Ganesha Canvas Painting – Part Two

The reds and orange have been blended in very well without evident orange streaks. I preferred soft blended background for this.

Having painted two, I did not really know how many more I wanted to complete my Ganesha series. Looking at the number of canvas panels left and the perfect wall in my house (where I envisioned them to be placed on) I settled for four. Four seemed a good number, even number, I thought. I can place the pictures however I want, rhombus, square, diagonal straight line etc. Now, with all these in my head I started my third one.
I did not want a textured background nor a very colorful one but colored one for sure! You see, I need color in everything. Black and white is classic and nice but a hint of red in it can do wonders. This is how my brain works.
I opted for a traditional soft blended background. With the outline of the traditional Lord Ganesha’s face, not the abstract face as in Ganesha Canvas Painting – Part One.

The things I used were: Acrylic paints (dark red, red and orange for background and plain white for the outline), Canvas panel (6×8), ½” flat brush for the background, No. 9 brush for blending in the orange, No. 1 brush for the white outline, some water.

I painted the entire canvas the medium red color with the flat brush, went over it and did a second layer. With the No. 9 brush I made random short horizontal strokes with the orange, dipped the brush in water and then continued to paint in horizontal motion above and below the strokes (this way the orange becomes lighter). I went over the orange again with the flat brush and red paint so that the orange becomes a nice undertone . Then I took very little of the dark red color and made 3-4 horizontal short strokes and blended that in too. throughout the painting you want to make the brush strokes in the same direction (horizontal or vertical) so that the background looks neat.

Then, I just made sure my hand was as steady as I could and painted the Ganesha face with white paint with the thinnest brush I had!

The picture under warm lamp light. The orange undertone is visible here.

The final one just happened! And I mean I just chanced upon the idea of making a gold Ganesha! Goodness, how fancy this sounds..The Golden Ganesha. Like a jewelry store or  a fancy Indian restaurant in phirangi land. Haha!
Ok, now back to my golden Ganesha on a 6×8 canvas!

Cute, right? Aptly named after the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo

I came upon this set of acrylic metallic paints in this cutesy art store in Mendocino. And I picked them up and thought “Hey, why not? I havn’t used metallic paints on canvas before. Let’s start with this humble set.” Oh yes, and I also got these as they reminded me so much of the poster paints I would use back in India and waaayyyy back in elementary school.

The background is a very dark green, not black. I felt it would be a wonderful contrast to the gold paint.

Using the same materials as the above painting but different colors, I created my golden Ganesha! I did not need a flat brush for this one.

My Golden Ganesha glows in the warm lights 🙂

Seeing the end result, my friend, a beauty-guru-in-the-making, exclaimed, “Sumana ‘Gonesh thakur’s eyeshadow is so good!”
WHAT. Well. Totally unintentional. But thank you, if you say so!

 

 

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