A Thumbnail sketch of a tree using soft pastel medium

" Learn character from trees, values from roots and change from leaves." Tasneem Hameed

Thumbnail sketch is a reduced version of the final painting which I plan to create in future. It is called a thumbnail sketch because it is meant to be small, for ex 3” X 4” OR 4” X 5”. I generally prefer to go by the size 4” X 5” size.

In the past I was not aware about creating these small study works and would directly get into painting the final size. As a result, many a times after completing the work I would realize that

-Composition was flawed

-Supporting elements were not supporting

-Depth was lacking

-Tonal values inappropriate etc

It gets pretty difficult to make changes in a painting once it is complete. Hence these days I have made it a habit to follow my ritual of creating a "Thumbnail sketch" before starting the actual final painting.

To Summarize, I feel the advantages of creating “Thumbnail Sketches” are many such as,

• It helps visualize the final painting
• Helps to explore the effects of adding and subtracting elements from the painting 
• It’s a mental warm up
• Helps save a lot of time and effort
• A great planning tool
• Helps simplify a complicated scene

Today's post is a small study of a beautiful ancient tree in one of the coastal roads leading to Majorda beach in Goa. I knew it then and there that I would paint this tree some day. As of now I have only created a small study to simplify the tree trunk, the branches and the background. Some day later, I can refer to this creation in order to create a bigger version of the same painting.

The reference photo above along with the thumbnail sketch.

A soft pastel thumbnail sketch of "A Tree"

On Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 3” X 4.5”

Thank you for browsing through my artworks and to view my latest works and techniques visit my INSTAGRAM feed.

I take Art workshop in different mediums from time to time and if you are interested in joining any, please DM on instagram page OR mail me at manjupanchal5@gmail.com

Waterfall - A study work in pastel medium

“ The only source of knowledge is experience.” Albert Einstein

Before starting any artwork, I do a small study of the same to understand the subject a little better. The waterfall study ( Naga Waterfall ) as below has been created with reference to a photograph, which I took while we were travelling up north in Sikkim. This is an upper view of the fall and the perspective is a bit complicated. The water is flowing from upper left to lower right.

Creating this 4” X 5” artwork on a small Canson MT was an interesting experience.I have limited myself to using very few pastels and pencils to create this 4” X 5” artwork. ( Koh-I-Noor and Mungyo brand )

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

Soft pastel study work of a waterfall

from North Sikkim.

Size 4” X 5”

I have been using Canson Mi Teintes paper since last few years and it is a great paper for pastel and charcoal artworks. However I always wanted to try out some other brand sanded paper because when I am painting subjects like “Forest pathways” , I feel the need to apply more than two layers of pastels which becomes a little difficult with Canson paper. 

Therefore I ordered a La Carte pastel card Pad with twelve assorted coloured cards in it. I have already created two works on this card and will be posting them soon.

If you wish to purchase any of my paintings, you can browse through them in gallery format on my Instagram page. For any query regarding any of my works you can mail me at manjupanchal5@gmail.com and I shall get back to you as soon as possible.

Thank you for visiting my blog and supporting me in my art journey.

At Benaulim beach, Goa

"Inspiration comes of working everyday."Charles Boudelaire

Today's post is a small 5"X 7"study work of a scene that I came across while I was at Benaulim beach, Goa some years back. It was this wild clustered growth of  foliage and dry thin branches against the backdrop of the vast ocean that attracted my attention. Another reason was probably I wanted to put my Winsor and Newton Cotman series, rigger brush to use.

Painting greens and foliage is always a challenge and painting such scenes from nature teaches you a lot. Rigger brush was of great help towards the end to pull out the tiniest of random branches which would have otherwise been difficult with the other brushes. I am loving the rigger brush and will write a detailed review about it soon.

At the beach

Water colour painting on handmade paper

Size 5” X 7”

Hand made paper is great for wet on wet technique and is pretty economical too. I am using Petals hand made paper which is easily available in art stationery stores in Mumbai. I would have preferred using the cold pressed or Matt version but unfortunately, it is not easily available so I settled for the rough textured one.

Petals hand made paper

If you are into water colour paintings, I would love to know about the papers that you use. Do leave in a comment.

