Step by step soft pastel painting - Road to Spiti

 “The important thing is to create. Nothing else matters; Creation is all.” Pablo Picasso

The Spiti holidays ( Himachal Pradesh ) happened in 2013. But the memories are so fresh. By painting a landscape scene from my travel journey, I make it all the more memorable. The winding roads, high up in the mountains, carved out by cutting through the mountains, so people like us can enjoy the beauty of the unseen wonders of this part of the world. So grateful to all those who worked so hard and made it happen.

We were so overwhelmed by the landscape around the roads, that we took frequent breaks to soak in the lovely atmosphere and of course to capture few photographs for reference ( For my future artworks). I still haven’t painted them all. Each one being very close to my heart. 

Road to Spiti

A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 5” X 7”

Step 1. I lightly draw the outline using a white pastel pencil on a medium toned Canson Mi Teintes paper

             ( Used Twilight shade here ). Using  Mungyo and Kohinoor Toison Dor soft pastels, I then use 

            Very light touch to fill in the respective colours keeping in mind the tonal values and perspective.      

Step 2. Once I have covered the entire surface of the paper with the respective colours as per my 

             interpretation ( The photo captures all the colours. Whereas in reality the distant objects are

             dull in colour and do not have any details or sharp outlines ). I lightly blend at places using

             my finger.

Step 3. In the final layer I add more colours to create depth. I also use pencils at this stage to put in 

            details at several places as required. That about completes the painting. I normally do not use any 

            fixative as I personally feel that it dulls the colours. I use a butter paper on top and staple it at

            one end and then keep it in the folder until framed.

My art studio

With my collection of soft pastels

And pastel pencils

Kohinoor Toison Dor 

120 soft pastels ( Foldable box )

Purchased from Art Lounge

Sennelier extra soft

120 half stick 

Paris Collection 

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The Pine Trees ( Roghi Village, Himachal Pradesh )

“Art is a space in which freedom tests its wings.” Marty Rubin

The ride from Kalpa to Roghi village in Kinnaur valley, Himachal Pradesh is an amazing experience. Today’s soft pastel painting is a small study of what I saw on my way. 

We have been to Himachal Pradesh many a times and road travel helps us to witness some stunning views on the way. While on our way to Roghi Village, I remember having stopped at this place and the “Pine Trees” against the sky looked magnificent. It almost felt as if they were reaching for the sky. 

I have used the twilight shade of Canson Mi Teintes paper. This is a medium toned paper and it goes well for most of my paintings where I have to work on subtle shades of color. However when I intend doing a forest where a major part of the landscape requires dark tones, I go in for either black or dark brown paper. Selection of the right color of paper makes a big difference in the painting.

Reaching for the sky

A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 4” X 5.5”

For most of my pastel works I use the Mungyo pastels in the beginning to block in the major shapes and later I use the Koh-I-Noor and Gallery pastels. During my final touch up I make use of my recently purchased Sennelier pastels.  

To know about the papers I have been using for my pastel artworks CLICK HERE. ( I have created a detailed post in the past )Thank you for browsing through my artworks and do visit my INSTAGRAM feed to see my latest artworks.

At Dalhousie - Charcoal landscape on toned paper

"To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles." Mary Davis

Today's charcoal and white pastel drawing on Canson MT paper is inspired by a scene from Dalhousie, a beautiful hill station in Himachal Pradesh. This road was leading us to our hotel and the entire pathway was lined up by tall coniferous trees and variety of other miscellaneous dense growth on either sides. 

Being a resident of a crowded city like Mumbai, I never get to witness such a sight and hence enjoy every moment of it while I am out there. Nature has so much to offer us and the least we can do is to take care of the environment so as to preserve it for posterity. Drawing and painting places that I have visited in the past gives me immense pleasure. It is my way of sharing the beauty and magic of nature with the rest of the people who have either been there or yet to visit.    

Pathway in the woods

Charcoal and white pastel pencil drawing on Canson MT paper

Size 5" X 7"

This is first of my landscape forest paintings on toned paper. I am quite happy with the outcome and may go on to create some more in this series. Today I removed my soft pastel collection and sat cleaning and organizing them so that I can restart some colored works soon. I love charcoal medium too but working with the same medium for too long can lead to saturation and then a little change refreshes the mind. So keep looking for some new works which I shall be posting soon.

Thank you all for the support that you have provided me. My blog has now crossed 78,000 pageviews and it would not have been possible without the support of the viewers. Thank you all for the same. If you like my works and techniques do visit my INSTAGRAM page to view all my works together in Gallery format.

