Hello everybody! I hope that you are all doing well! I wanted to share one of my favorite artists that I came across during quarantine last year. During a year of terrible hardship and pain, as it was for so many around the world, coming across this artist opened my eyes to a new way of expression and truly mesmerizing and beautiful artwork. Enjoy! Bijay Biswaal is a self-taught Indian artist of national and international repute who has made his mark by encapsulating the beauty that is Indian scenery, culture, people, and religion. What I love most about Biswaal as an artist is that he does not limit himself to mediums. Though he does excel in acrylic paintings and ink sketches, he ventures beyond, using watercolor, oil pastel, collage, cartoon, and caricature. I fell in love with the way that he captures his subjects when I first came across him on Instagram. The way in which he can manipulate acrylic paint to behave like watercolor while maintaining opacity and shine is incredible to witness. He has a way of bringing out so much dimension, movement, and dynamics in his work. I have myself tried replicating some of his work, particularly his ink drawings of Ganesha the Elephant God, Goddess Lakshmi, and Radha Krishna. I find that using the work of other artists as study pieces, learning how they use lines to create beautiful art, is very rewarding and educational. Just from understanding his linework, I can say that I have a better understanding of how to capture movement in figures and portraits, attributes that I plan to implement in my own way when I create. Bijay Biswaal has grown a following that spans the world. He is the Indian brand ambassador for Windsor and Newton and has collections in many places internationally including Mumbai, Chicago, Australia, Istanbul, Turkey, London, and China. This incredible artist has provided me with so much joy, and during a time when it was very difficult to grow artistically and find inspiration, Biswaal was able to provide that for me. He has really worked towards redefining realism and creating such a unique method of rendering. I implore all of you to seek out this incredible artist. I have attached all of Bijay Biswaal’s links below including his Instagram and website. https://www.instagram.com/biswaal/ https://www.biswaal.in/home As I say every week, if anything that I discussed in this post stands out, or if any questions arise please feel free to comment and share your thoughts! Looking forward to next Sunday! ~ Riya
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Hello everyone! I hope that you are all doing well and midterm exams were successful for you all! I took a break last week but I am back to the regularly scheduled program. This week I wanted to share a very personal piece and the story behind it with all of you. Interestingly, oil paint is the one medium that has always intimidated me and that I have shied away from. However, this piece, done in oil paint, is one of my favorite pieces and very close to my heart. Just as the Plum Blossom pushes through the snow and the ice, flourishing, permeating the air with its beautiful smelling perfume, so has my father. Exuding an air of perseverance, endurance, strength, and commitment, my father has pushed back against many obstacles, whether internal or external, and has thrived. Facing depression and family conflicts, he has learned to push back harder when times get tough. In my piece, I portray a tree growing in a climate of darkness and turmoil. Despite the pain and adversity surrounding the tree, it is in full bloom and flourishes in a harsh environment. My father was born and raised in India and lost his mother at a very young age. Through hard work and perseverance, my father made his way to the United States on a full scholarship for college and graduate school. He started a family and has, against many odds and difficulties, keeps us intact. Growing up in a family with strict traditional ideals and rules and personal misgivings, I have overcome my own inner challenges. I have devoted myself to becoming better while using my father as a role model. I have dedicated this piece to my father, the one who understands me and pushes me to be better, the one who understands pain and empathizes with everyone around him, the one who has lost so much but made so much out of it. Like the Plum Tree, the harsher the conditions the more buds come into bloom. I have pushed through my personal adversity to blossom, following my father’s lead. Through his guidance and love, I have come to find the beauty in adversity, the beauty in my culture and religion, and the strength to push through a sometimes difficult personal life. This piece, done with oil paint on canvas board with dimensions of 18″x24″ mimics the nature of a flower blooming in the winter… a lotus floating atop muddy water. It is a piece very close to my heart and holds such an important message that I keep with me always. My father is my hero and has taught me so much. I hope that you all enjoyed this week’s post! As always if anything that I discussed in this post stands out or if any questions arise please feel free to comment and share your thoughts. Looking forward to next Sunday! ~ Riya I have been very busy these past few weeks as I am sure many of you have been as well. So I wanted to keep it short and share a quick post this week regarding one of my favorite techniques in my drawings. Enjoy! I was introduced to foreshortening as a technique in all forms of art in early high school. Foreshortening is used not only in drawing and painting but also in photography to add interest and visual pleasure. Foreshortening plays purely on perspective and vision, portraying an object as having less distance or depth than it does. In general, foreshortening refers to depicting an object or human body in a picture so as to produce an illusion of projection or extension in space and can be a difficult effect to achieve. As soon as I tried foreshortening in my artwork for the first time I fell in love with the technique. As a lover of drawing portraits, I found that using foreshortening creates great interest in a piece and makes for a wide arena of creative availability and agency. In my first foreshortening piece titled Reaching Out For You, I created a portrait of my brother in a stylistic first attempt at the technique. I found that I could keep the rest of my portrait relatively simple and demonstrative with the inclusion of foreshortening. Rather than using very tight methods of rendering, I left the majority of the piece stylistic, focusing primarily on the hand reaching out to the viewer. Let me know what you think of the piece and what you would have done differently! As always, if anything that I discussed in this post stands out or if any questions arise please feel free to comment and share your thoughts. Looking forward to next Sunday! ~ Riya |
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