I am apart-time artist and I intend to paint the amazing Sikh history which we are all part of. I do my research to make sure the painting is authentic and try my best to accurately depict historic events.
Yetis are furry creatures. So it creates a really nice play of materials, you have fur from the yeti, their tusks and cloth that are organic as opposed to the armour which is metal, rubber and other synthetics.
I'm happy with how these turned out. Next I want to explore weapons, female yetis and manes. I imagine the males have lion-like manes with different colours, shapes and sizes.
He gave his life for the Kashmiri Pandits who were being persecuted by Mughal King Auragzeb. He upholded Dharma, righteousness, and stood up against tyranny. He taught the path of meditation and pacifism, the message of love and peace. He was beheaded in the streets of Delhi along with 3 companions but he did not stray from his path.
Dhan Guru Tegh Bahadur ji, aap ji nu mera namaskar.
I was
having so much trouble editing the video of Guru Arjun Dev ji. The
video had recorded at speeds almost twice as fast as the audio so it
required a lot of editing to sync up the audio with the video.
Anyway, the project file had become corrupt and parts of the video would
go missing after I would export the full video. I exported it anyway
and tried to patch up the missing bits. It didn't work.
Today I was messing with it and ended up splitting up the large project into smaller files and that solved all these problems!
There was some interesting stuff going with on with the crocodile demon in Blind Chakram on Howdah. So I decided to explore it further through sketches.
When I paint, I just put down blobs of colours. Through sketches I can work with these blobs, these shapes, and turn them into something cool! I actually do a lot of sketches like these and in the future, I hope to share them more often.
This week I return to the Blind Chakram on Howdah!
I added some colours to the demons. I left some of them grey to colour them later on during the process.
Remember this painting started off in black and white just like the
painting of Guru Gobind Singh ji. It did have some sepia tones but now
it's almost fully coloured.
I always wanted to sketch Harimandir Sahib. So
when I visited the gurudwara on Aug 25, 2012, I took about 40 minutes
to sketch this.
When you start drawing, boy do people wana watch you draw! I still remember the scene, it was a very memorable and yet familiar moment.
A crowd had gathered around me and there were people who were passing
by, stopping for a few seconds to take a look at what was happening.
There were pilgrims lying on the floor right behind me who were watching me draw. There was this kid, who was observing me very closely. He later told me that he liked to draw and wanted to learn from me. After I finished, we left the temple with some fond memories. Last year, when I was working on this commission on Harimandir Sahib. I actually used this sketch for the painting! http://sikhiart.com/for-sale/harimandir-sahib/
Hari
Singh Nalwa was great general of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s kingdom. At a
young age, while on a hunting trip, he was attacked by a tiger. With his
bare hands, he pushed back the tiger, drew his sword and decapitated
the beast. He was known for his excellent swordsmanship and chivalry.
His father had been serving Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army. All of this
became the deciding factors for the Maharaja to accept him in his royal
service. He was given a small army of horsemen and so began Nalwa’s
career as a General.
He participated in the conquests of Sialkot,
Kasur (1807), Multan (1818), Kashmir (1819), Pakhli and Damtaur
(1821-2), Peshawar (1834) and finally Jamrud in the Khyber Hills (1837).
He defeated the Afghans, something the British failed to do, and
annexed a segment of what was the Kingdom of Kabul to the Sikh Kingdom.
In Peshawar, he rebuilt the Bala Hisar Fort in Maharaja’s name. He also
built a chain of fortresses on his conquests to strengthen his hold. He
also built one in his own name, Haripur. This expanded Punjab towards
the North-west into the lands of Afghanistan, blocked off the Khyber
Pass (which was pass through the mountains often used by Persian and
Afghan invaders to loot and plunder Hindustan), and instilled fear of
his name among the Afghan tribes.
Meditating on Hari, my and mind are totally rejuvenated, and the garden of my mind has blossomed forth in lush abundance. - Guru Ramdas ji, 849 I want to carry this metaphor of the garden to the painting, and show an abundance of greenery, flowers, and birds and animals around Guru Arjun Dev ji, as he meditates.
I also want to try experimenting with giving him an instrument at some
point. But I also like the pose from my previous painting of Guru Sahib,
which maintains continuity.
Using my previous painting of Guru Arjun Dev ji's martyrdom, I am trying to get a similar face for a new painting. I think having some resemblance will connect the two paintings and therefore identify the Guru in the new painting as Guru Arjun Dev ji.
This is important because the new painting isn't portraying any event that is from Guru Arjun Dev ji's life, and so it will be harder to identify the person in the painting without a foundation. So in this case that foundation is the painting of Guru Arjun Dev ji's martyrdom.
Back
when photography was in early stages, they didn't have a way to capture
colour on to film. So they would take black and white photos then add
colour to them later.
This painting has gone through a similar
process. I painted it in black white and I am just now beginning to add
some colour. Starting with Guru Sahib's face. I apply the first layer of
base colours.
I'm satisfied with how Bhai Kanhaiya ji's clothes are turning out so far. But there's still some more work to do. The original speed painting can be found here: http://sikhiart.com/gallery/speed-paintings/
Today I just had a burst of inspiration
and I spent all day working on this. Started out as a sketch of Sant
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Then everything else just naturally flowed
in and came together with ease.
A commission I did back in 2010, showing a
Singh contemplating his actions, his purpose in this world. The men in
the back are going to war, but this man has stepped outside the herd.
Based on the bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin, 'The Thinker'.
I was feeling a bit agitated earlier. And so
when I was looking through some old stuff, I saw this sketch I did back
in 2007, titled 'Nihang', depicting some kind of a young nihang
superhero. The expression resonated
immediately. I had a thought, "what if I redid this sketch? what would
it look like now, in 2014?" I got to work. Focusing mostly on the
expression, I tried pushing it to a heightened level of anger,
frustration and vulnerability. "Letting it all out"
As you can see from the bottom corners, the
base colour is blue, meaning I am painting other colours on top of a
blue underpainting. So that blue is gona pop out in places, especially
shadows, and complement the oranges and reds in the sky.
This weekend I returned to Blind Chakram on Howdah, colouring and detailing the driver and the howdah.
Looks like this Singh is gona need a bit more work. He's a little too
rough-looking for my taste. Once all the colours are in place, I'll be
refining him and the rest of the painting.
I'm happy with how these turned out. Next I want to explore weapons, female yetis and manes. I imagine the males have lion-like manes with different colours, shapes and sizes.