Thank you for visiting my blog and browsing through my works. It means a lot to me. 

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

My upcoming workshop :

Charcoal drawing and sketching workshop - 26th of January, 2018.

Timings 10 to 1 pm. ( Only six participants )

A Cloudy sky

"You don't make art. You find it." Pablo Picasso

On my recent visit to Malshej Ghats, I came across some dramatic skies. Being monsoon season the weather was a bit dull and there was not enough light to capture the scene well in the camera. At such times I have to observe and store the information in my memory so that I can retrieve the information at a later time when I actually get down to painting the scene.

The soft pastel painting below is one such scene from Malshej Ghats that made an impact on me and I wanted to create a study work of the same. I call it "Study work" as I have not painted many "Cloudy Landscapes" in the past and am yet to get a full understanding of the shapes, perspective and the colours in the clouds. When handling a new subject, it is more of experimenting and exploring which in turn slowly leads to a great learning experience.

Apart from the dense scattered clouds,what I also loved about this scene in particular is the diffused light that filtered through the clouds and illuminated the water covered fields below.

The Cloudy sky ( A study work )

A soft pastel painting on Canson MT paper

Size 5"X 7"

Painting clouds is new to me and I find it very challenging. I remember as kids when we drew a landscape, there always used to be a few common elements in it namely mountains in the distance, a small house, a river and fields. The sky was almost similarly drawn by everyone in a beautiful uniform blue and few fluffy white clouds floating around. Those drawing days were fun. 

Now when I look at the clouds closely I realise that there are so many different colours in each cloud other than gray and blue. I am planning to do a little more deep study of this interesting element. In fact it is more like doing "Cloud Anatomy".

Thanks for visiting my blog and browsing through my works. 

Charcoal Drawing Sketch book

"I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing." Vincent Van Gogh

Posting two of my recent charcoal drawings in my "Charcoal sketch book" using charcoal pencil, willow charcoal and kneaded eraser. This particular sketch book has a history. I created it in Sept 2015, when I was travelling. At that moment I was looking for a book with butter paper in between for protecting my study works from smudging. When I did not find one, I went on to create one myself. CLICK HERE to read more about this book.

 By creating these small value studies, I get to simplify the landscape that I am working on. Now that my preliminary drawing is done and I am happy with the design, composition and placement of values, I can go ahead and recreate these paintings in a larger format in any medium that I desire.

A seashore at Langkawi

Size 4"X 5"

A scene from West Sikkim

Size 4" X 5"

Painting is fun but as mentioned in the quote as above by Vincent Van Gogh, the pleasure of getting back to simple drawings is something cannot be described in words. Another beautiful quote which speaks of significance of drawing is "Drawing is the bones of art. You have to be able to walk before you can run."Dion Archibald

Check out my "ART WORKSHOP" page to know about some of my upcoming workshops in this month and October.

Thanks you all for browsing through my artworks.

Trying out Fabriano Artistico 300 gsm Cold Pressed Paper

"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary." Pablo Picasso

As I mentioned in my last post that I am in the process of trying out different water colour papers available to me. One of the last papers on my list was Fabriano CP paper. So I finally tried out a painting on Fabriano cold pressed water colour paper. The water colour painting as below is a quick study work of Pangong Lake in Ladakh. 

I have not yet been to this heavenly place but have used reference photograph provided by a close friend. I am grateful to her and all other friends who keep sending me some great photographs of nature in order that I can continue to stay inspired in my art journey.

Since it was meant to be a study work, I did not really pay much attention to the distant mountains and its shadows. I completed it in a short span of forty minutes or so. In my next painting I will have to be more careful about the anatomy of mountains and perspective which is very important in landscape painting and I struggle with it all the time.

Pangong lake
Water colour study work
Size 5" X 7"

Fabriano Artistico 300 gsm paper is a great paper to work with. It has good water retention capacity and is acid free. I purchased a single big sheet and it is water marked "FABRIANO + ARTISTICO" on its shorter side. I will continue to work on it for some time before making my choice between Arches and Fabriano. Both are used internationally by water colour artists and each artist finally makes a personal choice regarding the selection based on different factors.

