Author: Riya A

Good afternoon everyone! I hope that you are all well and had a restful Spring Break. I have always wanted to do a self-portrait and have been contemplating whether or not I should do a large-scale piece of myself recently. I read a few very interesting articles and wanted to share some perspectives!

According to Sadie Valeri, “As an artist, and especially for woman artists, creating a self-portrait is the most powerful thing you can do for your personal artistic development, your career, and your place in history.” I found this to be a very interesting statement. However, when diving a little bit deeper, it makes complete sense.

Historically, women have not been allowed to contribute to art in the way that men have. Women were not always allowed to paint. Generally the only people creating self portraits were men. It now seems like a duty as a woman artist for me to create a self-portrait, to leave my mark, to establish my place and privilege in history. It feels like it’s now my responsibility, and the responsibility of other women in art, to scream, “Hey! I exist in art! I have a voice to share and a unique perspective to give!”

A self-portrait can be made for a variety of reasons. It can be empowering, a convenient way for an artist to practice the skill of capturing likeness with a readily available model, or just a creative way for an artist to demonstrate their own style, eye, and perspective.

Above all else, self-portraits are honest, they require a huge amount of vulnerability, courage, and bravery. it can be startling to look at yourself, and I mean really look at yourself, without all of the bias built up over years of internalization. It can be challenging to achieve not just a likeness, but to almost separate yourself from your image and recreate it honestly.

I think in writing this post I have convinced myself to do a hyperrealistic self-portrait in my own style. Should I go nostalgic and do a full pencil and charcoal piece? Or should I stick to the classic, oil paint? Let me know what you guys think! Also always, if any questions or thoughts arise, please comment or reach out to me!

Until next week,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_agg.art

Portfolio: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/ 

Sources:

https://realismtoday.com/painting-self-portraits-sadie-valeri/#:~:text=As%20an%20artist%2C%20and%20especially,and%20your%20place%20in%20history. 

https://blog.artweb.com/how-to/how-to-do-a-self-portrait/

https://marianacustodio.com/why-do-artists-make-self-portraits-and-what-we-learn-from-them/

Good afternoon all! I hope you are all doing well! I have decided to continue in along of the lines of my last post and discuss painting materials. This week I will talk about some of my favorite brush types and the effects that can be achieved from them. This post was inspired from my best friend who had a hard time understanding the difference between a mop and a filbert!

First, it is important to delineate the difference between synthetic and natural brushes. Natural bristles are made from some sort of animal hair, such as hog or badger. Synthetic bristles are often made from nylon, polyester, or a combination of both. Natural-bristle brushes are best for applying oil-based alkyd paints, and synthetic-bristle brushes are recommended for water-based latex paints.

Second, it is VERY important to take care of and properly clean your brushes (especially after using oil-based paint). I have to take my own advice here as I am definitely a culprit of leaving my dirty oil painting brushes lying around for a shameful amount of time. You’ll need odorless mineral spirits (OMS), a rag, tissues, or paper towels. Wipe the brush of any paint, then wash in OMS or Terpenoid, and then dry it with a tissue or rag. I like using a simple soap at the end of my painting session to make sure they are completely clean.

Brushes come in a variety of styles. Eventually, you’ll determine your own favorite brushes to use! I love using large mops for blending and small filberts for laying down color. Here are some basic brush descriptions, though the length of the bristles often varies from brand to brand:
Round: round with a pointed tip; this brush is great for delicate work and details
Flat: flat with squared ends; these are great for covering large areas of a piece quickly
Bright: These are similar to a flat brush, but the hairs on brights are shorter. This allows a bit more control than the longer flat brush. Because it has short bristles, which bend less, it can move oil paint against the grip of the canvas, and fill large areas fast.
Filbert: Also sometimes called an oval, a filbert is flat with rounded ends and great for mixing paints
Fan: flat and shaped like a fan — You can cut some of the bristles out of your fan brush in a ragged pattern to make a very rough scraggly mark; fans are great for painting grass, hair, fur, removing brushstrokes
Mop: Exactly what you would expect, a full bristled brush that is great for blending

I hope that you all are enjoying this more theory and materials-based blog posts. I absolutely love collecting and trying out various shapes of brushes to see the effects that I can create. If any questions or thoughts arise, please comment or reach out to me via my socials!

