Step by step, a soft pastel painting of a landscape from Bharatpur, Rajasthan

"Colour is the pulse of the painting." Michele Cooper

Keoladeo Ghana National park formerly known as Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary is in Bharatpur, Rajasthan. One third of the park is wetland systems with varying types of microhabitats having trees, mounds, dykes and open water with or without submerged or emergent plants. The uplands have grasslands ( Savannas ) of tall species of grass together with scattered trees and shrubs present in varying density. ( COURTESY: WIKIPEDIA )

We were there some years back in the month of November. The pastel painting as below is of a morning scene at this Sanctuary. We were in the boat with a guide who was rowing the boat at a very gentle pace so as to avoid disturbing the nesting birds. The morning sun rays lit up the tall dry grass blades and the scene came up so live and vibrant with colours. The warm colours of the sunlit grass was such a contrast to the cool colours of the shadows in the surroundings.

I enjoyed creating this pastel painting and used Mungyo, Koh-I-Noor and Sennelier pastels for the same. To know about the papers that I use for my soft pastel paintings you can CLICK HERE.

The Morning Glow

Soft pastel painting on Canson MT paper

Size 6"X 8"

The soft pastel painting "The Morning Glow"progressed in stages. I am posting two images below.

Step 1. Keeping the composition in mind, I drew a faint outline

and then blocked in the major shapes using the underlying 

dark colours keeping in mind the values.

( The sky and water were painted in similar colours )

Step 2. Started the second layer of colours, adding details and
strokes to suggest foliage, grass etc.Smudging only
if required, else I just leave original pastel strokes.

Step 3. In the final stage of the pastel painting, I add the finishing touches ie adding the glow to the tips of the grass, creating few branches in the tree using pastel pencils, few grasses on the lake along with its reflection.

I purchased a few Koh-I-Noor individual pastel pencils from ART LOUNGE while it was running its annual sale earlier this year. 

My collection of pastel pencils

Before attempting this scene in soft pastels, I did a small study work of the same using willow charcoal and charcoal pencil. To view the value study CLICK HERE. Creating a tonal value study work always helps in a better understanding of the subject that I am going to paint in the coloured medium.

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