"Supremacy II"...An acrylic painting by Manisha Vedpathak

While in the last month of my stay in Ghana ,I completed a painting

which was first in my new series and was titled "Supremacy". That 

painting was sold immediately (thanks to Darryl Wakefeild)so I sketched 

a new one to add to my series. That was left without any paint 

on it as I was in the process of  relocating. It's now complete 

and hope you all enjoy this as well.

It has the same subject as in "Supremacy", like Chiefs from Ghana 

with the Royal ladies wearing colorful head turbans, Adinkra symbols ,

the Royal umbrella which is used to shelter the Chiefs, Ghanaian

designs which are normally used in their textiles composed different

shapes.

Here the one that  was sold in its new home....

And here is the new one....

"Supremacy II"

Acrylic on canvas, 24"x48"

"Destiny"...an acrylic painting by Manisha Vedpathak

"Destiny"

Acrylic on canvas,50x70 cms

 Available

The sketch of this girl reminded me of my househelp

who worked for me some years back. Her name was

Destiny and I thought that the expressions on the face

in my painting also tries to say ,"I wonder, what is in

my destiny?".

Having said this, a question popped into my mind ,

how many of us believe in the concept of destiny?

 Do you believe that you can control or shape

your destiny?

Would greatly appreciate a feedback from my readers.

"Gaze between the lines"....an acrylic painting by Manisha Vedpathak

 "Gaze between the lines"

Acrylic on canvas, 31"X24"

Available

I was unsure of the title when I finished this painting.

I decided to play a game of titles with one of Accra expat groups

 on facebook and I was amazed with the enthusiam shown by

the group members. Many people did try to read her expression

and suggested me some titles, which gave me a direction to 

think. I actually loved this game as  it is so exciting to know the 

viewer's  perspective . And thus I came to the title,

"Gaze between the lines".

Hope you all enjoy this painting.

"Akua'ba".....an acrylic painting by Manisha Vedpathak

African symbols are very intriguing, their Ancestors made
symbols out of everything. Fertility Doll is one of the oldest
symbol which is also known as "Akua'ba"(pl. Akua'maa).

. The round, flat disc heads, columnar body with outstretched arms

 and smooth, black surface convey the Asante (or Ashanti) ideal of beauty.
In Ghana ,fertility dolls represent youth and fertility. These dolls are
carved in wood and are believed to induce pregnancy. Fertility dolls are
famous and special for the reason behind its creation.

It is one of the most familiar stories in African culture. At some time in the 
past, there was a young Asante woman called "Akua"( wednesday born)
who was having trouble in conceiving a child("ba"). So she was adviced
by a priest to commission a wood carving of a child. She was instructed 
to treat carving just like a living being. She was to carry the carving 
on her back as all the children are carried , tucked into the wrapper 
,with only the head appearing above the cloth and look after the carving
just like any child is been looked after. So Akua did just as she was told
but people teased her pointing at her carving. But eventually Akua got pregnant
and gave birth to a beautiful healthy girl and her success encouraged others
suffering from infertility to follow her path and thus the carvings came to be
 known after her name Akua'ba(Akua's child).

 And so the title of my painting is "Akua'ba". There are a few fertility dolls
in my painting and the images of mother carrying the child on her back
(these images which I am very fascinated about) , and thus came the abstract and 
very interesting juxtaposition of these images and various geo shapes .

Hope you all enjoy the painting!
 

 

"Akua'ba"

Acrylic on canvas,27"X50"

Available

"Supremacy"....Contemporary figurative painting by Manisha Vedpathak

I totally enjoyed this painting. Right from the composition 

to the color combination to the finishing touches.

Two male and female figures from Royal family are portrayed 

in an abstract style.Male figure with large gold bead necklace and
golden band on the forehead, is the tribal chief. I always 

love the way the African ladies wear their headgear. You will find 

them in several of my paintings. There are the Adinkra symbols
that are related to Royalty.
The circle in the center is called "Adinkrahene", which is
chief of all Adinkra symbols and symbolizes greatness, leadership.
The symbol "Gye Nyame" which is showed halfway in a rectangular
 shape shows the supremacy of God, that no one is above God.