What I am looking for in a paper is 

• It should have good water retention quality
• It should be acid free
• It should be a professional quality paper
• I should be able to life off the colour easily from the paper
• It should be readily available in nearby stores

So far I have tried out Brustro, Campap, Strathmore, Arches CP, Fabriano studio quality, Fabriano HP and Fabriano CP. After another few paintings I will be able to shortlist either one or two of my favourites which work best for me. In the meantime the exploring and experimenting shall continue.

Thanks for browsing through my blog.

Teesta river flowing down the Yumthang valley

"There is something of the marvelous in all things of nature." Aristotle

When you stand there looking at the creation by nature, it overwhelms you and you begin to appreciate everything around more than ever.

While returning from Zero point ( Yumesamdong )  in North Sikkim, we came across this particular scene with Teesta river flowing down the Yumthang Valley, surrounded by white grey rocks, a sandy patch and greenery in the background. We stopped for a while here and spent few moments soaking in the beauty, then went ahead to click a few photographs.

Teesta river is a 309 km long river flowing through the Indian states of West Bengal and Sikkim, before going to Bay of Bengal through Bangladesh.It carves our from the verdant Himalayas in temperate and tropical river valleys and forms the border between Sikkim and West Bengal.
( Courtesy: Wikipedia )

I wanted to try out this scene in water colour medium and used a small cut out of Strathmore water colour paper ( 4" X 5" ). The river water was beautiful shades of blue and I have used a mix of Winsor and Newton ( Cotman colours ) and Camlin paints for this artwork.

Teesta River

Water colour study work on Strathmore paper

Size 4"X 5"

The rocky path in the foreground is the path through which most vehicles travel. It is a very bumpy ride. There used to be a road earlier which got destroyed in the past earthquake. Many parts of North Sikkim face the same situation, however the final destination is worth the ride.

I enjoyed painting on Strathmore 300 gsm water colour paper. It has good water retaining capacity and the paper does not abosrb the colours much. As a result the colours remain bright with minimum application. I am tempted to create some more works on this paper so as to know my final review in comparison to Arches and Fabriano papers.

Thanks a lot for visiting my blog. If you are into water colour painting, I would love to hear about the papers and colours used by you. Do leave in a comment to share the same.

Plein air water colour painting in my travel sketch book

"I have no talents. I am only passionately curious." Albert Einstein

One morning at West Sikkim, it rained heavily and the mountains and valleys as seen from the balcony of our homestay, suddenly started disappearing in the mist and clouds. The view was heavenly and I felt the sudden urge to capture the beauty unfolding before my eyes in my sketch book. And I did precisely that. Using my two round brushes and a palette I created my small "Plein air painting". It took me not more than ten minutes to create this small artwork and it felt really good.

Dante Alghieri said "Nature is the art of God." and I believe every word of the quote. I am grateful as an artist to be inspired by nature's beauty which in turn helps me create my art and keeps me busy and happy.

Monsoon in the valley

Water colour Plein air study work in my sketch book

Size 4" X 5"

When I am travelling I carry with me the following,

Two round sable hair brushes

Small 4" X 5" sketch book

( Cartridge sheets )

My water colour palette
with Camlin water colour artist's water colour paints

Carrying a travel kit such as above always helps. I get to paint when there is an opportunity. Moreover the kit is not very bulky and the sketch book has cartridge sheets in it which can also be used for pencil drawings and sketches. These sketch books are easily available these days in stationery shops.

Sketch books are fun. They play a very significant role in learning process. I use them all the time. It has now become a habit. I have a sketch book for every different medium and my collection is growing.

Thanks a lot for visiting my blog and do visit my INSTAGRAM account to browse through my paintings.

Gurudongmar Lake and Zero point - water colour study works

"All my life through, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child." Marie Curie

The above quote says exactly what I feel while I am in the arms of nature. My recent visit to North Sikkim made my dream come true as I got the opportunity to visit Gurudongmar lake, Yumthang valley and Zero point. Words cannot express the beauty of these places and as I always write in my posts, one has to be there to feel it and live it.

