Surrounded by Beauty

Beauty in the Mundane

Have you ever seen art students at a tourist site? There they sit, diligently drawing what everyone else is looking at. So, why are so many people keen on seeing what they draw? There is something about seeing the everyday made into something lasting and beautiful by the magic of art.

The wonderful thing about appreciating art, loving or owning paintings is that it makes you see the beauty that is often present in our daily life. The view from the French windows in our house is beautiful.  Tall bamboo stems, feathery bamboo leaves, rust tiles and all the other shapes and shades of green. We have palm leaves, ferns, philodendron, canna leaves and they make a lovely, verdant view that I would dearly love to have painted.  And if you wipe your mind free of the irritation and the ‘…oh, no, not again’ feeling, traffic jams or crowded streets at night look very dramatic. Think of it, red lights of the cars in front of you and the yellow beams of the cars facing you….look for beauty and you will find it.

Two of my favourite paintings depict such mundane scenes. One depicts a vegetable vendor with fresh, bright vegetables and the other painting is of a rainy, narrow Calcutta street complete with rickshaw and yellow taxi. The rain scene is particularly lovely during arid, dry Delhi summers! There is always joy in looking at beautiful things and there is a particular joy in seeing the beauty in ordinary things.

Teresa Barat

Appreciating Watercolours

Varanasi by Aparup Mukherjee

Watercolour painting is both an exacting and suggestive art. By definition, a watercolour is both a medium and the finished artwork. As a medium, it refers to a paint that is water soluble with one of its key attributes being its transparency, allowing brushstrokes or drawings painted under to show through a layer painted over, giving depth and sometimes luminosity to the work.

Why do we call it a suggestive art, because in watercolour painting an artist seeks to capture the essence of the composition or scene? The artist paints a visual image of what they have analysed and internalised. The attempt is to suggest not emphasize or over paint. The image created should hold the correct balance. In watercolours it is said that the tone is the hero and colour just the supporting cast.

A true watercolour masterpiece shows an individual personality of its own. View the foreground, mid-ground and background to gauge its depth. Never underestimate the value of a single brush stroke.  Examine the whites to see how they get placed against the darker shades. Remember, there is no transparent white watercolour paint; the white parts in a watercolour artwork are often those that are not painted and allowed to be seen as they are carefully placed and left blank while painting the artwork. Imagine how a watercolour artist sees the entire painting before he starts actually sets brush to paper, knowing what colours to merge and where to place his strokes to achieve his vision!

Water is an active agent in any watercolour painting, and the artist’s skill in commanding the fluidity of this medium reflects the mastery in his craft. The artist is an alchemist too, blending water and paint to create shades and hues that capture light and luminosity. There is frankly no way of correcting a watercolour painting, any flaws is glaringly obvious. Paint once placed on the paper will leave its mark. It is no wonder then that we admire those who have mastered this craft.

What Size Painting to Buy?

Small is the New Big

Among various questions which come across someone’s mind while buying art, the size of painting is a very common query.

Is less than a full sheet (2*2.5 ft) too small a size to get noticed?
Should I look at covering 30% or 40% of the available wall?

One Large or Many Small: We all wish to own large pieces of art at the cheapest price imaginable. A few thoughts to keep in mind when deciding on what size of art to buy – bear in mind the area available to hang the picture when making a decision on what size of painting to buy. If you have a large room with a large wall on which to hang the painting a large painting is well worth considering, but if you have a large wall in a small room, it may not be the right decision to buy a large painting as there may not be enough space in the room to get a true appreciation of its artistic value.

Budget V/s Size: Unless you have a large house with many rooms and large expanses of walls, its best to start small. Let me expand on the joys of buying small! Now you can define what your measure of small is …and how it fits your pocket ! The advantage of buying small is that it allows you to indulge this passion (and let me warn you that it truly does become a passion) for a very long time! A wall of many different paintings, of course they must be well arranged and complement each other, adds so much character to a room. You or your visitors can spend hours gazing at the different works, the eyes flitting from painting to painting, learning more and more about each work, discovering hidden nuances that you didn’t notice at first glance. Small paintings have a charm of their own … it’s great discovering them in little nooks and corners of a home!

They are also easy on the pocket and make delightful gifts for any occasion. You can never have too many. Arrange them vertically on a narrow wall … or framed and aligned horizontally along a wall or even in ascending order at every other step as a staircase makes its way upstairs …the options are as many and as varied as your imagination …singly or in groups the make a statement. Small definitely can become the new Big!

Art is Always Big

Investing in Art

There is a lot of money floating in the market and prices for art are going sky high. Big investors always circle the waters, hoping for a kill. In this situation, with large auction houses like Christies and Sotheby’s also in India, mushrooming Indian art galleries and so many people looking at art for investment purposes, can the small investor think of art as investment?

