beena pradhan
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How To Develop Your Own Art Style?

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Frustrated about not being able to develop your own style of art? Don’t worry yourself, it’s not an easy task to begin with. But there are certain tips which can make it easier.

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Can Acrylic Paint Be Made To Seem Like Enamel?

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In order to get the texture of enamel, you do not actually need to use enamel paints. You can do it quite easily using your acrylic paints.

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Combining Oil Paints With Acrylic

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Wondering how to mix oil paints with acrylic? Well, you don’t need to actually combine them in the first place to create your masterpiece.

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The Origins of Acrylic Painting

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Ever wondered how acrylic paints came into being and became so popular among modern contemporary artists? To begin with, they are a more recent innovation than you think.

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Paint Mixing Techniques To Create Colorful Acrylic Painting

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When it comes to making colorful acrylic painting, relying on whatever’s upon the palette is not enough. You ought to know how to obtain a completely different color by mixing two common ones.

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A Beginner’s Guide To Modern Art

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What do you think is the definition of modern art? Speaking definitely, it is not just a single type of art, but rather a combination of various other forms.

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Creativity - a step to progression

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Becoming - a shadowed ultramarine Acrylic on canvas 50" x 50", year 2016 This painting was my first step to creating my new series 'Equal Color' and a first in creating images with a bolder color and lines eliminating tones and details, the end result a strong stamp of creativity!!

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Painting in monochrome

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Miles to go......self portrait Acrylic on canvas 50"x40" I toyed with the idea of doing a self portrait for a long time, the reason being I wanted to express myself as an artist and to show progress through my art. I also wanted to add elements of interest and yet not take away from the portrait.  On an impulse I picked up an old canvas which had ample amount of vermi...

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Pop art and contemporary art

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Season sequence Movement of a moment 18"x24" x 4 (acrylic on canvas, year 2016) This painting of four parts depicts ones life changes metaphorically through the color of seasons.  Painting with large blocks of solid color is considered pop art. Andy Warhol was the master of this form of contemporary art. He painted the portraits of famous people this way making hi...

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Line drawing and brushwork

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A flying Kiss Embracing a natural 20" x 40" This work turned out to be interesting as I was in the process of doing a figurative painting horizontally and was looking for creating an image with broad strokes in tangerine, but changed my mind and turned the canvas around vertically and let go. I retained parts of the orange color by wiping away the new layer with the palm of my...

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Indian contemporary art

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Accompanied music acrylic on canvas 34"x40" My inspiration for this painting has been music and what better way to express the flow of music using the female figure and the gramaphone. I have used flat spaces and broken the rhythm with furniture to bring out the clarity of the form, ignoring the bounds of space image divides. The upright female figure adds strength to the char...

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Nude study

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Flesh tones - in the nude acrylic on canvas 24"x40" Drawing the human figure can be both inspiring and challenging. My paintings are figurative and revolves around the human body. Over the years of working on my canvases, the shapes and forms of the human body both male and female have evolved too, into my own mould. Nevertheless there is a lot of satisfaction painting a nude ...

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A colorful palette

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In tune  20"x 24"  acrylic on canvas, year: 2007 I have always had a strange fascination for the lowly music makers and sellers of inexpensive instruments, on urban streets, and sometimes also for the lazy casual listeners. As if to compensate for the poor quality of their 'art', the subaltern music-makers try to put up gallant spectacles with weirdly stitche...

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Art in color on canvas

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Turning time - hope over despair acrylic on canvas  58"x16" x 2 , year 2016 "To improve is to change, to be perfect is to change often. " - Winston Churchill There has been a remarkable shift in the area of choice and use of colors over the past year which lead to the creation of my new series Equal color. Glibly speaking, my work has become more colorful, s...

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Contemporary Indian art

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Raw Strokes - a crimson amalgamation  Acrylic on acid free paper  12"x16" x 2 , year 2009 This painting of mine best describes contemporary Indian art according to me, it is representation of a man and woman's union crossing the boundary of color, wherein any color could represent a skintone and bold strokes to give a minimalistic & artistic form. This transt...

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Colorful acrylic art on canvas

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A blazing band - music of indian matrimony Acrylic on canvas 50" x 50" The Indian wedding season is here and what better way to celebrate than to the tune of the Indian wedding band. You can hire these musicians  to play any film hit song tunes and it is a spectacle to watch the baratis dance to the catchy tunes and make their way with the groom on a horse, to the venue o...

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Transparent colors

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Remembering red -The roses of love  Acrylic on canvas 24" x 34" x 2 Crimson red is one of the most challenging colors to work with and one of my favourites too. While using crimson one cannot afford to make any errors , no overworking the color - infact one has to get it right the first time around. This is so because if you add a second layer the color loses its transpar...

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Music and Art

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Muse & Music - the co-conspirators of music  Acrylic on canvas    60"x50" Music is an art form that plays a significant role in the creations of an artist and I am no exception. I love music in any form be it instrumental or vocal, classical or otherwise, indian or western and my love for it extends to my learning to play the piano. I also like to bring this...

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Juxtaposition on canvas

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Harmony & ecstasy Acrylic on canvas 60" x 36" In most of my paintings I like to create a scenario of chaos and yet a blend of situations, postions of the form and the use of timeless props. It is juxtapositon of sorts influenced by the play of light and shade, and the use of contrasting color to create a dramatic effect. I want to leave the viewer searching for his or her ...