I captured the beauty of north Sikkim in my Camera ( Cannon and Sony ). Gurudongmar lake is the second highest lake in India, at a height of 17100 feet above sea level. It is one of the most beautiful, spectacular and sacred lakes surrounded on all sides by snow capped mountains.

Legend has it that, Guru Padmasambhava ( also known as Guru Dongmar ), touched and sanctified the lake, and thus even in extreme winter, a portion of the lake does not freeze. The lake is also one of the sources of river Teesta, which flows through Sikkim, West Bengal and Bangladesh to merge with the Bay of Bengal.

Given below are a few water colour study works of Gurudongmar lake and scenes from Zero Point in north Sikkim. Study works help me to understand the composition, brush strokes, colour mixing etc so that when late I am trying to recreate the same scene on a larger scale I will know the exact technique to follow.

Gurudongmar Lake 

Study works on cartridge sheet

Size 4" X 5"

At Zero point ( North Sikkim ) 

Study works on cartridge sheet

Size 4" X 5"

After having done the "Study works" where in I tried out different techniques to get the scene as desired, I shall now decide on creating a larger painting on "Arches 300gsm cold pressed paper". 

I purchased a few sheets of Arches paper some months back but have somehow not gathered the courage to start on it. It is an expensive paper and I wanted to have the free and loose brush movements, and a little bit of experience in handling the water colour medium. It is time now to shift from handmade paper to Arches and I will know the difference once I paint on it. I would love to create a "Gurudongmar lake" painting on it soon.

Thank you all for your support and keep browsing.

Plein air painting - Study works in soft pastels

" Painting is easy, getting it right is the hard bit." Danny Byrne

Painting outdoors or on location is always a better option as we get to see the true colours of light and shadow. It is a more rewarding and powerful experience. However it is not always possible to create the entire painting on site. Therefore last week when I visited Karnala Bird Sanctuary, I decided to carry my limited palette of pastels in an endeavor to create small pastel studies on Canson paper so that referring to these and the photograph taken on location, I could then create the painting at my workplace.

I managed to create three of them sized 4"X 5.5"each and spent about twenty minutes on each of them. I carried my old photo album which I use to store my "Small study sketches". I find it very convenient to store my works this way as they do not get smudged a lot and sometime later I get to flip through my works for reference.

Three Plein air soft pastel paintings

created on Canson Mi Teintes paper

sized 4"X 5.5"

I have used three different toned papers namely black, beige and twilight. Fortunately this is the advantage of using Canson MT paper. It comes in many different shades. On earlier occasions I have used the orange toned paper for my seascape painting and it worked pretty well.

For a long time now I have only been working on dark toned papers for my forest landscape scenes. Now I am trying to shift to mid tone colours to see if they work out well for some of my artworks.

Being a nature lover I follow a lot of different photographers and their works as it keeps me inspired. I wrote earlier about an eminent photographer Mr Sudhir Shivaram. He is presently in Bharatpur and you can watch his videos and browse through his works on his FACEBOOK page.

Thanks for browsing through my works.

Two study works of "Trees" in soft pastel medium

"Good drawing forms the 'bones' on which a strong painting hangs." Chris Bingle

 Before I start off with my painting, I like to study the subject so as to get an understanding of the composition, the colours, the values and the techniques that I will apply in order to get the effect that I am visualizing in the mind. My vision of the artwork must meet what I create on paper.

The soft pastel artworks as below are of two majestic trees as seen and photographed at Kaveri river bank, Dubare forest near Coorg. During monsoon the river is overflowing and hence these exposed roots are not visible as they are submerged under water. We visited this place during the month of March when the water flow was bare minimum and I got to photograph some of these old archaic trees

Two Soft pastel study works of trees
as seen at Dubare forest, Coorg.
Size 4" X 5.5"

Every tree has its unique character, shape, form and identity. It's a great experience to sketch and paint these graceful elements of nature.

The "study works" as above will guide me in future to create a larger painting if required.

