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!

Still Life painting of teapot and plums by navdeep Kular

Painterly Plums’

January 28, 2023Leave a comment

While shopping at supermarket, I look at shapes and colours of fruits. At the back of my mind, I usually think what will look good in a painting. I appreciate the glow that light generates and try to recognise shapes and patterns of different colours on the objects.

This time around, I liked the colour of plums varying from yellowish orange to red, maroon and deep purple. I picked up plums of different colours and thought that they would look good in a painting.

Then I was roaming around the house looking for other components in the composition. After painting couple of Teapot and Grapes paintings, teapot was foremost in my mind. I tried various arrangements of plums around the teapot and finally settled in for this version and painted it.

I was still not done with painting plums. The fascination with metallic objects led to this carafe for its shiny reflective surface to paint with the plums. To create movement in the painting, I rolled over two plums from the plate. I liked the garland formed by actual and virtual plums. This is what ‘Still life with Carafe and Plums’ look like.

still life oil painting of carafe and plums with the reflection of plums in the metallic surface of carafe — Still Life with Carafe and Plums

This is how the two paintings put together look.

You can view my other still life paintings here.

Hope you enjoy viewing these paintings as much as I have while painting them!

Oil painting of pink, yellow an peach roses in a glass vase by Navdeep Kular

Mini Rose Paintings

November 14, 2019November 21, 20198 Comments

Red Roses in a Copper Vase

Roses in a Glass Vase

Yellow roses still life oil painting by Navdeep Kular

Yellow Roses in a Copper Vase

Still Life oil painting of pink roses in white vase by Navdeep Kular

Pink Roses in a White Vase

This is how the four small paintings put together look.

Pink Roses in a White Vase(Sold)

Red Roses in a Copper Vase(Sold)

Roses in a Glass Vase (Sold)

Yellow Roses in a Copper Vase(Sold)

You can view all my roses paintings here.

Happy viewing!

Still Life with Cherries

November 3, 2019November 17, 20192 Comments

For a while I have thinking about painting cherries. Following are some of the compositions with cherries that I have painted. Some of the cherries have toppled over the bowls and create movement in the paintings.

Cherries in a Glass Bowl

For the darkest cherries, I used crimson, vermillion and a bit of ultramarine blue. For the brightest parts vermillion was mixed with cadmium yellow and white. For highlights white and lemon yellow were added to the reds.

Cherries in a Blue Bowl

The blue bowl was painted using cobalt blue and later on the flowers were added.

Cherries in a Bone China Bowl

The white bowl was painted by adding lemon yellow to white for the lighted part and bit of crimson and ultramarine to titanium white for the shaded parts.

Cherries on a Plate

The shaded parts in and around the plate give it its shape. This is how the four paintings put together look.

Cherries in a Glass Bowl

Cherries in a Blue Bowl

Cherries in a Bone China Bowl

Cherries on a Plate

You can view my other still life paintings here.

Happy viewing!

still life with teapot and re grapes by Navdeep Kular

Still Life with Teapot and Grapes

September 27, 2019November 5, 20193 Comments

My fascination with colours and shapes have prompted me to explore different subjects. Here is my attempt to paint a teapot and grapes.

Still Life with Teapot and Grapes 1

And a sequel to this painting.

still life with teapot and red grapes oil painting by Navdeep Kular

Still Life with Teapot and Grapes 2

This is how the two paintings put together look.

Still Life with Teapot and Grapes 1

Still Life with Teapot and Grapes 2

You can view my other still life paintings here.

Happy Viewing!

still life oil painting of lemons in a blue plate

Original Oil Paintings: Still Life with Lemons

September 14, 2019June 19, 2021Leave a comment

Painting from life shows up so many colours and brings new insights in the work which are usually missing in paintings from photographs. I have tried my hand at the following lemon paintings.

Lemons in a Blue Plate (Sold)

Still life lemons oil painting by Navdeep Kular

Lemons in a Glass Bowl (Sold)

Still life with Tea Cup, Lemon and Cherries

Lemon Tea (Sold)

still life oil painting with lemon and creamer

Lemon and Creamer (Sold)

The lemons have been painted using lemon, cadmium and ochre yellow. Looking down on the lemons placed in a plate with sunlight casting bright shadows of lemons and plate, I tried figuring out the colours.

Next, I placed the lemons in a glass bowl. This is my first painting of a glass bowl. In retrospect, I think I should have placed more emphasis on drawing a proper ellipse of the rim before painting. At some places the colour of the glass bowl seemed closer to sap green, at other places it seemed to have a bluish and greyish tinge. One lemon appeared to be more greener, other one had more darker colour due to shadows falling on it.

Lemon Tea is the next painting in this sequence of lemon paintings. This has another first, my first teacup and saucer painting. The golden base of the teacup was painted using cadmium yellow, blue, white and red.This painting is also a study of the primaries with cherries added to it.

Lemon and a Creamer gave me the opportunity to observe the colours in a white creamer. How the yellows, blues and reds in small quantities added to the white make the shape of rounded objects evident. The handle of the creamer was casting a shadow on it. The painted flowers on the creamer were lightened by the sunlight.

Happy Viewing!

Peonies and Roses in a Vase

December 21, 2018February 27, 2019Leave a comment

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.

Tulips in a Crystal Vase

October 25, 2018February 27, 2019Leave a comment

Tulips in a Crystal Vase is an original oil painting. A triangular crystal vase has been painted in this composition, although only one face is visible. As the crystal objects have numerous edges, these shine with different intensity as the light falls on them. An attempt has been made to capture this property of the material. The window shows view outside and creates depth in the painting. Tulips merrily swing to the sides. The green foliage provides a contrast to the flowers. The same is the effect of crystal vase on a dark table top.

Happy browsing!