Gold Fishes

by Nazima Mohammed
(Trinidad & Tobago)

I was working on a previous painting for my living room wall called 'Fallen Tree' when some orange color accidentally fell on my canvas forming the shape of a gold fish. At first I became angry but quickly covered it up with some fresh shades of greens.

After completing the piece I decided to paint some gold fishes swimming around, It was supposed to be just about ten or twelve fishes but as the days proceeded I found myself adding a fish here and there and sometimes swimming over others. And in three weeks I had completed a master piece which was named 'Gold Fishes'.
I mounted my sheet of canvas on my wooden strips which was made from scratch, glazed on some gesso and let it dry over night after which I glazed on two more coats and allowed that to dry for another two days.I first started the painting with a wash of different shades of purple and greens, then I added bits of yellows and set it aside to dry. I then sketched in my fishes with white chalk and began to work in the orange and burnt umber on my fishes, thinning some white and yellow with liquin to form the fins and tails. While the oils were still wet I used a bit of darker shades of browns to add the details of scales on some of my fishes then set to dry.
After the painting was completed I glazed on some varnish over my painting and hung it on my living room wall. Since then It has been the centre of attraction and conversation whenever visitors came over.

Limbo Dance.

by Nazima Mohammed
(Trinidad & Tobago)

The Limbo Dance is a popular folk dance of the Caribbean. It takes alot of skills and flexibility of the human body to master this magnificient move, especially under fire.

I started this painting one early Sunday Morning after breakfast,following an interesting documentary on folk dancers of the Caribbean. Firstly applying a wash of dark blue and black on my canvas sheet incorporating the colors and leaving it to dry for about four hours. I then proceeded to mix an equal portion of red, yellow orche, black and white, and green to my pallette, turning that into a wash which I applied to the skin of the dancer. Letting that dry for about another four or five hours, after applying another coat to add tone to the skin.I have noticed that adding washes for skin tones makes it more realistic and gives a smoothe finish.

I then proceeded to paint a mint green shade for the trousers then added hints of yellows and grey,then a dull red head band mixing in some black. When that was done I painted in the floor colors which was red, black, and some browns.

The fire was done firstly applying a wash of orange and yellow. When that was dried I applied raw tints of orange straight from my pallette. I set the painting to dry for about two hours after applying a wash of white and a pinch of blue to the fire.

Bananaquit

by Nazima Mohammed
(Trinidad & Tobago)

This is a small painting done on acrylic paper, "18 x 20" in size. It was painted in acrylics.

Firstly I did a wash of dark greens and browns, set to dry over night. The following day I blended in some shades of blue and allowed to dry for about three hours. Sketching in the bananaquit from a photo I had gathered from the famous bird photographer "Beckles".

I painted the leaves with a mixture of greens and the flower with orange and yellow and also some ochre. Then I started the bananaquit adding firstly a dark shade of blue to the entire bird's body, and gradually applying fine strokes of yellows and white forming feathers as I proceeded down to the belly of the bird. It took me almost three hours and a half to complete my painting. But when I was finished It was a fabulous piece of art to look at.

I haven't framed this one yet, still locked in my art room thinking of the perfect color of moulding to be used.

Sea View

by Nazima Mohammed
(Trinidad & Tobago)

A local artist from my country inspired me to commence this painting. I have admired her work for a very long time and hope to reach her standard some day soon.

So my first steps on this painting was to apply a hint of cerluean and cobalt blue to my pallette, then a pinch of earth brown mixing them properly before painting my background. I added a hint of yellow orche and orange to the sky, blending in some orange and green for the ground. I used my flat fan brush to blend in the colors of the sky and then with the corner of my brush I painted specks of white to enhance the sky.
The bushes was done with a round bristle brushes adding raw dry shades of greens and black incorporating some orche here and there to show that there were some soil in between the bushes.
The foreground took all the time, sketching in the palm and each shrub with a fine ball point pen and then applying shades of browns and orche, and greens. The house was painted with cobalt blue, orange, green, and black forming the wood as I went along. The roof was done with shades of white, cerluean, orange, and black and I used the tip of a fine hair brush to form the grooves in the galvanize. To obtain the rusty effect I glazed on some brown and orange shades with a dry hair brush.
The entire painting is "18 x 24" oils and acrylics on canvas and It took me five days to finish.

Dew Drops on red rose petals

by Nazima Mohammed
(Trinidad & Tobago)

This painting took me quite a while to complete, it was done using oils and some of the flemish techniques but I left out the umber layer.
I sketched, glazed on acrylic varnish, then went straight to the grey layer and did not even oil out in between. when that was dried, I glazed on more acrylic varnish and started the color layer using liquin to thin out the paint. This was the end result.

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