In the upper right corner below the circle in green color is the design
 of "Kente" cloth. Kente cloth is woven in bright, narrow strips with
 complex patterns; it's usually made from cotton and is always 
woven outdoors, exclusively by men.Kente cloth is a festive cloth
and is traditionally worn during the festivals and the religious occasions.

Upper right and left corners are the umbrellas. During the festivals ,
tribal chiefs and Queen mothers are shaded with these traditional umbrellas.
These all are combined with some geometrical shapes used in textile designs.

There is a lot to see in this painting .Hope you  enjoy this painting as much as I enjoyed.

"Supremacy"
Acrylic on canvas, 27.5"X50"

Contemporary figurative painting by Manisha Vedpathak

Untitled,acrylic on canvas,35"x35"

This is fresh off the easel .

"Congregation"....An abstract by Manisha Vedpathak

Its been long since I haven't done any new painting.
Here is the one I painted after a long break 

of almost 3 months.

"Congregation"

Acrylic on canvas, 16.5"x13"

"Veiled"....An acrylic painting by Manisha Vedpathak

"Veiled"

Acrylic on canvas, 19.68"x19.68

 

I really like doing these faces. These are the

creations when my hubby and daughter doesn't

want me to do any other activity than giving them

company to watch a movie or any cricket match

 which I am not interested in. These doodled faces

 are then painted whenever I take a break from

 painting  big canvases.

Hope you all enjoy this!

 



"Life".....An abstract by Manisha Vedpathak

"Life"

Acrylic on canvas, 19.6"x19.6"

This morning I heard this line in one of the TV soaps. 

"Life is a journey...full of surprises" .

I am sure everybody will agree with this.

My painting also depicts Life. There are circles and there

are crossroads outside the circles. Every person goes through

this in life. There are crossroads ...some colorful, some black,

some hazy. There are many moments when you feel your life

is complete just like circles.

There is a mystery about the pearl string at the bottom of the painting.

The thing is ...A few months ago, I had started a painting which

had  this pearl string painted. Unfortunately I don't have the image

to show since I didn't like what I was creating. In the process while

reworking this canvas, I decided to keep the pearl string untouched.

 It does suit the painting. And I feel it also adds meaning to the painting.

According to me it depicts the happiest moment in the Life.

What is your opinion?



"Dreamlike".....An acrylic painting by Manisha Vedpathak

"Dreamlike"

Acrylic on canvas,16"x16"

 

Thoroughly enjoyed painting this horse. Not only

this horse , I have always liked painting horses.

This canvas was lying around in my studio with a

background already painted...in fact it was the left 

over paint that was smudged over the canvas with

a knife.
I hope you all enjoy this hazy look of the horse.

 

 

"FIFA Fever"...an acrylic painting by Manisha Vedpathak

Countdown has started. Everybody is eagerly

waiting for the FIFA world cup to start. 

Here is my painting dedicated to the soccer fans.

"FIFA Fever"

A triptych 20x20cms each

Acrylic on canvas.

Hope you all like it.

"Desire to play".... by Manisha Vedpathak

Had painted this piece in July 2013 just before I travelled

to India. I wasn't very happy with the background so had

just left untouched.

 

 

"Untitled"

Acrylic on canvas,33.5"x27.5"

 

 I changed the surrounding a little and here is the outcome.

I am now satisfied and named it "desire to play" as I want

to donate this for Child Heart Foundation.

 

"Desire to play"

 

"Hounds of spring on winter's traces"....an abstract by Manisha Vedpathak

"Hounds of spring on winter's traces"

An acrylic on canvas,20"x20"

This was an old canvas on which I had poured

some left over colors like purple ,blue,grey and white.

Normally I start any abstract without

any preconception or a specific imagination in 

mind...like a "no thought" step. But as I start applying

paint....pouring, splashing colors on the canvas,

it becomes more of a thoughtful process until there

is life in the painting.

But in the case of this abstract, I had inspiration from some 

of the photos I clicked in Czech Republic a few 

days back. The spring had just started but there were

still traces of winter. So I had a definite idea of what I 

wanted from this painting and here is the outcome.

