One Step at a time - A soft pastel painting

“ You can get anywhere if you simply go one step at a time.” Dave Ramsey

Sometime back I tried this soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes light grey toned paper. Every landscape scene has its own challenges. What I loved in this scene was the steps leading into the forest and the misty background. I used muted grey toned colors in the distance to create depth and used light strokes of pastels to create the branches and foliage.

I normally work with a mix of different brands of soft pastels, namely Kohinoor Toison Dor, Mungyo and Sennelier. Out of these if I have to recommend one brand which is great quality apart from being economical is Kohinoor Toison Dor.

Sennelier is extra soft and it easily blends into the paper and I love its quality, however it is far more expensive than other brands. I normally use it as a last layer to apply finishing touches to my painting.

One Step at a time 

A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 5” X 7”

I created a post regarding the use of different papers I use for my soft pastel paintings. CLICK HERE to view the same.

If you wish to see all my artworks in Gallery format, visit my INSTAGRAM site where I post my works on a regular basis. Thanks for visiting my blog and browsing through my artworks. 

Afloat - A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they are still beautiful.” Alice Walker

A log of wood, floating in the still waters at the banks of Kaveri river near Dubare Forest in Coorg. The moment my eyes captured this sight, I knew I had to paint it some day. I decided to go with the soft pastel medium for this work as I wanted a dark background which can be achieved so well using my newly purchased Sennelier pastels from Creative hands online store. The log of wood was half immersed in the water and the light and shadow play gave a new definition to the entire set up.

I scraped an old white pastel to create the sparkles on the water. Apart from using my usual Mungyo and Kohinoor Toison Dor soft pastels, I also use pastel pencils from Derwent as it helps to create some sharp details like grasses and twigs.

Afloat

A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 4.5” X 6.5”

Sennelier extra dark soft pastels

If you wish to know about the papers I use for my soft pastel paintings CLICK HERE. I have created a post regarding the same in 2016. 

If you wish to see all my artworks in Gallery format, visit my INSTAGRAM site where I post my works on a regular basis. Thanks for visiting my blog and browsing through my artworks. 

A Slice of Watermelon - A watercolor painting

 “Color is a power which directly influences the soul.” Wassily Kandinsky

The magic of still life painting is that it can show us a new way of looking at subjects around us. Still life painting helps me to experiment and explore, with color mixing, composition and new techniques which I feel is very essential for any artist to evolve in the long run.

Yesterday I used a “Slice of watermelon” to create the water colour painting as posted below. For the background I have used a mix of all three primary colors and just when the paint was damp ( Before drying up ) I sprinkled little on it which added a little texture in the background.

For today’s artwork I have used a graphite pencil to sign at bottom right. Normally I use my rigger brush for the same. However the foreground being very light I decided to go with graphite as it would not interfere with the main subject. I recently came across a few artists who sign regularly in graphite pencil and I quite liked the idea. On a small sized painting it’s a struggle to to do a miniature signature and it can be frustrating.

A Slice of watermelon

A water colour painting on Chitrapat handmade paper 

Size 5” X

My paintings in the gallery format can be viewed on my INSTAGRAM feed where I have been posting regularly since last few years.

Thank you for browsing through my artworks. It motivates me to continue my painting journey.

Golden Gate Bridge, California - A water color painting

   “Color is my day - long obsession, joy and torment.” Claude Monet

Today’s water color painting has been inspired by the “Golden Gate Bridge”, a suspension bridge, one of the most internationally recognised symbols of San Francisco, California and the United States of America. This is my second painting of the Bridge and I have used a reference image from “PIXABAY” . I am grateful to all the photographers who have been sharing the photographs with PIXABAY which then makes it available to us for free reference.

I created this artwork on 8th of September and posted it on INSTAGRAM. I am more regular at posting in Instagram and I keep promising myself that I shall blog regularly but somehow find it difficult to manage everything together. 

The overall composition of the landscape appealed to me. The Golden Gate Bridge is the focal point in the painting and it’s reflections on the wet shoreline was fun to work with. During my initial watercolor days, I remember spending lot of time in detailing lot of unnecessary things. These days I am careful to concentrate only on the focal point and I avoid overworking on the other elements.

                                   

                                              Golden Gate Bridge, California     5” X 7”

For quite some time now I have been using Winsor and Newton Cotman and Camlin Artists water color tubes for my water color paintings. Each brand has its own merits and I particularly use the Sky and ocean colors from Winsor and Newton. However for working with the greens and other darks I depend on the Camlin. Over a period of time, as I get more deep into my watercoloring my choices may evolve. I will explore the other colors too.

Follow my latest works and techniques on INSTAGRAM and if you love my works and they inspire you, share them with your friends.

Thank you for browsing through my artworks and I appreciate your support in my art journey.