Week #13

An Art party studio painting again. Learnt a lot of new painting techniques in this simple painting (very hard to draw). It is a little scary painting but I am very happy with all the painting lessons I learnt with it. :)

Week #12

Well, No story behind the picture. Just in love with this painting. Looks amazing on my wall and love the colors. :D Today, after painting this, I am proud of me. :P

Week #11

And there you go! My first canvas painting!

Lately, I came to know about The Art Party Studio, Urbana. It's a place were all art enthusiasts meet almost every night and draw a single painting set for the day. The studio provides all the required materials and gives instruction on how to go about with the painting. And Voila, we get to take our beautiful painting home. :D

So after this fun night, I realized canvas painting is not very difficult as it seems. So, the next thing I did was buy a lot of canvas (7 to be precise) to draw my upcoming drawings.

Week #10

Woah. Skipped a whole month? :O Noooo. Not really. I was painting but was just not able to find sufficient time to upload. Here it goes. Probably my last painting on drawing sheet. :) (because I found drawing on canvas is much more fun)

Ok. Moving on. The painting tells you what I truly wanna do. I want to travel. Live in nature and explore. There is some joy being amid nature and I have experienced that joy a couple of times. I have to explore more. This painting is to remind me of my future goals. :)

Week #9 - My Experiments with drawing

Introduction:
This week I tried to do a little experiment. Experiment on what typing of art interests me best. Is it painting, coloring or sketching? Though the result of experiment was inconclusive, it was a funny experiment.

Procedure:
Following steps where involved in the experiment.
Step 1: After a rigorous research, I choose a picture which I wanted to draw. It was a painting of buttercups (They are just beautiful). 
Step 2: Make 3 partitions of your drawing sheet using a pencil (free hand partition is also fine)
Step 3: Partition 1: Paint the your buttercup
Step 4: Partition 2: Color your buttercup using color pencils
Step 5: Partition 3:  Try to shade your buttercup (I say try because it was hard).
Step 6: TADAA!! Your picture is ready for blogging.

Observation:
After carefully exploring 3 different techniques of drawing on a single picture. Here is a set of observations I made.

Acrylic colors
Pros: Best for getting textures. I totally love them.
Cons: If you are a little impatient like I am, then you need to think twice before using water colors. You will need to wait for the painting to dry while using multiple colors to prevent it from mixing.

Color Pencils
Pros: Does everything what a acrylic colors can do and you don't have to wait for the pictures to dry as well. Easy to correct when there are errors.
Cons: It just doesn't give you a realistic feel in the picture (at-least I don't know how to do that).

Pencil Sketching (It's my first love (First art form I ever learnt))
Pros: Good for drawing scenery and landscapes. Gives you a variety of shading option and is very easy too. It is economic and best.You just need one good pencil. That's it. 
Cons: You feel you are in the world of black and white cinemas. 

Result:
It is difficult to choose one style which suits me. I like them all. I love color pencils when I want to draw something fictitious (like Olaf and Elsa). I love pencil sketching to draw landscapes and portraits. I love painting to draw everything else. I love drawing!

Week #8

Congratulations to me! For successfully following up my resolution. After a very hectic and long monday, I found peace with pink. I love pink(this shade of pink), I love nature and I love painting. Three cheers to all the things I love. 

Week #7

Acrylic!!! Hand painting!!!

Today, I wanted to try something new. I went to the bookstore to buy oil pastels and brush. Unfortunately or maybe I should say fortunately, there was not even a single piece of brush available. Well, that did not stop me and this is what happened next.

Long story short.. Happy Valentine's Day to all my near and dear ones. 

Week #6

Olaf (Frozen 2013)

A big hello from Olaf, the cutest snowman ever. Sometimes even a simplest piece of art can put a smile on your face. I was more than happy to draw this cutest Disney character. 

Living in the chilly cold place like Champaign, Illinois, all you can think of is cold, snow and snowman. Wanted to make a real snowman but ended up drawing him instead. Though, it just took me about 15 minutes to draw this thing. I am extremely happy with it. I had to settle for something simple this week (Work pressure) and I am glad I settled to Olaf. Best Choice Ever. :P Now, I have an Elsa and an Olaf. Way to go Anna! 

Week #5

I love travelling. Since past two weeks, I was trying to get a scenic view, which I saw about an year ago, on the paper. I am sure the view looks a lot more mesmerizing when you see it live.

About an year ago, I had this very short trip to Gujarat - Rajasthan with my gang of friends. Though it was a short trip, it was the best of all. We had amazing Gujju food (thanks to Khyati Patel and her family), a pretty amazing road trip and then this view, still very fresh in my mind. It was very early in the morning, when we reached Mount Abu, Rajasthan. Chilling cold of about 9 degree Celsius (which is not a cold temperature for me anymore) and the peaks of Mount Abu. I thought it was not a great combination,  but as we explored the place, it was simply splendid. After a quick breakfast, we just picked a peak to click few pictures and create some memories. The sun was slowly rising and there in the distant, between the clouds, stood a castle. The rising sun, the clouds and the teeny tiny castle away from all of us, looked like a castle kingdom in heaven. I was awed by the view. This view gave me goosebumps (I am 100% positive it was not due to cold). Well, the drawing might not give you goosebumps but definitely the place will. Next time anyone trips to Gujarat or Rajasthan, I would recommend you to take a glimpse of this place. Totally worth it. 

