Among Rocks and Thorns

This February I had been on a trip to the state of Rajasthan with family and what a trip it was.Enjoyed every bit of it.Lovely state with lot of culture and history behind it.Though due to shortage of time couldn't really travel whole Rajasthan but still managed to visit some important places.
This painting was done from a photo I clicked on our way to Pushkar,one among the five important pilgimage for Hindus.The town is set in a valley and surrounded by hills. Rajasthan covers the most of the Thar desert so,unlike other hilly areas,these hills were rocky and dry with thorny trees and bushes.
Few days back when i was just refreshing my memory and going through the photos, i came across this one. Don't  know why I clicked this abandoned building at that time but recently I felt I would love to paint it and so I did.

Royal Gala Apple

Thoroughly enjoyed painting this.Took a bit longer than usual but then this was a bigger piece.Initially thought of painting it on small size but then I simply loved the reference photo provided by Lela Stankovic  for  challenge 9 on Paint and Draw Together. 
Well, not sure how the Apple turned out because my husband wasn't happy with the way  it looks :( but was happy the way the leaves turned out. As I stated earlier, I never do a good job with leaves but with this one, I feel I have slightly improved.My favorite part if you ask me is the fallen leaf.

Rocky Experience

This was a submission to Studio Atelier  September challenge -Garden of the Gods. Used rough textured handmade paper for the first time and had a rough experience with the paper and with the rocks too. Greenery,again a matter of concern. The reference photo was all sunlit and this work of mine seems to have monsoon clouds hovering.:)