Until next week,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art

Portfolio:  https://theindianartist.weebly.com/

Good afternoon everyone! I hope that you are all doing well. I am pleased to announce that I have finally started a new painting after months of respite. I wanted to share some of the processes that can be used in order to prime a new canvas or repaint over existing work. I am a large proponent of reusing canvases and painting over old work/paint. Reusing canvases is a very cost efficient way to produce large works as brand new canvases can be upwards of $100-200.

Prepping Paper:

Paper is an affordable and great surface for painting. Canvas paper is available; however, paper can be prepared adequately to create something specially for oil painting.

Paper should be gessoed with multiple layers to create a barrier between the raw paper and the oils of the paint. Acrylic gesso is most commonly used. As a general rule, acrylic paint can be used only UNDER oil paint as a means of toning the surface or blocking in colors. Gessoed paper prevents absorption by creating a barrier, and can be achieved with a few coats of an acrylic gesso.

Preparing Canvas:

Cotton and linen are the two most common canvases used as surfaces for oil painting and come both primed and unprimed. The most common stereotypical white canvases all come pre-primed.  Primed canvas, still should be gessoed to create a sealed barrier between paint and undercoat, but in my experience, is not completely necessary.

The unprimed canvas on the other hand must be primed with various layers of gesso with light sanding in between layers. Make sure that the linen or canvas is stretched on a frame prior to priming in order to avoid any cracking and flaking.

Preparing Wood Panels:

Using wood is something that I have been meaning to try. This is a great hack to get cheap painting surfaced. You can easily go to your local hardware store and get a piece of simple and cheap plywood cut. The process is then the same in order to prime and prep the wood.  Gesso works as a protective barrier, avoiding deterioration of the wood and discoloration and cracks in your painting.

Sanding is a critical step in the wood preparation process. It smooths out and removes minor abrasions, and opens the pores of the wood to accept your gesso. Make sure to inspect your panel to see if wood putty would be needed to fill in abrasions and cracks beforehand. Then seal the uncoated wood panel against harmful oil absorption from the linseed oils utilized in specific underpinnings and oil paints. In the event that wood isn’t appropriately puttied or sealed before applying the oil paint, it will deteriorate progressively

All in all, regardless of what you choose to paint on (including various other materials such as metal and glass), you need to make sure to prepare the surface properly. If painting over an existing work, be careful to assess what type of paint was used. Oil can go over acrylic but acrylic cannot go over top of oil. Gesso and a sanding block are your best friends when it comes to creating a beautiful surface to work on. If you know that you have a sole acrylic painting, using a neutral color to black out the surface can be a quick and easy way to reuse the material for a new oil painting.

I hope you all enjoyed this longer more informative post! If any questions or thoughts arise, please comment or reach out to me via my socials!

Until next week,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art

Portfolio: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/

Good morning everyone! I hope that you are all doing well and that the first few weeks of the new year have passed by smoothly. It has been a busy beginning of the year for me already and am excited for the next steps in my journey. I am applying to medical schools this summer and truly look forward to moving along the process! In today’s post I will briefly speak about my new decision to teach myself Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

As a self-taught artist in classical media, I have generally always stayed far away from digital art. To me, It seemed like somewhat of a cop-out, not as academic or technical as traditional mediums such as pencil and oil paint. I was completely fine being blissfully ignorant until very recently. I was asked to do some work that required that I do vector drawings in order to product the required result. This meant that I could no longer stay in my classical-era bubble.