More Pencil drawings in my sketch book

"A true artist is not the one who is inspired, but one who inspires others." Salvador Dali

If you have been following my posts you will know that some time back I started off small pencil drawings in my sketch book, which has forty cartridge sheets in it. In the last few days I managed to add a few more in the same book. Some of these are demo works that I created for two participants who attended my ART WORKSHOP. ( Pencil/Graphite drawing )

Since these are more of study works, I normally decide on spending not more than twenty minutes on each of them but it never really happens this way. Most of the times I get carried away and I want to do just a little more of detailing here and there and then I realise that I am actually spending more than thirty minutes on some of them. But it is fun. I create these when I am done with all my serious artwork and have a few minutes to myself to experiment and explore some new subject. This is also a great way of doing value studies. 

Pencil drawings in my sketch book

Each sketch is sized 4" X 5.5"

Presently I am working on my Coorg Pastel Landscape which is almost complete. The next step is to photograph it, edit it and then post it. I am also posting my old as well as new works now on

INSTAGRAM. 

If you like my artworks and techniques please do share it with friends. Thanks for stopping by.

Pencil drawings in my sketch book

"Learning never exhausts the mind." Leonardo da Vinci

My sketch book is my prized possession. It is diary of my preliminary study works. Browsing through it occasionally, inspires me a lot. It speaks to me of my experimental endeavors, my art journey, my mistakes, my learning lessons. I have several of them now, each one dedicated to a particular art or a medium.

When I have time in hand and am not into doing any serious work, I take one of my sketch books and get down to create small study works sized 4" X 5.5". Last month I started one exclusively for my pencil drawings. Posted below are some of my latest additions in this sketch book.  

The pencils that I have used for these works are 

• 2B Camlin pencil 
• 10B Camlin pencil
• 8B Cretacolour pencil

Pencil/Graphite drawings and sketchings

of different landscapes sized 4" X 5.5"

In a Sketch book as shown below

Thanks for browsing through my artworks and for any inquiry related to works available for sale

please mail me at manjupanchal@hotmail.com

Thumbnail sketches in the soft pastel medium

Thumbnail sketches or Preliminary works in soft pastel medium.

As mentioned in my last post, I decided to get back to Soft pastel paintings and the best way to warm up is by creating a few "Thumbnail sketches" or the "Preliminary study works". Thumbnail sketches are fun because it is done more freely and spontaneously. It is a vital step in drawing and painting and I have made it a habit to follow this disciplined routine. 

 The soft pastel sketches sized 4" X 5.5" are done with reference to scenes from Coorg and Himachal Pradesh. The time spent in creating each of these sketches was about fifteen to twenty minutes. It's just one layer of pastels without any kind of detail works.

A scene from Coorg

On the banks of Kaveri river ( Karnataka )

On the way to Ladakh

Journey to Ladakh

Spiti Valley

A lot of planning and effort goes in creating a simple thumbnail sketch which then serves as a reference for my future art work. I try as much as possible to create bigger works of using all my study works. 

As a part of Christmas Day Celebrations, I am glad that I recently got the opportunity to hold a "Pencil Sketching Workshop" for twenty five lovely kids at Sneha Sadan, an orphanage at Jogeshwari west. I got about enough time to teach them value shading, design and composition, shading and blending techniques. Later I demonstrated a "Simple Archaic Door" drawing and all the kids followed the step by step procedure to create the same. It was a pleasure to share my knowledge and technique with the kids and I have offered them to be there for other workshops too in future.

"How you draw is a reflection of how you feel about the world. You're not capturing it, you are interpreting it." Juliette Aristides

A beautiful quote and I love it all the more because I truly believe in it. Every painting that I create is of a "SUBJECT" that I love and feel the connection with it. It is my interpretation of the scene. My intention is not to create a photo realistic image but rather a work which speaks for my creativity and thoughts that went into making it happen.

Two landscape study works in charcoal medium

Two study works using the charcoal medium.

Composition, colours and value. They all play a very significant role in creating a good artwork. In order to get a better understanding of a landscape, I generally go for a thumbnail sketch or a study work which I create in different mediums. This time I decided to do a value sketch using willow charcoal, charcoal pencil and charcoal powder. 

Both these sketches are sized 4.5" X 5.5" and will serve as reference when I will recreate these subjects in colours using soft pastels. 

