Hard Life

Here are some paintings and sketches done at various times but on the same theme - women working in the fields.

                                                                                                              This is a small watercolour on cartridge paper. Essentially dry brush. The paper would not take much water. The sun drenched sun bleached look was what I was trying to capture and I was successful in doing that. One of my favourite paintings.

Usually I make a preliminary sketch as a study before a watercolour. I have to do more but, I do at least one. This however was done more as an independent sketch rather than as a study for the picture above.

This one is done as an independent sketch too. The same effect as before but I have mostly used strokes only in one direction - about 45 degrees from right top to left bottom to achieve the direction of the light. But now I want to paint the same scene. Sometime soon.

A TED talks video I had seen recently, goaded me to write the following lines as an addendum to this sketch.



Relentless sun, burnt skin,
Eyes paining by squinting
Legs in slush aching legs
Creaking back, fungus between toes


Then we throw food away 

This was started as a preliminary sketch for a watercolour but never painted it! The beauty of the original reference picture sort of scared me. I have to work up the courage soon! Else this will bug me!