I have thus set out on a journey to teach myself the powerful digital tools that are Photoshop and Illustrator. I have begun my journey my watching videos on YouTube, reading articles, and just messing around on my own. I look forward to progressing in these techniques and perhaps will use them to further enhance my own paintings and drawings in the future. I have linked the videos that I have found most helpful thus far if any of you are interested.

As I have a large learning curve to climb, I would greatly appreciate any help and advice that I can get. If any of you are proficient in the Adobe artistic suite please feel free to reach out or comment below! I look forward to sharing my new creations with you this year! If any questions or thoughts arise, please comment or reach out to me via my socials!

Until next week,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art

Portfolio:  https://theindianartist.weebly.com/

Good afternoon everyone! I hope that you are all doing well! Today I wanted to share with you the origin of a Punjabi holiday that took place this weekend. I will admit that even though I was born and raised in a traditional Indian household and have grown up practicing the traditions and festivals, there is still so much that I learn every day. There is much that I don’t know. When I found out that Lohri was on Saturday the 14th, I decided to do some research to learn about the origin of this festival and share it with all of you!

Lohri marks the New Year for Punjabi farmers. On this day, the farmers show gratitude for their crops before the harvesting begins and pray to Lord Agni (the Lord of Fire) to bless their land with abundance. They chant while moving around a bonfire fire, praying for honor to come and to eliminate poverty. It is also believed that if one walks around the fire on Lohri, it helps in bringing prosperity. In Punjab, this festival holds special value for new brides. Many devotees believe that their prayers and concerns will immediately be answers and granted and that they will receive prosperity, good fortune, and a healthy life. Lohri marks the end of winter, and is a traditional welcome of longer days and the sun’s journey to the northern hemisphere.

Lohri is celebrated by lighting bonfires, eating festive food, dancing and collecting gifts. There are special desserts that are made during the time of Lohri out of the crops that farmers are able to harvest this season. People eat corn, sugarcane (also called gurh and gajak), and nuts. It is traditional to eat Gajak (sugarcane), Sarson da saag (spinach curry) with Makki di roti (corn tortillas), radish, ground nuts and jaggery. It is also traditional to eat “til rice” which is made by mixing jaggery, sesame seeds and puffed rice. As is the custom of all Indian festivals, people just come together, laugh, eat good food, dance to great music, and enjoy time with friends and family. 

If you are interested in learning more, please feel free to reach out! Also, please let me know if there is anything that you all would like to see from me this year. If any questions or thoughts arise, please comment or reach out to me via my socials!

Until next week,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art

Portfolio: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/

Good morning everyone! I hope that you have all had a wonderful start to 2023! To be completely honest, I haven’t touched any of my paintings for about 7 months now. There always seems to be something better that I have to prioritize, something else that I should be doing. In the midst of studying, focusing on classes, and stressing over life, I completely pushed my art to the side. I told myself, “Once this exam is over, once the semester is over, once this small thing is over, then I will reward myself and start a new painting….”

But life never stops!

I realized that I have completely forgone one of the only things that brings me true joy and acts as my cathartic release. However, the thought persists that being able to do my art is the prize, rather than something I should be able to integrate into my every day life, something that will help me to get through all else. One of my biggest goals in 2023 is to get over this mental block. I hope to be able to cultivate a better balance within myself and my life. I have truly learned that pushing away all self care (whatever that may look like for you) in the hopes of devoting all of my attention to studying or my goals, is counterintuitive, and has done more harm than good.

I hope that by the end of the month I will be able to post that I finally started a new painting, the idea of which has been living rent free in my mind for almost a year! This one may be my best one yet! What are your goals for 2023? What changes do you hope to see within yourself? What changes do you hope to see in your life? Is there anything you are trying to get over?

Please let me know if there is anything that you all would like to see from me this new year. If any questions or thoughts arise, please comment or reach out to me via my socials!

Until next week,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art

Portfolio:  https://theindianartist.weebly.com/