Dalhousie - A soft pastel painting

A beautiful quotation that I came across recently so decided to share it with others. 
"One eye sees, the other feels." Paul Klee

Dalhousie, is a beautiful hill station in Chamba district in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. It is situated on five hills and has an elevation of 1970 metres above sea level. The place is blessed with enchanting beauty and is a must visit destination for all nature lovers, artists and photographers.

While in Dalhousie, we stayed in a hotel from where we had a direct view of the majestic snow capped mountains and pine trees. Referring to one of the photographs taken there, I painted this scene in soft pastel medium. 

At Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh

Soft Pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 5" X 7"

I have created a series of paintings on some memorable scenes from Himachal Pradesh. The state is so beautiful that you cannot help falling in love with it. I have visited Himachal on three different occasions and wish to go there many more times. Our last visit was to Spiti valley and back then we had planned to cover Lahaul district as well, but owing to bad weather could not do so. Sometime soon we will plan out a trip there too. 

Blogging is great but if someone wants to see all the paintings in the "Gallery" format it becomes a little difficult and one has to laboriously follow the "Blog Archive" which can be time consuming. Therefore as suggested by friends and my younger art workshop participants I have decided to go one step further and upload my past works on Instagram. It is taking time but eventually I will try and put up all my favourite works together.

When I get time at hand, the first thing that I want to do is paint. However painting at a stretch for long number of hours can exhaust the mind. During such times I take to photographing my art, editing, blogging etc. During my initial years I struggled, as I love painting more than blogging. But with time I have learnt to create a balance between all my activities.

Do you blog on a regular basis? Would love to hear from you through your comments. Do write about your art endeavors, your likes, dislikes etc. 

Thanks for browsing through my blogposts.

Demo works created during an art workshop - Charcoal medium

From time to time I conduct Art workshops  wherein I get to interact with people like me who

are passionate about art. During this workshop I share and demonstrate my techniques which

I follow to create my kind of art.

The image below is a collage of three charcoal sketching's that I demonstrated during a recent two days charcoal workshop. 

1. A scene from Kalpa ( Himachal Pradesh )

2. Sea waves hitting the shore. ( Langkawi island )

3. A scene inspired from Himachal Pradesh.

Charcoal sketchings created during a workshop

on Canson and cartridge paper.

The participants get to use different kinds of charcoal pencils, willow charcoal, erasing tools,

sketching surfaces ( Canson, Strathmore, Fabriano Academia etc ) which gives them exposure 

to different options of stationery available to them.

However the materials that I use are my personal preferences and I advise everyone to experiment

on their own to know what paper or pencil suits their work. 

Art workshops are fun and I always look forward to it. It inspires and motivates me. I in turn

motivate the participants to work towards their art, to create original works and pursue their 

passion. 

"Perseverance is the hard work you do after getting tired of the hard work you already did."

Newt Gingrich

Dhankar Monastery in Spiti Valley

The soft pastel painting as below has been inspired by my visit to Dhankar Monastery which is

in Spiti valley ( Himachal Pradesh ).

From Shimla to Kunzum pass, we had a memorable journey three years back. On the way

we got the opportunity to see some spectacular mountain views especially in Spiti valley.

I have a great number of photographs shortlisted for painting and the one below is one of

them. The white houses against the backdrop of the mountains in shadow made for a

very interesting composition.

Dhankar Monastery is situated at an elevation of 3890 metres, between the towns of Kaza 

and Tabo, in Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh. It stands precariously on the fragile

mountains which are slowly weathering. There is a tar road connecting to Kaza, so one 

can visit this place by a four wheel drive. The place is quiet and the view is captivating

all around. 

Dhankar Monastery
Soft Pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper.
Size 6" X 8"

As of now I am taking a break from my forest paintings and am trying to do more of

Mountainscapes. Recently came across a beautiful blog GEOTRIPPER by Garry Hayes,

a teacher of Geology. The blog is very informative and I enjoyed going through it.
Wetcanvas.com is another great site for artists looking for information.

The next painting on my list is another scene from Phi Phi Leh with limestone cliffs
and turquoise blue waters. I also wish to paint a waterfall scene from Iceland ie
Gulfoss. Iceland was visited by my husband some time back and I have some amazing
photographs from there.

The cold barren mountains of Spiti

”Beauty is truth, truth beauty”
—-that is all Ye know on earth,
and all ye need to know. ~John Keats

After having done couple of study works I decided it was time to create my second large sized painting. I selected a scene from Himachal Pradesh as it would give me the opportunity to paint the sky, distant mountains and the curved pathway with rocks strewn around. 

I started with wet on wet technique in the first layer using the transparent colours in the distance. After the first layer had dried up, I added more colours in the middle and foreground using wet on dry technique. For this particular painting I felt it was the right choice. The paper I have used is a non expensive hand made paper. Arches paper is definitely a very good choice and I plan to make a transition soon.

