Mana

Still life. Oil on Canvas #stilllife #painting #skull #flowers #oilpainting

Self from mirror Oil on mount ~3 hrs I started this with the intention of doing just a quick colour block-in, but was having a lot of fun so couldn’t step away sooner. :) #selfportrait #oilpainting #bluereview #allaprima #dailypainting

Day 14 @strada.easel #stradaeasel A desperately quick sketch before he wakes up. #drawingfromlife #stradaeaselchallenge2025 #quicksketch #inkonpaper

Painted this 5 value study (grissaile) demo for the ongoing course. The idea was to transition from charcoal to painting, using the same step by step organisation of simple values to establish the larger shapes, and then adding the in-between values (halftones) to turn the form wherever needed. #valuestudy #grissaile #portraitpainting

Art is best experienced when the process unfolds in front of you. 🎨 Kalasangama is getting closer, and we’re really excited to finally share the artists joining us for the live demo sessions this year. 🫶🏻 If you’ve ever wanted to sit around artists while they work, observe different approaches, ask questions, watch mistakes become paintings, or simply spend time around process and conversation, this is for you. 🤠 From watercolour and gouache landscapes to charcoal figures, oils, acrylics, mixed media, and intuitive inking, this is a chance to observe, learn, ask questions, and witness how each artist approaches their practice in real time. 💜 Featuring: • Manjari • Antara • Mansi • Pritesh • M.K. Goyal • Kandhaswamy • Jitesh Whether you paint regularly or just want to quietly sit and absorb it all, we’d love to have you there. 🙏🏼 A special shoutout to this year’s art materials partners, @holbein_india and @hindustanonline for supporting our live demo artists, and community volunteers and some more surprises planned during the event for everyone. 🎨 This event is largely self funded by the community apart from the art material supports. 🙌🏼 📍 Rangoli Metro Art Center 📅 May 23–24 ⏰ 11 AM onwards Open to all • Free entry 🌻 Posters by our wonderful @vcanmakeart 🫶🏻 #nammabengaluru #CubbonPaints #LiveArtDemo #ArtCommunity #bengaluru

A quick portrait from life where I was exploring ideas like value compression and relativity to create a more convincing light effect. I think that part worked, but I definitely pushed the proportions in the lower half of the face and somehow made @abhimanyughimiray look grumpier than he’s ever been. 🤭 Here’s the 1 hour 30 minutes in under a minute and a half. ⏩ #portraitfromlife #charcoalportrait #lightandshadows

{APPLICATIONS CLOSED} We’ll build from charcoal to oil, focusing on seeing values, simplifying forms, and constructing a portrait step by step - a solid, repeatable process grounded in fundamentals. 5 online sessions (including one in-depth critique session) spread over 3 weekends. Only 3 spots left. DM ‘course’ to apply. #paintingcourse #artfundamentals #portraitpainting

Mansi Thakkar - The Watermelon - Still life (6th Sept 2025) 5x3.5" First acquisition  A few years ago, while scrolling on my phone, I came across an image of a flag with a symbol of a watermelon, and found out that it is a symbol of resistance in Palestine and came across Khaled Hourani's ‘This Is Not A Watermelon’. Parallelly, I realised that I had seen many still life paintings while visiting museums in Florence and Amsterdam.  This made me go down the rabbit hole, the watermelon has been used to symbolise joy, passion, racism and nationalism throughout art history. Frida Kahlo painted Viva La Vida one week before she passed away.  An ordinary fruit, hiding in plain sight in society, unleashing immense emotions over time. I shut my laptop, and that was the end of it, the information was lost in my memory.  Cut to doom scrolling again, a friend of mine, posted a story of her painting a still life watermelon. I could not unsee the technique she has developed over the years. The lighting and the colours made the watermelon come to life. It was beautiful! I went back to scrolling but the painting remained in my mind.  Recently she posted again and was selling, still life studies, which included the watermelon. I frantically started messaging and calling her, and acquired the painting before anyone else, in excitement I forgot to ask her why she painted a watermelon. Yesterday, the painting arrived at my doorstep. I open it with immense joy as it is the first oil painting I have ever acquired, because it reminds me of my family. My father got watermelons at home, and my mother used to cut them and my sister and I used to eat them while watching television on Sundays. I still enjoy it but the process of removing the seeds has been annoying, but lately, my laziness has acquired a taste for them. It is a small price to pay for the refreshing taste. tbc... In comments 🙂🌿

It’s been a little over a year since I began drawing and painting from life with some regularity, and it’s something I’ve come to care deeply about. The practice of close observation has taught me not only about painting, but about life as well. Ideas and truths I had encountered earlier in life suddenly began to make sense in a new way, and the realisation felt too significant not to reflect on and share. If you’d like, you can read the full article on my Substack. Link in bio.

Studio Clearance: small studies on sale [SOLD OUT] 01. 💀 Study- Oil on canvas - 3.5 × 6.5 in - ₹1800 🔴 02. 🍉 Study- Oil on canvas - 3.5 × 5 in - ₹1500 🔴 03. 🍊 Study- Oil on canvas - 4.5 × 7 in - ₹1800 🔴 04. Pot study - Oil on canvas - 4 × 5 in - ₹1200 🔴 05. Headstudy 01-Oil on canvas-6.5x6.5 in-₹2200 🔴 06. Headstudy 02 -Oil on canvas-5 x 7 in- ₹2200 🔴 07. Copper head-Oil on mount- 5.5 x 8 in - ₹2000 🔴 08. Profile -Charcoal on paper- 5 x 5 in - ₹1800 🔴 Prices include shipping within India. DM the artwork number to claim. First confirmed message secures the piece. #studiosale #ministudies

Mumma was my victim again today for the nth time. Made her sit for atleast 3 hours (maybe more) while i sketched this charcoal portrait. I worked with graphite and charcoal for almost 2 years before picking up oils (since i started training in drawing and painting, somewhat academically) and so charcoal always feels like a homecoming. 🖤 And ofcourse, no amount of drawing practice will ever be enough. #charcoal #portrait #allaprima #portraitfromlife #drawingfromlife

Some self portraits from mirror, that never quite got to completion. 🫠 #selfportrait #oilpainting #selffrommirror #allaprima #paintingpractice