Contemporary calligraphy after a long gap!!

This is an attempt to revive the contemporary calligraphy work I used to do... Photoshop is a great tool for such art!!

Passion (Theme 76)

One of the things I am passionate about is abstract art.. So here goes my entry for the theme 'Passion'
Credits : Textures from http://www.cgtextures.com/ .Calligraphy image from google images..

Ocean - (Theme 72)

I tried making a palette knife painting on photoshop.. It was quite tough but the bevel and emboss feature made the task easier..

Motherhood (Theme 42)

Inspired by the colors and art of Africa.
Sketched and painted on Photoshop.

Magic (Theme 62)

As a child, I was brought up with a regular dose of Amar Chitra Katha and Indrajal comics - two great entertainers in India in the pre-'multi channel TV', pre-'Internet' world of my childhood. So magic brought to my mind the greatest cartoon magician Mandrake and his companion Lothar. I combined them with a spell from Harry Potter series and tarot card images..All images taken from Google Images used with photoshop filters and layers.

Gold (Theme 12)

All images from Google images and photoshop filters.

Falling (Theme # 93, Picture # 21)

All images taken from google images.

Dance (Theme #82 Picture # 20)

Bharata natyam is a traditional form of dance in India. The picture is sketched and colored in photoshop. The background is a famous temple in India. I have tried to make this picture in different shades of a single color.

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Black (Theme 89)

Sketched and painted with photoshop

Broken (Theme #52, Picture # 12)

Hi everyone,

Changed the look of my blog.. created the header on photoshop and the background from blogger designs..hope it looks nice..

Got some dripping brushes from deviant art.. couldn't resist using them in my composition of a broken egg...It is so easy dripping paints in photoshop than try to do it for real in a canvas but the final effect on a canvas will always be far superior to the result I have got here...


Credits : Broken egg : Google images
Brushes : http://www.obsidiandawn.com/
Grunge background from deviant art.

Theme # 10 - Animals (#45)

HORSES
This is a tribute to M.F. Hussein who is called the Picasso of India... A great artist, he loves to paint horses..

I tried sketching with the pencil and brush tool in photoshop.. Was not able to get sharp, accurate lines, but sometimes inaccuracy can be beautiful especially in art..what do you say?

Grunge background is from deviant art.. horses sketched from google image photos..

Theme # 9 - Waiting(#55)

I enjoyed making this..I sketched an Indian tribal lady in a waiting posture and colored it on photoshop.. I adorned her with bangles on hand and some leg ornaments called 'payal' in India and of course the red dot on the forehead called the 'bindi'....

I also learnt how to transfer a sketch into photoshop and digitize the lines..The tutorials available on the net are fabulous..

Brushes are from brusheezy and textures from photoshop..

Theme # 8 Underwater (#83)

I just combined an underwater image with a mermaid sculpture, both of which I got from google images.. Shading and frame was from photoshop..

Theme # 5 Colors

Thanks everyone for all your comments...It is just wonderful to read them...

This is an attempt at minimalism.. sometimes leaving huge blank space on the canvas brings out the depth of the colors applied..The filter gallery in photoshop is just fabulous for twirling colors around..

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No credits/inspiration for this piece..lots of photoshop and a bit of imagination..

Theme # 4 - Umbrella

Participating in the 100 themes challenge is a good learning experience... Doing this picture, I learnt how to make silk texture with folds on photoshop..I enjoyed the entire creation process..hope you all enjoy this too..

Credits : Umbrella - http://www.neublack.com/art-design/biodegradable-umbrella/
The Lady - Indian actress Asin
The inspiration - Rainbow Umbrella -flickr photo

Hindi Calligraphy

The hindi alphabet is very curvy and this makes it a calligrapher's delight. I experimented with hindi calligraphy in a few of my paintings and I was quite satisfied with the results.

My first attempt at hindi calligraphy was this picture. The words in the painting read 'Shanthi, shanthi, shanthi' which in english translates to 'let there be peace, peace, peace'.

This was followed by many more paintings where I experimented with hindi typography. I tried to create two different fonts of the alphabet one with soft flowing lines and the other more angular. This one is all curvy and twined called the Perinneal Vine

The second one a more angular attempt at writing the words depiciting the seven notes of Indian music called Sapta Swar.

The final painting of this post is an inspiration form an arabic calligraphy painting I came across in a magazine. It was a lovely maze created by alphabets. I wanted to try if the hindi alphabets would look as lovely if depicted in such a style and the outcome is this painting which I have named Maze.