Still life with kettle
12 X 17
Oil on Canvas

Still life with pot of water
12 X15
Oil on canvas

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Street in Ahmedabad
12 X 18
Oil on canvas

Street scene in Ahmedabad
15 X 24
Oil on canvas

Anjali Arora

Fields
14 X 10
Watercolour

I am now being represented by Agora Gallery in Soho, Broadway, New York City. My group show there is scheduled for June 29-July 20, '99. This show will feature some of my townscapes. If any of you happens to be in NYC then, do check it out.

I paint in a loose Impressionistic manner, with visible brush marks and high values. For subjects, I paint whatever moves and interests me. It could be a landscape, or the soft morning light livening up the house, or a bunch of flowers; Trees are another favourite, and if they can be the focal point of a picture, I paint them so, as in ' Winter Tree' , which you can see at my website http://www.artbrush.net/ in the Townscapes gallery.

This is how I approach a painting: Having found a subject that has caught my interest, I then sketch it out. Earlier , I would do the sketching using various grades of drawing pencil, but now I prefer the spontaneity of watercolour to prepare these sketches .The brush responds much faster, and also I find I do not get bogged down in too much detail this way.

So I put in all the information I need in this tonal watercolour sketch. Sometimes I add some colour notes to remind me of the local colour.

The next step is the painting. I paint mostly in oils, although I have done several watercolours too. While painting too, I try and maintain a flow in the work, so that spontaneity and vitality are not compromised. In the finished work, I seek a lively surface quality, which helps hold the viewers' attention.

I will now be exploring townscapes and cityscapes in and near my own city. This is very challenging in many ways. For one, since I am so accustomed to these scenes, I have to really develop fresh eyes to see what has probably become a very routine part of life. Secondly, here in India, we confront clutter and crowds all around, and I am still grappling with finding my picture amidst all this.
To compensate, of course, India offers colour and movement like few other places, and so I will work at producing a series of market scenes of India.

You can write to me at anjali@artbrush.net