Post Miniature Painting Class -Elephant

I spent two additional evenings at home after work to complete the shading to the elephant, and add a bit more colours to the flowers to give them more depth. I used the paint that I got from the class a month ago. The pigments are amazing and they instantly work beautifully again on the painting,

Indian Miniature painting revisited Class 8 ( no 7) - last class

This is the last class, where we add more to the elephant's face, a few gold elements and the man on top of the elephant as well as the border in gold.

The trick with gold paint is to brush it in one go rather re brushing the same area. Once it is painted and dry , use a smooth stone to burnish it so the gold is more reflective.

In this class we also worked more on the face of the elephant , colouring the eye was the key to make the elephant come alive.

This is the painting I had at the end of the class. There are still quite a few shading to do that I intended to continue. Overall I enjoyed the class a lot, it is a very mediative experience.  I did the same course with the same teacher 4 years ago and I have learnt something new. I think my skill has definitely improved from the last time also. ( the last blog was in February 2010)

Indian Miniature painting revisited Class 6



Today 's class is about adding all the finer details on the elephant. So we did the tracing of the finer details on another tracing paper and retrace the details on the cloth on top of the elephant, which has been painted in yellow.

The steps are like the first time when tracing the outline of the elephant.

We then start painting the flowers in more details.  One technique to use is to give everything a slight shading so the details don't appear too flat.

This is where I got to at the end of the class. As I have to skip the next class I finish off the details in my own time.

This is the brand of gouache our teacher recommends if we don't have the means to obtain the powder and do the grinding and creating the paint.

However, having try this method I would recommend making your own paint if you could, because the colour are definitely more opaque and vibrant.

Indian Miniature painting revisited Class 5

We started off the class with the shading of the elephant. This week is about getting used to shade in the invisble and subtle way. I call it the ''stroking'' of the elephant.

My teacher sam helped me with some of the strokes on the chin and near the tusk, watching her in action closely helped me understand the shading process.

Here are some of the progress that I have made.
The hind legs are from the week before, the shading is not so subtle

The front legs from this week are more subtle, I think I am starting to grasp a bit more about the colours and the brush strokes needed to achieve the invisible shading.

At the end of the class  I have attempted to shade the whole of elephant, at least at the first stage.