Like I mentioned before, I love travelling and would definitely love to start a travelogue someday. Maybe after my 52 drawings, which is by itself very hard to keep up to with academic pressure. :( (you might have guessed it with the amount of procrastination I did this week) 

PS. Sorry for the bad photography (lighting is dull here) and not so well interpreted drawing.

The real picture

Week #4

After successful 3 weeks, here is an unsuccessful week. Wanted to do something special for one of the most special person in my life, my big brother. But no, I couldn't get his picture right. There is definitely a major problem with my drawing this week. Nonetheless, resolution is a resolution, no matter what event occurs; snowstorm, hurricane, good picture or bad picture I will upload what I draw.

January 23 1991, this legendary person, Sachin Kini, was born. Well, he did not make any difference in my life then. Duh! Because I wasn't even born. Anyway, since the day I was born, he turned into this extraordinary caring brother. As far as I remember he was always a pain in the ass for me. But every time I thought, Oh God what a big brother have you given me (with a sad face), he would do something so thoughtful and so adorable that all the thousands fights we picked up would just wash away in a jiffy. I still remember the day I was all packed to leave to US, he told me (actually cried, but let's not tell him that I told about it) that he cannot imagine the thought of letting his little kid go so far, but still he wants all success for me. I knew, no matter how far we are, how annoying we are for each other, how much fights we pick or how rarely we talk, he will always be that special gift, god and my parents have given me.

Dear Sachin, I wish I could make this perfect with a perfect drawing. But sadly, like always, we seem to be imperfectly perfect and perfectly imperfect ( I don't know what I just said). Anyway, I owe this one to you. Someday soon I will get it right. I miss those days when we brought every birthday chocolate home and fight over it. I miss those days where you would hold my slippers while I was asleep in bus so that I don't lose it. I miss those days where we played book cricket and handkerchief throwball. I miss those days when I would hit you and say Mosquito. I miss annoying you. And, I miss you. Thanks for always having my back. 

P.S. Happy Birthday again brother dear. :)

Week #3

This time I was nervous. I had to at least do a fair enough job that the girl in the picture will recognize herself. I hope I did succeed.

Anyway, Sarika Kini, my neice, one cute little angel in my family. Every time I met her, she would transform me into a 5 year old and we would play every single games she had in her mind. She is one budding artist as well. This is for the little girl I miss the most. :)

Long ago, before I left India to USA, Sharayu Kini (Sarika's Mom) made me swear that I will never give up on my drawing. And I promised her, that I will send her a drawing when I start it again. Sharayu, this picture will be with me until we meet next and let me know what Sarika thinks about this. :)

Week #2

Altgeld Hall

Sometime late in April 2014, I received my admission letter for University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). That was my most wonderful moment of 2014 and perhaps for the entire decade. Yes, it's a great deal to leave your family, friends and country behind, but it is a greater deal to be here at U of I. This is a vast land of knowledge and opportunities and I call it "My Mathland". 

Altgeld Hall, currently serving as Department of Mathematics at UIUC is one among the ancient buildings of UIUC and has an amazing architectural history (some of which even I am not aware of). Its bell tower and antiquity amazes me. This is my department and my favorite place at U of I.

Week #1

Elsa (Frozen)

There are two tales behind this picture

#1: Elsa, from the movie Frozen (2013) is one among the few and best animated movie that I watched so far. It is all about sister love. Since this is my new start and after everything I mentioned about my darling sister, Swetha, this had to be dedicated to her. You are my Elsa. :P 

#2: Happy birthday Pinku (Priyanka Ruth Heber). One of my dearest friend and a crazy fan of this movie, who has more pics of the movies than herself in her phone gallery. I miss all the times spent with you. This one's for you sweetheart. You love Frozen and I love you. :D

New Year 2015

Yes, I can do a bit of drawing. But every hobby needs a certain amount of practice. People have been persuading me a lot from past few years to never give up on my drawing. But time, tide and patience never waited for me. :P
Finally, after a lot of persuasion, motivation and inspiration from Swetha Shenoy, I thought I shouldn't delay it any further and here I am with a new year resolution for 2015. A drawing a week will keep me healthy wealthy and relaxed ( because I am already wise :P )
So I solemnly swear to myself and my darling sister to give my 100% in keeping up my resolution this year. Thank you for all the motivation you gave me during the Christmas week and constantly bugging me even after that. :D Thanks for inspiring me to blog it as well.

P.S. No filters will be used in any of the upcoming drawings.

Week #0

We love Christmas [Artists: Sushma Kini (left), Swetha Shenoy (right)]

Story behind the picture: On my visit to "The Shenoys"  this christmas, one of the many things we sisters bonded over was Color pencils. Though it was my first time with color pencils, I never enjoyed drawing as much as I enjoyed it with color pencils and the shenoys. :D This enthusiasm led to what I call as a blog of "52 drawings" (I am not creative with names). So every week I will tell a story with my drawing.