                       I found this title on the internet which is

 actually a song composed by an American composer

 Alfred Reed in 1980 and was inspired by the poem

 “Atalanta in Calydon” by Algernon Charles Swinburne.

Though the poem expresses the youthfulness and innocence

of tender love.....I thought this title suits my painting, 

which shows the start of the spring with the traces of 

snow still seen  here and there.

Hope you all like this artwork!

"Lord Ganesh"....an acrylic painting by Manisha Vedpathak

"Lord Ganesh"

Acrylic on canvas,11"x16"

 

A quick painting done on the background

I painted a few months back.

An abstract by Manisha Vedpathak

I had a fun filled busy weekend at the Annual Bazaar

organized by the International Women's Club of Ghana.

I am a member of the club and looked after the Kid's zone

in the Bazaar. For a change I enjoyed painting kid's faces

instead of canvas. I had started a painting last week. Finished it today.

I haven't thought of any title. Can any one suggest me one.

Acrylic on canvas, 40x40 cms



"Kaleidoscopic"....An absract by Manisha Vedpathak

"Kaleidoscopic"

Acrylic on canvas,74"x50"

 

This is the last painting I did for the exhibition.

This is largest canvas I worked on until now and I

 thoroughly enjoyed it. It took me about a week to

 complete this piece including the time required to

 dry the color poured in the process.

This is how it started...

And here is the finished piece.

 

My paintings have reached. The images for the

catalog have reached. Just that there was a small

issue with the dpi of the jpeg(image) files. All the files

I sent were 72 dpi whereas they need 300 dpi in

order to get the best  printing quality for the catalog .

 

Though they were nice enough to compromise with the

same images, I thought of this as a good chance

to learn about resolution of image files.

 

So I searched for an online dpi converter and

changed all the 21 images to 300 dpi. In future, I

better check out the settings in my camera so that

I can take photos closer to 300dpi.

I believe this is one more area where I should improve

to be more organized. Well...I should have done

 this after the New York exhibition but then I got

so busy with my paintings that I didn't really bother

to look into this area.

 

“No matter how much experience you have, how many degrees you have, or how well known you have become — there is always something new to learn. Don’t rest on your past experiences. If you do nothing to improve your skills, you won’t stay where you are.”

― Laura Spencer

 

I now have to create an online portfolio. Might use www.wix.com

to create one. They have some cool templates which I liked.

 

I believe ,with the usage of vivid colors ,my art piece "Kaleidoscopic" ,will add personality

to your room while challenging the viewers anytime

they enter the room. Enjoy!

"Picturesque".....acrylic painting by Manisha Vedpathak

"Picturesque"

Acrylic on canvas, 27.5"x50"

 

 

"Rhythmic Flow"....Acrylic painting by Manisha Vedpathak

"Rhythmic Flow"

Acrylic on canvas,27.5"x50"

Back in 2011 I had done a Buddha painting 

in same abstract style.Here is that painting.

 I decided to experiment

the same with my freestyle shapes and figurative.

I have liked the outcome and would love to create

 few more in future.

"Vakratunda...Lord with a twisted trunk"....An acrylic painting by Manisha Vedpathak

"Vakratunda...Lord with a twisted trunk"

An acrylic on canvas, 27.5"x50"

 

 

Lord Ganesh is a Hindu deity in human form but

with elephant head.

Every Hindu house in India will have Lord Ganesh

in the form of a photo or a painting or a statue. HE is

a very popular figure in Indian Art. You will notice ॐ,

also called Om in the bottom left corner of the painting.

 Lord Ganesh is identified with this Hindu mantra OM.

We believe in the power of Lord Ganesh to remove

 the obstacles and ensure success.

 

Time for my solo exhibition is nearing and I am

finding myself very much engrossed in painting.

 I just have three weeks left to send my artworks

 to the gallery for stretching. I always prefer to send

the artworks rolled and  take the  assistance of the

 gallery  for stretching.

 

This painting will be a part this exhibition .

 

 

Reworked artworks.....by Manisha Vedpathak

I like to go back to my old paintings and if I get any idea ,

I play with the artwork. Fortunately most of the time the

 outcome is good. Here are three of them and this is final.

now I don't think there is any chance to play around with these pieces.