Friday 3 February 2023

Step by Step, soft pastel forest landscape ( Coorg, Karnataka )

 “Perfection is no small thing but is made up of small things.” Michelangelo 

Of late, I have been pretty busy with my water color paintings but I do miss working with soft pastels. So took out some time recently and created this forest landscape referring to my photo taken at Coorg, Karnataka. 

I have used the following brand of soft pastels as:

1. Camlin
2. Mungyo
3. Gallery

Each of these brands have their own qualities and together they work great for me. If I have to recommend one brand to buy as a set for the beginners, I would suggest set of 48 soft pastels by Kohinoor Toison Dor. These cylindrical sticks are absolutely soft on the paper and work wonders. Moreover they are economical too. As far as paper is concerned, I mostly go with Canson Mi Teintes as I find it economical and it has sufficient tooth for taking in two layers of pastels. I normally finish my work in two layers and additionally do a little touch up in the end using the extra soft Sennelier pastels.

soft pastel landscape painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

“ On the way to Coorg”
A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper
Size: 7” X 9”

I have visited Coorg several times in the past and every time I am there it feels absolutely amazing. There is something magical about the nature vibes. It rejuvenates you to the core.

The Steps involved in creating the above artwork


Step 1.  Created a faint basic outline of the major shapes using a light coloured 
soft pastel pencil and later used the Mungyo and Kohinoor 
soft pastels to paint the respective tonal values keeping
in mind the source of light, and the shadows.

Step by step soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Step 2. After the first layer of color application ( using soft touch, as Canson Mi Teintes
cannot take in too many layers of colors ), I blended the colors 
on the paper using my finger tips to cover up the underlying
black shade of the paper. 

soft pastel landscape painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Step 3. After the first layer was painted and blending is complete, I carefully began with 
the background sky and slowly worked my way towards the forest 
trees and other elements as I progressed downwards towards 
the foreground. I used Kohinoor soft pastel pencils to create
the fine branches, and other details ( mostly in the
middle ground ) 


The reference photo taken at Madikeri ( Coorg, Karnataka )

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