have been placed in various positions. The light coming from the top left hand side falls on the composition. The mixes of crimson lake, vermillion hue and blues toned with whites have been used for painting flowers The warm colour of background balances cool colour of the flowers.
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Yellow Roses in a Crystal Vase
It is always fun to experiment with colours. After painting red, pink, white and peach roses, here is an attempt to paint yellow roses.
Various yellows such as ochre, chrome, cadmium and lemon have been used with mixes of reds, blues and whites to paint the roses. The supporting flowers compliment the yellow roses. The light shining on the crystal vase shows its edges.
The burnt umber background makes the flowers glow. The direction of the brushstrokes make evident the fall of the table cloth at the edge of the table. Few flowers have been placed on the table to balance out the top heavy composition.
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The Wedding Bouquet
Paintings immortalize moments, feelings, experiences and places. The emotional connect makes a particular painting special. It gives us the chance to relive the past innumerable times and provides joy forever.
The story behind this painting makes it a special one. The moment I saw picture of the wedding bouquet, I thought about painting it. The painting was supposed to be a surprise gift for the young couple.
The source for this painting was low resolution picture. Another challenge was limited time before travel for attending the Indian wedding. I somehow managed to paint the wedding bouquet. Oil paintings take their own sweet time to dry. It was moved around in and out of the house and kept at various places to dry. The air conditioner, fresh air, sun; nothing seemed to hasten the process of drying.There was no question of getting it framed. How do we carry it along? It could not be rolled, as that would spoil the painting. It could not be taken in checked-in baggage as that would have smudged the painting. It could be gifted later but thought the right time was then. Then we thought about carrying it in a box. A maroon box was prepared to carry the painting. An appropriate font was used in golden colour to name the painting on the box. The box was cushioned on the inside. The painting was kept in a U shape with transparent layer on top, so that it did not touch the lid. I wish I had taken a photo of the box for memory sake but we were too concerned about transporting it safely. The box was put in carry baggage, which was kept flat throughout the journey.
The bride was amazed when she opened the box. The look in her eyes was worth all the effort the entire family had put in to take the special painting for her.
Pink Roses in a Crystal Vase
Pink Roses in a Crystal Vase is an original oil painting. The magic of RYB has helped me mix numerous colours which have been used in this painting.
The crystal vase is placed on a wooden oval table. The edges of the table and those of the window sill and the boundary wall provide depth to the painting. Grey clouds are visible in the sky outside. The dark curtain provides a backdrop to the flower arrangement. The light and shadows on the vase along with the stems of the flowers give vase its shape and character.
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Poppies in my Garden 2
How individual flowers have a character, personality and aroma of their own? The folding and unfolding of petals, covered and exposed stamens and tilting of heads of few flowers. Poppies in my Garden 2 is an attempt to explore these differences and depict them through a medium of oil painting.
Poppies in my Garden 2 is a sequel to the previous poppy painting. Both oil paintings have five flowers in them. The shape of the flowers is different in this sequel and they have been painted from a different angle. The stems are more visible. The buds add drama to the composition. The white and red flowers in the background add the required depth to the painting. There is more light on the flowers that is causing the stamens to be white in colour as compared to yellowish ones in the previous painting.
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