Hustle and Bustle

Watercolorist Amit Kapoor captures movement and action in his city scenes using purposeful, sweeping brushstrokes

INDIA

Afternoon in Madrid, watercolor, 14 x 21" (36 x 53½ cm) I painted the Metropolis Building in Madrid many times at different times of day. This piece I painted in the afternoon, and the colors were totally different at this time of day, with far more warm colors. I tried to captured the beautiful light and shadow of the Metropolis Building falling on the other building.

Painting for me is meditation, and painting with watercolors is one of my greatest delights. It has now become an addiction too. I would describe myself as more of an impressionist artist. I love to paint busy scenes like streets, markets and figures in my paintings. Earlier I used to paint train engines, and my engine paintings received many awards. But slowly when I started traveling all around the world, busy streets and cityscapes attracted me a great deal, and I started painting cityscapes and more boats. In 2015, I painted a top view of the beautiful city of Kolkata, India, and the Howrah Bridge, which earned me a Silver Star Award from the National Watercolor Society. This gave me new perspective and energy in my painting, and then I started capturing more aerial views.

View of Italy, watercolor, 21½ x 2912" (55 x 75 cm) This is a lovely view of Monopoli, Italy. I tried to capture beautiful afternoon light in this painting, though I always love to play with light and shadow. I love the reflections and color of the water. The combination of warm and cool colors always looks more attractive so I tried to capture that in this painting.