GUEST DOODLEWASH: Some Colourful Love

Hi, I’m Athira Gopal, an artist by passion and a Creative designer by profession from India. I was born in Thiruvalla and brought up in Trivandrum, Kerala, a designer who loves watercolour painting, contemporary art, calligraphy, paper cutting art, motion graphics animation and photography. (follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and visit my WordPress blog!). I hold a Master’s Degree in Graphic Design from National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad.

Explaining how happy I am would be a task, as the thought of being a guest artist at Doodlewash is really an honour. I literally had to pinch myself to believe the same. So here I am, sharing my part of happiness, colourful love and little about my life.

I have always been a reserved child, always lost in my own world, which was full of colours and from that point until today and forever, art became my best friend. Be it drawing, scribbling or doodling, everything has been so important in my life. Wherever, whenever, being happy or being upset, the artist in me never died and I would draw everything that came to mind be it on walls, in newspapers or my dad’s diaries.

Other than being an artist, things that interests me are music, dance, drama and movies. All of these things inspire me to be a lot more creative and innovative.

Talking about my favourite artists- Vincent Van Gogh, Farida Khalo and of course, our very own Raja Ravi Varma have been my all-time favourites. Ravi Verma has been an inspiration for me to paint female characters. Forms that inspire me are abstract, contemporary and pop art form. I also love the illustration style of Liz Steel, Alicia Souza, Roshan Kurichyanil and Sarah Andersen.

My favourite paintings are Van Gogh’s the Starry Night, and Raja Ravi Varma’s Lady with Lamp, Shakuntala, and Damayanti with Swan from the Mahabharata. Earlier, I wasn’t very confident with watercolours. I used to paint with watercolours without knowing the proper techniques. But during July’s World Watercolor Month, I have learnt so many different ways of using watercolours, from some of the best artists around the world!

Explaining the feeling of how it feels when colours mix is just out of this world and I feel it just brings life to a plain paper, every texture of painting comes alive, and every detail brings in a new meaning. With the same approach, I thought of joining the World Watecolor Month challenge and I decided to go with a theme to explore different styles and techniques of water colour painting. I used photographs as references and some of my own imaginations. The colours I am using are Camel Artist Watercolour Cakes, Koi Sakura Water Colour Field Sketch Travel Kit and Micron pens and Faber-Castell Artist Watercolour tubes.

I loved participating in World Watercolor Month in July, because not only taught me a lot, but also every day I woke up to see a colourful world around me. I am thankful to all who have made this possible for me. It feels like I am back in my childhood, talking, playing and singing with my colours. Due to my busy office schedule, I can’t be very punctual in pursuing my interest in painting but when I get the time, I try to finish at least three paintings in a day.

And once I start, I just forget everything, even though it’s 5 am in the morning without sleeping. And now that I have started again, I don’t want to stop here. I will continue what I love the most in the world. I feel I’m reborn again. Thank you all for making my world colourful and beautiful again.

Athira Gopal
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Join us for our August Adventure and check out the World Watercolor Group on Facebook!

Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

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