Of People and Places

 A sketch of an ornate entrance at the temple of the sacred tooth relic, Kandy . 

  One of a pair of red-wattled lapwings in Shahpura lake An incredibly noisy bird, the red-wattled lapwing, known as Titahari in Hindi is a frequent visitor. His alarm calls - which one can hear often, since this bird seems to be well, alarmed, at everything, was once the scourge of hunters in the old days.  Red-wattled lapwing chicks are beautifully camouflaged, and may be hard to find on the ground, as they huddle close to leaves to escape from predators. The mottled patterns on their backs are lovely.   All my tree/birds/animals posts -  A Black - naped Oriole in Bangalore Sketching in Belgaum rains An Ashy Prinia on the balcony and hope Black-crowned night heron at Madiwala lake White-breasted waterhen in Belgaum Birds in Belgaum A love letter to the Flame of the forest Kathotiya forest near Bhopal The Saptaparni tree in Hoshangabad Fun with Babul tree pods, Bhopal The Baobab trees of Mandu A Gray Langur in Khakra Khoh, Madhya Pradesh Bangalore eighteen years ago Sketching in Dande

                                                        An evening at Shahpura Lake, Bhopal. Chasing after a sunset to capture the reflections. As the sun dipped, the water broke into a million pieces. There was a lovely orange glow that I just can't describe. My dry brush technique needs work - and I also need to rethink the colors I have used and the strength of the washes too - ideally, they ought to be much lighter. Speaking of dry brush here is a nice tutorial by Shibasaki san  This one is much more closer to the actual scene - but I think it lacks finesse. Not to mention the colors are all wrong. This one looks like Northern Lights :P Northern Lights in Bhopal lol.( Oh, the last two have been painted on this lovely forgiving paper called Baohong Watercolor Paper - seriously, anything you make on it turns out quite beautiful!! And the first two on handmade paper)  More posts about Bhopal -  Birds in Bhopal  Sunrise at Kaliyasot Dam, Bhopal Sunrise at Manuabhan Tekri Fun with B

Biscuit is the color of a freshly-baked, hot out of the oven, melt-in-the mouth, well, biscuit. His two light-brown spots remind me of a warm, sun-kissed beach, and I can't help thinking that he's been given a perfect name by one of the kids in Thulir, Sittilingi.  A lion at heart, he seems fearless. You should see him walk on  the road, barking, growling, challenging all the (so far non - existent) ferocious dogs of the area. It's a disaster to go outside the campus because he will invariably follow you and create something of a doggie turf war, with you helplessly stuck in the middle.  A lion at heart, I said. Not so much in his actions. Because once he had barked out his challenge, and the other dogs responded with gusto and run like crazy to try and attack him, he would promptly shut up, go quiet as a mouse and conveniently skulk, hide and cower behind our legs!  Luckily for me ( A coward at heart, and in my actions) I had two friends armed with experience and sticks, f