Mountains and snow

Water colour painting on handmade paper

Size 10.5"X 14"

Water colour medium is challenging. An error done cannot be easily rectified. So I am learning
to be more patient. I am enjoying this medium a lot and plan to continue doing some more.
I have started a seascape and will be posting the image when it gets completed.

Road to Spiti - a water colour painting

After having done couple of small water colour landscapes, I finally decided to take a leap and create a bigger painting.

The subject that I chose is a scene from Himachal, with mountains on either side and a road that curved and vanished in the distance. It was also time to test my new Winsor and Newton mop brush , which I had picked up couple of months back in order to create larger washes on the sky. The other brushes that I use are sable hair brushes from Himalaya Stationery.

Road to Spiti

Water colour painting on handmade paper

Size 10.5"X 14"

As an artist it gets difficult to control one's temptation to buy new art stationery. Everytime I visit an art shop I land up buying more than my CHECK LIST items. On one such occasion I had picked up the Winsor and Newton mop brush and a few other sable hair brushes from Himalaya. I had it in mind to use it some day and when I finally used all these brushes for the above painting it made me happy. Happy because I finally put them to use. Given below is the image of the four main brushes used in the above painting.

The brush at the top is mop brush from Winsor and Newton ( I paid Rs 1000/- for this brush and its worth all the money ) and the remaining brushes are manufactured by

Himalaya Stationery.

Painting landscapes in water colour medium

The more I paint in water colour medium the more I fall in love with it. 

Given below are two different water colour paintings. After having tried out seascapes, I decided to select photographs with snow capped mountains. Both the scenes are from Himachal Pradesh. I have once again used Canson Montwal paper for both the paintings.

Towards the snow

water colour painting on Canson paper

Size 5" X 7"

Beyond the hills

water colour painting on Canson paper

Size 5" X 7"

Nako, a heritage village in Kinnaur valley, Himachal Pradesh

Nako is one of the most picturesque villages of Kinnaur valley. ( 11500 ft ).The houses are beautiful made of stones and mud. The roofs are constructed with a layer of skinned out Eucalyptus tree trunks which are layered parallel to one another and dried out hay too is used in between. Prayer flags and stones with religious scriptures is a common sight.

After having done lot of landscape paintings, this time around I decided to paint a typical village scene in Nako using soft pastels. It was around 10 am and nice and bright day.The houses and the lane in between were in shadows which made for a good composition. It was so much like an architectural drawing and I tried to get the perspective right. Since this is my first townscape kind of a painting I restricted myself from overdoing the details.

Nako village

Soft pastels on Fabriano paper

size 6" x 9"

On the way from Tabo to Dhankar monastery ( Himachal Pradesh )

The soft pastel painting below is of a view that we got to see while we were on our way to visit Dhankar Monastery from Tabo ( Another scenic town of Spiti valley ). Spiti valley is a bleak high altitude desert that inspired Rudyard Kipling to say, "Surely the gods live here, this is no place for men." Every turn of the road leads to a totally different view and life seems to be so much at peace.

The mountain cliffs with light falling on them, eroding with time as the loose soil falls below leaving sharp structures standing out, and the Spiti river flowing below.

On the way to Dhankar Monastery

Soft pastel painting on black Fabriano Tiziano paper

Size 6" x 9"

Some day soon ie after my Exhibition I would love to try some water colour paintings.

One of my favourite and very inspiring water colour artists is Joseph Zbukvik

who is based in Melbourne, Australia and all his works are just amazing.

Another view from KOMIC village in Himachal Pradesh ( Spiti valley )

"To draw, you must close your eyes and sing." Pablo Picasso

The soft pastel painting below is from another view as seen from KOMIC village in Himachal Pradesh. ( 4513 mts elevation, one of the highest villages in Asia ). From this particular view the snow clad mountains could be seen at a distance. The otherwise barren land surprisingly had little vegetaion on its slopes and we also found patches of snow at some places. It was the month of June so the snow was in its melting stage.

Komic village is close to Kaza and from here we went to Kumzum Pass. I have painted a few scenes from Kumzum and wish to do some more.

Way and Beyond 

Soft Pastel painting

Size 6" x 9"

My signature can be seen on bottom left of the painting and it is done using a black pastel pencil.

Thanks for browsing through my works. More of my works can be seen on Instagram.

Roghi village near Kalpa - soft pastel painting

Roghi village is a small village about 8 kms away from Kalpa. The road leading to this village is a cliff hugging one way road with spectacular sights on the way. Once we reach the village we have to park our vehicle outside itself and enter the village on foot. The houses are all built on slopes ( I shall paint one of the traditional houses soon ) and the village is green with trees, barley crops, apple orchards etc.

