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. 

Experimenting and exploring - Willow charcoal techniques.

"Choose only one master - Nature." - Rembrandt"

Willow charcoal has been one of the recent additions in my set of "Charcoal tools". I am still in the process of getting to know it better. By repetitive use I will know how and where it works best and fits in my "Charcoal sketching techniques". I have used it lately for my "Quick study works"of forest landscapes and I realised that once broken into small pieces, it can be used like mini soft pastels.

A small piece of willow charcoal when rubbed on the paper surface to create different strokes creates a beautiful texture. It can be blended with finger with different levels of pressure to create the light and dark values.

Given below are three different small study works that I created on ordinary cartridge paper in order to get a better understanding of the tree anatomy, landscape composition and willow charcoal.

Study works of landscapes 

Created using willow charcoal

Size 4" X 5"

I had planned to spend not more than twenty minutes on each of these sketches, however as I was also involved into experimenting and exploring, I spent a little more time on each of them. A new tool, a new technique, it all adds to the excitement and I am now waiting to create a Charcoal sketching where in I can have a "Fusion of willow charcoal and charcoal pencils".

Willow charcoal.

When I first worked with willow charcoal, ( Dec 2014 ) I was not too sure if I will be using it in the long term. It would smudge a lot and create shades of grey, was difficult to control on paper. So it made me feel a little uneasy. It happens all the time. New tool, new pencil, it takes a little time to get used to it. Hence I have decided to go ahead and create a few more sketches which I will be posting very soon. 

Thanks for browsing. 

Thumbnail sketches - study works for future paintings

After having done a couple of soft pastel paintings on different subjects, it is time to shortlist
the next few paintings to be done. For me it all starts with "Thumbnail sketches". These days I
create a couple of them after a careful analysis with respect to composition, colours and values.
Once my thumbnails are done, I pin them up on the flannel board next to my workplace so that
I can have a clear view of them all day along.

After several views, I start the preliminary painting process in the mind itself. It's like I am working on the different possible techniques which I can apply to go ahead with a particular painting. All of my thumbnail sketches do not necessarily get converted into the final art piece. It's only a selected few. The ones that start speaking to me and I can feel the connection.

Given below is the collective image of three different sketches that I just completed using the soft pastel medium. All are "Sea based subjects" my all time favorite.

Thumbnail sketches 

created on Canson Mi Teintes paper.

Size 4" X 5"

I am posting an old image which shows how my ART BOARD looks like with a display of all

my thumbnail sketches. Many of the sketches as in the board below finally saw the light of day

as I converted them into bigger pieces of artwork. 

Creating thumbnail sketches is a lot of fun work as I do them very freely and loose manner.

So its done without any fear or inhibition and many a times a small little work looks like a 

masterpiece to me and I take a quick decision to refer to it and go ahead with my bigger artwork.

I also call these small works as "Study works" as they help me to learn a lot. It is an exercise

in "Experimentation" wherein I get to evolve my technique by trying out new ideas and theories.

I have done several posts on "THUMBNAIL SKETCHES" and to view all of them you can

go to the search column at the right column of the BLOG.

A dry leaf and its shadow

When I started with my landscape paintings in 2014 I realised that needed to work on tree

anatomy, mountains, sky etc as these are some of the major elements in a landscape painting.

Therefore I went on to do a whole lot of tree trunk sketches on toned paper which 

eventually helped me a lot. 

Similarly doing a " Leaf series" has always been playing on my mind. So the the recent " DPW challenge " Explore your Garden" challenge kind of helped me achieve this desire too.

I took out one of my toned Canson papers and created a simple sketch of a curled up leaf

which is in its initial stages of drying up. I decided on the view as seen from top so that

I could capture the shadow as well which made a very neat composition with sharp edges.

Sketching this leaf reminded me so much of my still life works. I followed almost the same

step by step procedure using a charcoal pencil and a white pastel pencil. The movement of

the pencil on the smooth side of the paper gave me the desired texture that I wanted.

Curled up

Charcoal and white pastel pencil sketching on Canson paper.

Size 4" X 5"

A beautiful quote

"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home" By Twyla Tharp

I draw, sketch and paint on a regular basis. I decide on the "Subject" that appeals to me. There

is no rule, no regulation, no routine that I follow. What I follow is my heart. My mind speaks

to me. Decisions change in a few moments. Sometimes I sleep in the night after having

programmed myself for a pastel work but in the morning something catches my eye and I go

on to do a different medium altogether.

Today I am sketching a leaf but I know there are two pastel paintings which are in progress. 

However that can wait. It will all happen at its time. A hasty approach to a painting can

ruin it right at the beginning. I will be posting another leaf sketch soon.

Three water colour study works on cartridge paper

Be it "Thumbnail sketches" OR "Study works", I believe in working this way to have a better understanding of the medium. With more experience in handling the medium, the confidence to create bigger works comes easily.

Given below is three images water colour paintings of randomly selected landscapes. I have tried the wet on wet technique in most of them. The last of the images is of the view in front of the Coorg Homestay, early morning. The far off land was covered with fog and everything was hazy. Tried to capture the atmosphere in the paintings.

Three small water colour works on 

Cartridge paper.

Each one is sized 4" X 5"

Quotation

By

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The landscape belongs to the person who looks at it."