Two small sketches using General charcoal pencil

Charcoal and white pastel pencil sketches 

I have had General's soft charcoal pencil since long. Wanted to give it a try in my latest charcoal works.

Charcoal pencil by GENERAL

I never get tired of sketching new still life subjects. Drawing and sketching , I personally feel play a key role in the growth of an artist. This time I have used the grey rough surface of ordinary chart paper to create charcoal and soft pastel work. In some of my earlier works I have made constant use of CONTE charcoal pencil, however in these two sketches I finally tried out the GENERAL charcoal pencil and I loved its smoothness and rendering. The whites in the sketch are created using white chalk and white pastel pencil.

1.Lime and steel bowl

2. Two tea cups

Two small still life sketches using

General's soft charcoal pencil

and white pastel chalk and pencil.

Most of my still life paintings are done by referring to the simple day today objects which are lying

 around us in the house. The light that falls on them creates beautiful shadows and the composition when set right can help create beautiful pieces of art.

Still Life Glass sketching by Manju Panchal

Sketching a glass to capture its transparency

Always wanted to paint glass. Finally did it on black chart paper using white soft MUNGYO pastel chalk and CRETACOLOUR soft white pastel pencil.  The size of the paper I used for this sketching is 4" X 5".

I wish to do a lot more of them soon. It is very interesting to get the light and reflections which gives the shape to the glass.

White pastel sketching of glass on black chart paper.

Pears all the way - done in white soft pastels by Manju Panchal

White Soft pastel painting on black paper

Had so many pears of different shapes and sizes, could not resist sketching some of them. Placed each of them in a different position so as to get all different perspectives. All the sketches are done using white cretacolour soft pastel pencil and Mungyo white pastel chalk. The paper I have used is black ordinary chart paper which has a little rough surface.

Pears

White soft pastel on black paper.

Small still life water colour art works by Manju Panchal

Still life water colour paintings

A slice of papaya and garlic done in water colours using Camel water colour tubes. The garlic is done on ordinary cartridge sheet and papaya is done on Fabriano paper ( 200gsm). Both works are small works.

As I wrote in my earlier posts, I do small sketches and paintings on a regular basis especially during times when I am busy with my workshops or some other personal work. Creating an original work no matter what the subject is can be a very satisfying experience.   

Two small water colour paintings.

Looking back - Rural home in water colours by Manju Panchal

Water colour paintings done in the past

Looking back at some of my old water colour paintings, reminded me of the wet on dry technique that

I used to create my water colour works. It was more like layers of glazing done. Both the water colour paintings are done using a reference photograph. 

Even in those days ie about fourteen to fifteen years back I had this strong desire to create wet on wet water colour works but had no idea where to begin with. But now I am doing only wet on wet technique as can be seen in my Leh Ladakh paintings. The pleasure in doing wet on wet is really great but at the same time one needs to be prepared for frequent disappointments which happens when one is not quick to place the right colours at the right places and the values go all wrong. Once done it cannot be easily rectified. Nevertheless it is a great medium and a lovely technique.

 Rural Homes

Water colour paintings on acid free paper.

For any inquiries pertaining to sale of my ORIGINAL PAINTINGS or otherwise write to me at

manjupanchal@hotmail.com or call me at 0091-22-9820683983 ( Mumbai - India )

Another tree sketching in charcoal and white pastel - by Manju Panchal

Using coloured sheet of CANSON MI TENTES paper, created another charcoal sketching of a tree using CONTE charcoal pencil and white pastel pencil and chalk.

Branching out

Charcoal and white pastel work on Canson paper

Other details regarding the tools used can be found on my earlier post wherein I have posted an

image of pencils and pastels used in creating a similar work.

From water colour to pastels - A seascape by Manju Panchal

Originally a water colour painting, gone wrong for many different reasons. It happens when one is experimenting with new paper, new medium, and many other factors.

Thankfully I work in many different mediums, hence I kept this aside for a few days and then one fine day

used my pastels to set it right. So now it is a seascape painting with a layer of water colours underneath and another layer of soft pastels as a final coating . I have not applied fixative to this art work so as to retain the luminosity of the colours. The paper I was trying is CAMPAP , and the pastels I have used are a mix of MUNGYO and KOH I NOOR brands.

Rocks at the shore

Watercolour and soft pastel painting on CAMPAP paper

Tree sketching on Fabriano Academia sheet - by Manju Panchal

Another tree sketching on a different paper

After having done three tree sketches on Canson paper, I decided to do the next one on Fabriano Academia white sheet. This paper too like Canson has a very good texture and I have earlier tried
charcoal on it with fairly good results.

For creating this particular sketch I have used willow charcoal, Conte soft charcoal pencil and kneaded eraser. Since the paper used is white hence I did not require the white pastel pencil for highlights. ie the lightest value had to be the white of paper itself.

A Tree Sketch

Charcoal sketching on Fabriano Academia paper.

Posting the image of the Sketch pad with 50 sheets in it. ( 120 gsm, white colour )

The Fabriano sketch pad with 50 sheets in it.

Another tree sketching in charcoal by Manju Panchal

Sketched another tree using reference photograph. The paper used for creating this work is the smooth side of beige coloured Canson Mi Tentes paper.

