The Woman in Red.

 "Indian Red"

By James Swanson / Traveler Claudia B

20"x16" oil on Linen panel

See the painting take form and find out more about it below.


One of the great things about this world painting project besides meeting a bunch of new people is reconnecting with some old friends.

All photos are from Claudia's India album.

 Traveler Claudia B. is one of them. I met Claudia years ago when we both were starting out in Advertising. She was an artist in the studio and I was an art director who would send her things to draw up for client presentations.

One Claudia's on the street photos.

We lost touch after I moved to another agency, but I am glad to say we have met up again. Here is Traveler Claudia's India Travel Tale.

The Market

Traveler Claudia B. Travel Story: I believe we were in Hyderabad for a bit, waiting to catch a plane to Jaipor (my memory escapes me).

The Temple.

We were at the market to buy flowers for the temple which was across the street from it. It's the photo of the older woman in the doorway. We bought flowers for alter offerings.

This is the photo that caught the artist's eye.

The girl was the reason I wanted to take the photo but she was too shy so she turned around and I got a pick of here going under the tarp which I thought was just so perfect. I loved the red dress and all the colors in the market so that was the reason.

These are from the first time I went to India. I had a camera but didn't use it. I just found myself wanting to sketch.

 The Traveler Painting "Indian Red" I was working on a painting for Greece last year when a friend brought Claudia B's travels to my attention. I didn't realize that this Claudia was the same old Claudia I knew years ago because she had married.
Claudia B's job as a textile designer takes her to India every while in a while. Her album of her trips I found fresh and personal. I was drawn to the girl in red by the same reason Claudia was drawn to take the photograph. The painting steps to Indian Red.

The oil sketch. The dark colors in this painting I wanted to be warm ones. I used a mixture of Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna  in the under painting to start.

My palette of colors to start the painting. I always premix a few colors of each painting before I paint.  Doing this helps me keep my paintings fresh and clean.

The darks have been painted in, and now the main colors of the painting are put in to create the structure of the painting.

Simple block in. There is paint all over the canvas now it time to start pulling out some details.

Finally I paint in the dress. I worked everything around that dress and the girl but didn't work on them until the rest of the painting was almost done.You see I didn't want to spend more time on her and the dress than the rest of the painting. for her to fit she had to be painted in the same manor as the rest of the painting.

Done. Everything is in there in the right space.

 Details close ups from the painting

Framed and ready to go. 

  "Indian Red"

By James Swanson / Traveler Claudia B.

20"x16" oil on Linen panel

This painting is one of those paintings that seemed to paint it self. Traveler Claudia has quite an eye of scenes and captures some very nice shots. And by the way this painting won a big prize in the first art show it was in. Thanks Claudia, I'm happy to call you my friend again. 

This project relies on old and new friends in the quest to travel this world. If you want to become a new friend contact me here or at www.TheArtistAndTheTraveler.org

Until next time, I'm off to do some fishing with a friend.