Given below is a soft pastel painting of a view as seen from Roghi village. Normally I have been using the Tobacco and black paper of Canson Mi tentes, but this time I decided to use a light coloured paper as shown below.

Canson Mi tentes 

Moonstone paper

View from Roghi village

Soft pastel painting on Canson paper

Size 6" x 9"

The snow peaked mountains as seen from Kalpa ( Himachal Pradesh )

At an elevation of 2960 mts above sea level, Kalpa is a beautiful town in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. This town is located at the base of Kinnaur Kailash snow capped ranges.
The spectacular view of the cold desert mountains from Kalpa is absolutely amazing.

I have made an attempt to make a soft pastel painting referring to one such scene from Kalpa that was visible from our Hotel. The photograph that I used was pretty washed out version, but since I was there and I have seen it all, I added the colours keeping in mind the values and the aerial perspective.

View from Kalpa

Soft pastel painting on canson paper

Size 6" x 9"

I photographed the painting along with the mat board. Now it needs a glass on the top before framing it using a fibreboard frame.

A view from Komic village in Himachal - soft pastel painting

We were touring some beautiful towns in Himachal in 2013. Komic village was one of them. We went by road climbing uphill to one of the highest villages of Asia ( 4513 mts above sea level ) and the route upwards enabled us to see a stunning view of the mountain peaks around and the valley below. We started our ride from KAZA where we had booked our hotel for the night stay.

The soft pastel painting below is one scene from Komic village, where we could see the mountains across. The chilly winds were blowing across the hills and the timeless beauty of the place cannot be described in words. We could just about spot a few houses scattered across the dry land and the religion followed is primarily Buddhism. I am planning to do more art works based on my Himachal trip.

Looking across

Soft pastel painting on Canson Paper

Size 6" x 9"

Painting mountains is something new to me. Anything new in the beginning is always intimidating.

But with time things always get better.

Water colour painting of Kunzum Pass ( Himachal Pradesh )

Kunzum Pass (Tibetan: Kunzum La, (el. 4,590 m or 15,060 ft), is a high mountain pass on the eastern Kunzum Range of the Himalayas some 122 km (76 mi) from Manali. It connects the Kullu Valley and Lahaul Valley with the Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh, India. It is on the route to Kaza the subdivisional headquarters of Spiti. There is also a 9 km trek to the Moon Lake of the Chandratal from the Kunzum Pass. ( COURTESY: WIKIPEDIA ) 

I purchased Fabriano cold pressed 300gsm paper some time back and finally used it today for the first time to do a water colour painting of  KUNZUM PASS as shown below. I have created a mini painting from my same reference photo earlier. Everytime I change the paper, it takes a little time to get used to it. This is a 300gsm paper so is quite thick and can soak in a lot of water without buckling.

After a few more paintings I will get the feel of it.

KUNZUM PASS

Water colour painting on Fabriano cold pressed paper

We as a family have already been to Himachal Pradesh on three different occasions and I still feel there is so much to see and explore. During our last trip we had planned to continue our journey to Lahaul district but due to bad weather could not proceed further form KUNZUM PASS. So our next trip to LAHAUL is pending and will happen some day soon. 

Coming week I am having two workshops ie Charcoal as well as Soft Pastels. If you are interested in learning the basics of both these mediums you can register your names by either sending a mail to me at manjupanchal@hotmail.com OR simply calling me at my mob no 9820683983 ( Mumbai )

NAKO - beautiful village in Himachal ( Charcoal painting by Manju Panchal )

NAKO is a small village in KINNAUR district of Himachal Pradesh. The place is beautiful and is surrounded by mountains. ( About 3600 mtrs above sea level ). We were there last year during our vacation and I have used one of my photographs to create a simple charcoal sketch. 

I have tried a new paper this time ie the Fabriano water colour paper. This paper has great texture, is white and is 300 gsm so good thickness too. The population of this village is very low and I remember we covered all the narrow lanes between the stone built houses in an hour itself. We got the oppourtunity to meet a few locals and got to discuss their lifestyle. It is great to travel to places and see nature in all its different forms.  

Nako ( village in Himachal Pradesh )

Charcoal painting on Fabriano paper. ( 300gsm)

Size 5" X 7" ( Excluding mount board )

Our trip to Himachal last year covered lots of small villages like Nako, Tabo, Kaza, Losar and Chitkul. I am so eager to create soft pastel painting of these heavenly places refering to my huge collection of personal photographs BUT I do not want to hurry as I am still working on my rocks, trees and other elements. Landscape is essentially about whole lot of different elements and I want to get them all right.