Posting an image of the tools used in creating the charcoal sketching.

A . CONTE A PARIS soft charcoal pencil

B. CRETACOLOUR soft white pastel pencil

C. MUNGYO white pastel chalk

D. Kneaded eraser to create highlights.

The Resolute one

Charcoal and soft white pastel on CANSON MI TENTES paper

Charcoal Sketching of a tree - by Manju Panchal

Sketching a tree using Charcoal pencil  and soft pastel

I tried out the sketching of a tree some time back CANSON paper and quite liked the effect . Canson Mi Tentes paper has different textures on both its sides. One side is a bit rough with granular texture and the other side is smooth. My present charcoal sketching has been created on the smoother side.

I have used CONTE charcoal pencil, blending tools, white CRETACOLOUR pastel pencil and MUNGYO white pastel chalk to create the sketching as given below using beige coloured Canson paper. 

Reaching out

Charcoal and pastel sketching of a tree on Canson paper.

Size 7.5" X 10" ( Including frame size )

Presently I am trying out another tree sketch on FABRIANO Academia sheet and am using willow charcoal in the background. Will be posting the image once it gets completed.

Thumbnail sketch of Statue of Liberty in soft pastels and charcoal by Manju Panchal

Statue of Liberty

Flipping through my album I came across my thumbnail sketch of Statue of Liberty which I had done
in soft pastels about ten months back. I quite liked it and hence decided to do one in charcoal too. In
both these sketches I have not really spent time on any kind of detail. I just wanted to get the feel of it.
I wanted to capture the beauty of the magnificent Structure at night.   

I remember the time when I did it earlier, the whole intention was to try out night scenes and hence

randomly I had selected different cities and landscapes. My album is full of many such thumbnail sketches and I do take out time once in a way to go through them. 

Size of each of them is 3.5" X 5"

The upper thumbnail sketch is done on ordinary coloured chart paper using MUNGYO soft pastels

The lower thumbnail sketch is done on TK sheet ( white smooth sheet ) using CONTE  charcoal pencil

and blending tools

Creating a Thumbnail sketch from Leh Ladakh photograph by Manju Panchal

From photograph to thumbnail sketch

Given below is the photograph of the road leading to Ladakh, as taken by my friend Preeti Jhaveri.

Before creating a painting I normally follow the procedure of creating a rough sketch and colouring it.

I do it cause it saves me a lot of trouble later on. It helps because if the thumbnail sketch looks spent time deciding on the colours that I want in background, foreground and the shadows etc 

Using the above photograph I decided on the few changes that I wanted and then I did a rough

sketch of the beautiful landscape and then using Camel artists quality water colours created the 

thumbnail sketch as given below. I once again created a wet road with reflections and I am loving it.

Thumbnail sketch of Road to Ladakh using water colours.

Size 4" X 5.5"

Now if I feel the need to create a bigger painting I just have to refer to my thumbnail sketch rather than referring to the photograph as I have created the work as I wanted it to be. We paint what we see. 

The above water colour painting of thumbnail sketch has been done on ordinary cartridge sheet.

Regarding the colours used in creating the above painting, I suddenly realised that I have used 

just four colours ie ultramarine blue, light red, burnt siena and crimson which makes this a

limited palette painting. A painting where only a very few colours are used.

Leh -Ladakh painting - from a reference photograph.

From photograph to Painting

My 5th water colour painting in the Leh Ladakh series. 

As I mentioned in my earlier post I am referring to photographs given by my friend who visited Leh Ladakh a few years back. For my present painting For my present painting referred to the photograph as given below. 

But I wanted to make a few changes in the colour and composition. So I decided to keep just  one 

vehicle, give the road a wet effect and add the reflections of red light . Never painted or sketched a

vehicle before . The paper I used for this particular painting is FABRIANO AQUARELLA cold pressed

200gsm paper. 

On the Road

Water colour painting on Fabriano paper

Size 9" X 11" ( Including the size of mountboard )

The better quality paper in Fabriano for water colour painting is 300gsm, ARTISTICO cold pressed.

Right now I have the 200gsm pad since I purchased it in one of he sale sessions but I plan to buy the 300gsm paper soon. Most other papers tend to buckle with application of water especially when we 

are doing wet on wet technique where lot of water is applied right at the beginning.

Water colour painting of garlic - Campap paper

Water colour painting on CAMPAP paper from Malaysia (200 gsm )

I have painted garlic as a subject before but this time I wanted to change the composition by giving it

a red background and placing the two cloves of garlic in different positions so as to try out new angles

of perspective.

 Moreover I have been using the handmade paper for long so wanted to try out CAMPAP

paper which I recently purchased during sale. ( Have posted the image of the pad with 12 papers

in it ). The colours used are the usual Camel brand artists quality tubes.

Garlic

Size 6" X 8" ( Including mountboard )

Water colour painting on Campap paper 200gsm

I will be doing few more water colour paintings on Campap paper to know more about its water retaining

capacity and other advantages over my regular Indian hand made paper that I am using ( which turns out pretty economical ). 

The right kind of brushes also play a very important role in water colour paintings. Presently I am using the normal Camel brand as is available in most art stores but wish to buy some better quality brushes soon from FLIPKART, which is selling Daler and Rowney brush sets at a good discount.