My younger son turned 8 this month. The biggest thrill for my son this year was diving headfirst into the world of soccer! I made this small painting (using oil pastel + prismacolor pencils) for his birthday card to encapsulate his most memorable highlight of this year.
Soccer boy! 5×7 inches, Pentel Oil pastels and Prisma Color pencils
This was a quick sketch with minimal details depicting my older son enjoying the swing at our neighborhood park. It took him a little while to learn the proper body motion and physics behind swinging. He needed to be pushed until he was 8. His joy knew no bounds the day he figured out to propel himself.
My joyful son Rey after figuring out the physics of swinging: ~4″x7″, line and pastel
Trying my hand at digital painting these days. I created these artworks on my Galaxy Note 9 cell phone using the Artrage painting app and the S-pen.
Fishing at Waller Mill park
Dream garden: Painted this using Artrage on Galaxy Note 9.
Painted this using Artrage on Galaxy Note 9. This is based on a reference picture I took on highway 89 while I was driving from Salt lake city to Logan one late afternoon in 2017.
Painted this quiet river landscape using different shades of green on ~8×10 watercolor paper (reference image from Charles Cochrane’s Painting Water and Weather book). Pastels used are CrayPas and Mungyos.
A few more paintings of my kids from different times.
Cute mistake: Like all other toddlers, my 3-year-old son did this cute mistake while playing hide and seek. He believed he would be invisible when he covered his eyes. The staircase in our house was his favorite hiding spot. He has turned 5 now and he eventually figured out this hiding technique is ineffective. I tried to capture his innocence in this painting. It is approx. 8×10 inches on watercolor paper using Craypas and Mungyo OPs.
Another beach fun painting on a watercolor paper (6×8 inches) using line and wash technique.
Sweet dream! A tiny portrait of my 7-year-old son (Rey) sleeping. It’s only 3.5×5 inches using Craypas and Mungyo oil pastels plus colored pencils for sharp edges.
Joy of riding that first bike. A 5×7 inches oil pastel sketch.
These are all quick landscape studies done on a watercolor sketchbook.
Summer meadow at sunsetAlpine lakeA farm field in Dodhara, Kanchanpur using colored pencils and pastels.Hello Moon: painted this on an International Observe the Moon Night dayJamestown beach event park during fallRiver house at Chippokes Plantation Park: Line and Wash techniqueA small waterfall study using oil pastels
It is on a 21 x 15 inches Canson 70 lbs (140 g) sketching paper. I used Mungyos on top of Craypas Expressionist oil pastels. Some usage of a 6B pencil for adding details. Most of the blending and detail-adding were done using tortillons.
Painted this autumn street scene based on a picture I took in Germantown, MD last year. Used Mungyo oil pastels over 80 lb sketching paper. Size is 8×10 inches. An autumn street scene (8×10 inches oil pastels)
This is another portrait study of my nephew (Aditya), who lives in Nepal. It is ~9×15 inches in size using Mungyo oil pastels on 140 lb watercolor paper.
Last year, I rediscovered some of my old sketches I created with pencils and watercolor during my middle and high school years.
Napoleon’s grand army on its way back from Russia: This sketch was from August 1, 1993 when I was in 8th grade. I sketched this on my notebook with pencil and watercolor. I used a reference picture from a book on USSR history, the details of which I don’t recall.
Napoleon’s grand army on its way back from Russia (Graphite pencil and watercolor, August 1, 1993)
The following one is my own portrait using graphite pencil and watercolor from July 24, 1995.
My portrait using graphite pencil and watercolor from July 24, 1995
My elder brother’s sketch using a blue pen.
Sketch of my elder brother Bhuwan Bhatt (August 25, 1995)
I came to the US in 2007 as a graduate student and this painting portrays my first apartment building in Brookings, South Dakota where I lived for two years. I have good memories living in that apartment as a student. The building was dismantled after a few years and it now lives in this painting and my memory.
The car in the picture has its own story. Two other students in that building abandoned that car after it broke and it sat in that spot for the entire time I lived in that apartment. That’s why the snow piled up around it never got cleared throughout the winter.
My first apartment in Brookings, SD. Oil pastels and colored pencils on a 140 lb watercolor paper (8×10 inches)
Oil pastel portrait of my 3-year old son. I tried to portray his 3 favorite things in this painting: favorite color (blue), favorite fruit, and favorite toy (dump truck). This is on an 8.5×11 inches Canson watercolor paper (140 lb) using Mungyo oil pastels. For drawing the truck on his t-shirt, I used oil paints.
I painted these beach play activities of my 2- and 6-year old boys based on several pictures I took of them playing at the Jamestown beach in the summer of 2017.
Sanu playing at the Jamestown beach. Painted on a 8×10 inches mix-media paper using CrayPas OPs. Also used a black colored pencil (Prismacolor) to sharpen the edges. Painting completed on June 30, 2018.
Rey playing at the College Creek beach in Williamsburg. Painted on a 8×10 inches mix-media paper using Prismacolor pencils and CrayPas Oil pastels. Painting finished on November 20, 2017.
Sanu playing at the College Creek beach in Williamsburg. Painted on a ~8×10 inches mix-media paper using Prismacolor pencils and Watercolors. Painting finished on November 29, 2017.
This is a recreation of Robert Warren’s”Rocky mountain river” painting from his book “Guide to painting water scenes”. The original painting used oils and I used oil pastels.
Rocky mountain river painted on a 11×14 inches Canson watercolor paper using oil pastels. Finished on March 29, 2018.