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Here you can read about my paintings featured in the Kerala Association of Greater Washington DC. one of the largest malayalee organisation in Northern Virginia. http://kagw.com/

Just before Easter, every year I create one special painting for the great occasion. For the last several years, I have been painting chickens in the field for conveying my message.
Why chickens ? Because traditionally I believe they are the ones who get 'sacrificed' the most world over during this season. I come from a tradition, where my mother would choose a rooster and would cook it and make very nice spicy chicken curry. This will be served with proper bread and the whole family would eat it over a prayer.

This time, I was searching for a suitable reference and came across a group of chickens having their meal out in the yard and their spread reminded me of the last supper, though the number of persons are much less here. Their colorful shapes and a mountainous background was so attractive to me.

Chickens have always been my favorite subjects and I like to continue painting them.
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THE BEGINNINGS Blog # 2
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When I was 5 year old, my father bought me a small metal watercolor paintbox with a single brush. Until then my tools were kitchen charcoal, green leaves, chalks and homemade stuff and my doodles were mostly on the whitewashed walls of our rented home. The house owner got sick of seeing my graffities on the walls and probably told my dad to do some disciplinary actions. Houses, cars, sunsets and flowers are all that I remember having painted then. The paint box eventually ran out but not my passion. I went on my watercolor journey in schools and local associations and occasionally picked a prize or two. I later realized that my parents were not so in favor of my painting indulgence and rather wanted me to focus more on my studies, even though almost all the pocket monies I received get spent away buying art materials, palettes, brushes and colors.
During my middle school and high schooling time, I had to commute long hours in public busses. I made friends with older boys who were studying in our city’s art college, Raja Ravi Varma Institute of Fine arts. We sat together in the bus and while they were interested in other things, I would glance over their notebooks and sketches. Some of them would give me painting tips. One tip was to feature just one aspect in a given subject. For example, while painting a ‘bus stop’ I could just focus on one or two passengers or a portion of the bus and there is no need to describe everything in your painting.
Serious art started when my own children started going to school. I began picking up my brushes again and took some lessons from some very senior artists. The Internet helped me a lot to relearn the process and watch others and am thankful to countless artists worldwide for their valuable lessons.
I am inspired to paint nature as I see and also the life that goes along with it. I believe nature is beautiful everywhere, it is just our perspective that differs.
Last several years have been very different for me. I read a lot, watched a lot and also had the opportunity to attend some master classes. I also have taught small children myself and spent time learning together.

https://george-jacob.pixels.com/featured/dad-i-love-you-george-jacob.html

WATERCOLOR PAINTING PROCESS.
Painting with watercolor is completely different experience than other medium. You start your action with blank white paper and then you create large, medium and small shapes again leaving the white of the white paper wherever you need the highlight. What you leave is your lightest areas and anything that goes darker than that is a part of your planning process. You need to take lots of on the spot decisions and sometimes need to let go of the things as watercolor is so elusive. It keeps you on your toes and would never allow complete control. It is basically a subtraction method.

COMPOSITION AND THE PROCESS.
Painting is all about good composition and a strategy to execute your planned process in a sequence. For me the composition stage is the most difficult and time-consuming part of my painting. I try and retry arranging various shapes, adding some and deleting the distractions. It is akin to a being a movie director. You need to have the right cast speaking the right dialogues at the right sequence.

The abstract mixture of shapes, with light and shadows interplaying and a variety of edges is what makes a painting to look successful or not. For me if my painting doesn’t engage my viewers to think further, or to create a spark of imagination, then I guess I haven’t done enough. If the viewers have nothing to contribute then soon they will get bored of the painting regardless of how detailed you have executed it.
I am very keen to paint interesting shapes. After all that’s all you can do on two dimensional surface. Creating shapes. Be as much varied and unpredictable as possible with your shapes. There is wise advise from a senior artist, “ the fewer brushstrokes you make, the better it is”

COLOR
I am a very colorful person and I like to create works of art that are vibrant. But am conscious of the color spectrum I need to use in a given painting. Your color tones will set up the initial mood of the scene and have the ability to excite your emotions. Am also a big fan of grey colors and there is unlimited range you can use. However I recently learnt that the most important thing is the value change and not the color itself. It is the sudden or subtle change in the values that brings the shapes forward or backward and not necessarily the color. We choose colors to suggest the different atmospheric perspectives. As you might have noticed, human eyes can distinguish color clearly for a few hundred meters beyond which things get bluish and greyed away. This is also due to the atmospheric haze. We use this property in the watercolor landscape a lot to replicate distance. That’s why we see distant mountains in bluish tones even though it may be full of colorful trees.
The life around is multidimensional, and objects are placed in a spatial distribution with a variety of colors and shapes. In a painting we are trying essentially to create this 3D appearance on a two dimensional paper surface. The only way you can do that is by manipulating the light and shadows, tonal values of different shapes. I wouldn’t be, therefore, hesitant to state that a good watercolor artist is actually a good illusionist.

There are things you do on dry paper, wet and semi wet conditions. You may not get that window again if you missed to act on time.

I believe every successful painting shall have some amount of abstractions involved and we might see them as shapes of buildings, trees, or clouds or other objects or even just the space.
I am a continuous learner. I look at other artists' work and get inspired and motivated to do more.
Thank you all for visiting my website and I regularly post my new works. Your comments and critique are always welcome.

George Jacob is a professional artist residing in Northern Virginia, USA

Next time you get confused about choosing a gift for a dear one, consider giving them a unique handmade present. A carefully crafted water color painting. As an artist, I can create a custom scene based on the occasion. It can be a portrait, a landscape, or the picture of their house, an automobile. Almost anything. Unlike a photo, a watercolor painting is the results of hours of hard work and meticulous art work.

Your recipient will be more than happy when you give them such a thoughtful work of love. They will cherish it for years, and think of you because every art is unique. Not even the same artist can create an exact copy.