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Bold brush strokes

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A Simple song - The grass and mud of nostalgia Acrylic on canvas 16" x 25" This is a painting which represents the simpler times gone by, when children played with their pets,toys and small things made people happy. Children preferred the outdoors as opposed to the gadgets of today which keep the kids of today glued indoors with no physical activity. It is a trip down memory l...

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Portraiture vs. expressionism

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Lost labour - of innocence and ignorance  Acrylic on canvas - 30" x 36" I did this painting after seeing a child desperately trying to sell balloons at street crossings, often unsucessful. Cars would stop or whiz by, passer-by lost in his or her own world and seldom give this child any attention. I wondered when a day would come when every child has a chance to be in scho...

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Mother and Child

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The Primary connect Acrylic on canvas (22" X 30") Mother and child is a subject that has been explored by artists universally and since the beginning of any form of expression. As an artist i too have been drawn to this subject as it represents the epitome of unconditional  love, security, tenderness, caring, good upbringing, protection and emotion. I have painted this pr...

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DIPTYCH

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Floral Depiction ( size 12" x16" x 2   Acrylic on canvas)   Diptych pronounced diptik is derived from the latin word diptycha and from the Greek work diptukha, di - double pitukha means fold. In terms of paintings it is a work of art in two parts, a collective work of art  arising from human creativity. I have seen many works of art dating back to th...

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Pastel on paper

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Complete vs. incomplete   How much of an artwork should be left undone to make the end result interesting?? My kids' portraits were a perfect example of this experiment.  Pastel paper comes in different shades of all colours and I enjoyed playing with different colours to get out the skin tones and yet left it undone to give the portraits a complete look. The principle...

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Hinduism and Art

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The Pujas  - Ma Durga   Having lived in Kolkata for the past 25 years, I have been fascinaed by the Pujas....a time when this city comes alive with fun  and traditional rituals.  Over the years I have visited many pandals and am  marvelled at the creativity while making them. Ma Durga is depicted in various interesting ways in accordance with the theme of th...

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Recreating old works

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Gossip/ Gleam of gossip  Acrylic on canvas 38" x 48"   I have been painting for the last 22 years. I have been going through of my old paintings which were sold and tried to recreate them with my present knowledge, experience, thinking and skill - the result was something totally different. Good to know I cannot my own work. The magic I created then and now are v...

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Pen drawing, mixed media

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One God - different forms I believe every religion has the same message - be a good human being. I did a few drawings showing Krishna, Shiva, Buddha and Jesus. I added a touch of acrylic to the pen drawings to give a whole new dimension. The drawing of Christ is done with crayon on acid free paper

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Impressionism

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My second solo exhibition at Chitrakoot Art Gallery-  Kolkata   In the early 2000s I made a shift from Watercolor to oil on canvas as I wanted to explore a medium to cover a larger space. I took to impressionism easily and was influenced by the likes of Van Gogh, Goya, Whistler, Gaugain, Venlanquez, Monet, John Singer Sargeant just to name a few of the Great Masters. In this e...

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Watercolor

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Mumbai  - A short break My family and I took a short break to visit my son who works there a few days ago. It was lovely to see this busy city rain-washed and yet bustling. On seeing the Gate Way of India and the entire shoreline it reminded me of a washed canvas and hence I took to watercolor my image of Mumbai. It is also a nostalgic trip down memory lane for me to when I sta...

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Oil on canvas - Acrylic on canvas

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Exhibition of paintings at the Habitat Center, New Delhi   This exhibition with a friend at the Habitat Centre was a turning point in my career, way back in the year 2002. I had moved from watercolor to oil on canvas as I wanted to paint a larger space. This transition was great as I had learnt to bring to life larger works and was greatly influenced by the Impressionists.  ...

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Museo Picasso and Sagrada Familia , Barcelona - An Inspiration

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My New series - EQUAL COLOR Faceted findings - two sides of a coin  Acrylic on canvas 16" x 25" I had the good fortune of visiting the above two places while on holiday earlier this year. It was a learning and enriching experience. At the Picasso museum which showcased his work right through his lifetime, I made an interesting observation -  the preperatory w...

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The Young hand - The idle watching the idols

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Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta - My Tribute Acrylic on canvas 57" x55" Hands that heal and words that comfort. I had the privilige to meet Mother many years ago and remember the touching experience that I had. 

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Acrylic On Canvas

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A New Start - Acrylic paints, rough grained linen canvas, brushes, pencils and pens, acid free paper, sketching pads, pastel, indian ink .....all that I need to create contemporary indian art!!!   Took some time off to gather my thoughts after my last series "EQUAL COLOR". My newly stretched canvases are enticing.....a fresh start, a new train of thought. I am looking...

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Acrylic used for reversed painting

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The Making of Tender Moments Acrylic on canvas 24"x38" This painting is done using many many layers of paint and removing paint from each layer to create the required image. I let the paint flow on the textured surface and form patterns of its own which makes the work interesting. I like the vintage imagery that is created in the process of pouring paint and removing it. In th...

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About me

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Painting for the last two decades and more has brought out the creative best in me. The journey has been one of ups and downs - the trail of a self taught artist.Having come this far I have created my own style and would call myself a Contemporary Indian Artist. After trying a lot of mediums, acrylic on canvas is the medium of my choice as it allows me the freedom to experiment ;and the large c...

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