Tonal value sketch of a scene from Coorg

A study work

Tonal value sketch of a scene from Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

A study work

"I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing."  Vincent Van Gogh

I totally agree with the words as quoted above. Drawing and sketching is the foundation to art. As the drawing gets better so does the painting. I enjoyed creating the charcoal sketches such as above and I may do my future "Thumbnail sketches" too in charcoal medium.

To view my selected artworks you can visit my gallery at DEVIANTART

Working with Cretacolour 8B water soluble graphite pencil

Water soluble graphite pencil

Adding new art stationery has become a norm. It is exciting and challenging at the same time. It adds to a change in the otherwise day today routine work which in my case is "Working with charcoals and pastels". 

I purchased Camlin water soluble sticks in March 2016 and enjoyed creating a few study works using the same. I am a big fan of "Black and white works"  and the art created by using these water soluble sticks gave the feel of water colour painting.

In order to work a little more on this medium, I went ahead and ordered 8 B Cretacolour water soluble graphite pencil from Amazon so that I could use it in combination with Camlin water soluble graphite sticks. These days before ordering stationery online I make it a point to read the reviews about the same. It helps a lot as it saves a lot of disappointment later.

Given below are the six small 4"X 5.5" landscape paintings ( Using water soluble graphite ) which I created in my  new sketch book that I purchased recently. In most of these works I started off with the initial drawing and shading with the 8B Cretacolour pencil and after running the wet brush at places, I let it dry. In the second stage I picked up the dark tone from 8B Camlin stick using a wet brush to apply it at places where I felt needed darker values. I am enjoying these water soluble pencils and am even contemplating buying the DERWENT brand which is available online at a very competitive rate.

Cretacolour 8B watersoluble pencils.

Camlin water soluble

graphite sticks 2B, 4B, 6B.

"In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Clouds in the sky - A soft pastel study work

The soft pastel painting as below is a scene that I came across while we were travelling recently to Pune. As an artist, when I am travelling I have this tendency of observing nature all around to look for something strikingly beautiful so that I can use the scene as a subject for my future painting. This scene had some elegant clouds floating in the sky and since I am into "Cloud study" these days it seemed a perfect choice as a subject for my soft pastel painting. 

"Clouds" study work

Soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 4.5" X 6.5"

Art quotes inspire and motivate. It is written by great artists and it speaks about their thoughts and experiences in life. As an artist I feel the connection and these quotes speak exactly what you have in mind. 

"If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint." Edward Hopper

Painting and blogging continuously can get a little saturated at times and there are days when I don't know what to do next. On such "Undecided"days I take to reading. I read a lot, be it books or art related subjects on the net. Browsing through meaningful and inspiring quotes revives me instantly and I am back into my "Planning and executing" mode working on my next project. The whole cycle of drawing, sketching and painting resumes once again.

Thanks for browsing through my works.

Shades of grey - More willow charcoal sketches

"Tone is the king, Colour is the mere assistant." Joseph Zbukvik ( Master water colourist )

Statements and Quotes by great artists hold a lot of meaning and it helps you get down to basics.
After having spent years in art I too feel that value and tone is far more important than just colours in a painting. Charcoal and graphite medium are a great way to do value study.

Charcoal medium is very versatile. It can get addictive. I started off with a few landscape study works and wanted to stop after a about having done three or four of them but could not resist doing some more.

Experimenting and exploring is fun. It leads to some new discoveries. It is all very exciting. In fact like I always write in my post, every small work that I do is a "Mini learning lesson" in itself. I make mistakes, then try to rectify them and in doing so learn some valuable things. Given below are some more "Charcoal study sketches" that I created yesterday using my reference photographs from Karnala Bird Sanctuary. ( The last sketch is more out of imagination. )

Study works of landscapes 

Created using willow charcoal

Size 4" X 5"

The top two landscapes are created on cartridge sheet whereas the last one has been done on Canson C a grain paper. The willow charcoal works pretty good on Canson paper. Cartridge sheet is not an acid free paper and over a period of time it is going to turn pale. Therefore I mostly use it for my preliminary works. For someone who is a beginner in charcoal medium, I highly recommend going only for cartridge paper for at least few initial works. 

If you want to know more about the papers I use for my drawing and sketching CLICK HERE.