We should keep in mind that the penniless painter of yesterday has in many cases, morphed into a media savvy painter who knows what his paintings are worth. So, forget all hopes of a Vincent Van Gogh like masterpiece in the attic. Money for nothing in Art is a rarity today. One option suggested is to look at new work by budding artists. In fact, curator Sandra Khare, Birla Academy of Art, Worli, looks out for new art during her backpacking travels around India.
Before you invest in Art, it is advisable to visit galleries in your city. Look at art sites, read up about artists and look out for news about Art. Decide what kind of art you want to invest in and set your limit. Do not look for instant returns. Keep in mind that what you pay for your paintings should factor in how much you, personally, like it; the artist’s present market value and perhaps, what a more learned art aficionado feels would be his value in the future. Size matters, the larger the painting, the more the cost, If you have a good eye and are prepared to wait for a bit, a painting you buy should seldom sell for less than what you paid. If you do decide to splash out and buy an expensive painting from one of the known names in Indian art, ask for a certificate of Authenticity or Provenance from either the painter or the gallery from where you buy. In today’s environment, where there are a number of fakes floating in the market, you can even get your painting certified by the painter.

Teresa Barat

Buy Cheap …Sell Big!

Buy Cheap …Sell Big!
Easy advice …but you got to buy the ticket to win the Lottery!
Vincent Van Gogh is a vivid example of the quintessential painter- talented, tormented, struggling with his work and unappreciated in his time. Even when he was most confident about the value of his art as Art, Van Gogh had little faith in his appeal to a larger audience. He felt his paintings would be appreciated by those urban people who “retain unfading impressions of the country, and remain all their lives homesick for the fields and peasants.” As he said “…what I do is not saleable … but it can be sold to people who buy things because there is nature in them.” Elsewhere, he complained about the tight-fistedness of ordinary art lovers and that he would have to work cheaply for a wider audience. Very ironic indeed for a painter whose Irises sold for £ 27 million in 1987 and whose work enjoys universal recognition and appreciation. The story of Vincent Van Gogh is the most well known, but in different ways; the story is retold whenever we talk of successful painters and their path to fame. M.F. Husain, our famous barefoot painter and his beginning as a painter of film posters is a case in point. Even India’s premier, abstract painter Jehangir Sabavala, recalls his days of struggle and is amazed that art prices have risen beyond recognition. While we feel for their pain, what the investor in Art would really like is to meet up with his or her own Vincent Van Gogh – undervalued when it comes to buying but with the potential to sell big.

–Teresa Barat

Art is more Accessible with www.IndiaArtVillage.com

Art is personal…abstract, figurative, landscapes or coordinated to suit your décor …every person has their individual preference. At www.IndiaArtVillage.com we offer you an unlimited choice in paintings, a wide range of price options and do not restrict how long you
take to decide.

Your reasons and needs to buy a painting are varied, and so is our collection of paintings at India Art Village. Choose from India’s largest collection of over 1500 paintings, from over 150 artists!

Browse for paintings on a variety of Themes, Surfaces and Artists …we are sure you will find something to fall in love with.

Taking Care of Your Paintings (Part I)

Age Must Not Wither Them
– Taking Care of Your Paintings (Part I)

Untitled by Aparup Mukherjee

Indian artists are getting their share of fame and famous Indian paintings are selling for unbelievable prices. On a less commercial note, people are increasingly looking Age Must Not Wither ThemArt and paintings in particular to enhance their décor or to make a statement about who they are or what they like. Whether you buy art for love of paintings or as an investment, i.e. whether your motivation is love or money, you need to look after these valuable pieces.

To understand how to look after a painting, you need to understand what a painting is: a piece of the artist’s soul, an expression of an artist’s feelings, hopes and sufferings. Yes, yes, very true, but on a more practical note, a painting is made up of two parts: the support layer and the image layer. The support layer relates to the canvas or paper that the painting is on plus the supporting frame or stretcher. The image layer relates to “such stuff as dreams are made of” – the painting itself. Artists may use primer and then the paint, which may be oil or water based. Sometimes oil paintings may be varnished to protect the painting or to saturate the colours. The image you see when you look at a painting is an interaction of all these layers. All the layers change and deteriorate and take on different physical characteristics over time – varnish oxidizes with light and air, turning yellow or brown, paint may become brittle, paper may get attacked by insects, in damp environments canvas could grow mildew. Four factors that most affect the health of your painting are temperature, relative humidity, light (i.e. visible light and ultra-violet radiation) and pollution.