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Hello friends! I am Charu Jain. An explorer and a creator from an early age. I was born in a big family in Sewagram land of Gandhi’s ashram where he taught precious lessons of peace and non-violence. I am now based in Bangalore with my family in India.
I have done my graduation in Microbiology and also diploma in Interior Design. I am a self-taught traditional artist and I am very passionate about art. I have always been encouraged and supported by my mom and family to be more creative. I regularly create a colour-inspired, whimsical world of my own for daily practice and also for commissioned work. My work has found a home in many places like Texas, Canada and America.
Apart from painting I also like to craft, dance and meditate. I am really thankful to Charlie for this wonderful challenge which he started in the month of July. I enjoyed looking at wonderful art by all the artists from all over the world. World Watercolor Month was a huge inspiration and motivation to draw and paint almost every day though I found it challenging to keep up with the demand and maintain harmony between family and passion.
In 2015, my dream was realised when I got a chance to work on a children’s book named Ten Zany Birds with Sherry Ellis. The book has been greatly reviewed by authors and publishers and got a five star rating on Amazon! Ten Zany Birds was awarded an honourable mention in the Education category of the 2016 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards!
I love to draw birds, trees, landscapes and flowers. Nature has always inspired me to draw and paint. I keep my colours and sketch book handy so that I can draw from nature and life.
Some of my favourite techniques are watercolour and ink, splattering, washes, wet on wet, and hand lettering.
Watercolour is my favourite medium because I love the way it moves on the paper. Its beauty lies in its transparency. I just love to experiment with it. The beauty of this untamed medium is you cannot control it but you have to go with the flow of this beautiful colours. I try to practice almost every day sometimes I get good results and sometimes I don’t, but it is a part of the learning process and that’s fun. Watercolours surprise you every time. I learn a lot from my mistakes. Sometimes I try to fix it and sometimes I don’t as it looks beautiful the way it is.
I am also working on different types of study in watercolour which is very important to enhance your work like negative study, tonal values, light and shadow.
I try to avoid details in my art as I feel watercolour should be more in less and I try to keep it as simple as possible which is a very difficult job for an artist.
I am very much influenced by whimsical art. Now, I am a mom of two kids but still I have my imaginary world of my own where I imagine pixies, elves and other whimsical characters. I love to illustrate whimsical characters and children illustrations are my favourite. Since childhood, I was fascinated by colours and wonderful characters in the storybooks. I remember how my dad used to bring me lot of books. I used to observe and draw the characters from the book.
Watercolour has taught me to be more confident, patient and to be myself. My favourite artists are Mario Miranda, Millind Mullick, Raja Ravi Verma, Hazel Soan, Pascol Campion. I am very much inspired by Children illustrators like Beatrix Potter, Helen Oxenbury, and Cicely Mary Baker. It is my dream and desire to illustrate more for children’s books. I would also like to learn graphic design.
I believe watercolour is an art therapy which allows me to express myself and to be creative every day. It is like meditation and food for my soul. I would again like to say thank you to Charlie for inviting me as a guest here on Doodlewash. It was an honour and pleasure to share my story with you all.
Art has always inspired me to be myself and believe in my dreams. I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to read my story. I would love to hear from you!
Happy Painting!
Charu Jain
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Charu, your paintings are delightful and joyful. They really make me smile. I enjoyed reading your story!
Charu, I love the brilliance of your colors and the freshness of your approach, especially allowing the watercolor paint its own life in your art. Thank you for sharing your inspiring story.
Beautiful work! Tried to follow you on IG..but account is private…
What beautiful work Charu! Can’t wait to get to know you better!
How fun to see your beautiful colorful art work here. Love it.
Really delightful work!
Lovely work, Charu!
Beautiful paintings!
Gorgeous paintings, and a great inspiring story. Thank you for sharing a great feature post.
Very vibrant paintings 🙂