Joy of swinging

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

Our junior philatelist

Painted this on my younger son’s 6th birthday. During the pandemic, he developed a new hobby of collecting stamps.

Our junior philatelist: 5″x7″, colored pencil and oil pastels on 140 lb watercolor paper

From sketchbook

These are all small size (~ 5.5″x9″) and quick landscape paintings from my sketchbook.

Urbana, Maryland
Lake Fewa, Pokhara, Nepal
Line and wash technique practice
Logan, Utah
45-minute painting challenge

More portraits of my kids

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.

Another Portrait

Landscape studies from sketchbook

These are all quick landscape studies done on a watercolor sketchbook.

Summer meadow at sunset
Alpine lake
A farm field in Dodhara, Kanchanpur using colored pencils and pastels.
Hello Moon: painted this on an International Observe the Moon Night day
Jamestown beach event park during fall
River house at Chippokes Plantation Park: Line and Wash technique
A small waterfall study using oil pastels

A Nepali village landscape

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.

A typical Nepali village house

 

An autumn path scene

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)

Sea creatures

Painted these two sea creatures for the kids’ room.

Sea turtle painting (8×10 inches) using oil pastels based on a reference image from Pixabay.

Jelly Fish (8×10 inches) using oil pastels based on a reference image from Pixabay.

First Apartment

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)

Banana lover

My 3-year old is a true banana lover.

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.

Sunset over water

Here are a few paintings portraying sunset over water.

Autumn sunset (Soft pastels on 6×8 inches watercolor paper)

Sunset at Indian Field Creek, Williamsburg, VA (using oil pastels and colored pencils, 6×9 inches)

Oil pastels on Canson watercolor paper (approx. 6×9 inches)

 

Playing on the beach

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.

Rocky Mountain River

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.