Sand dunes at the seashore

"At the beach life is different, 

Time doesn't move hour to hour

But mood to moment.

We live by the currents, 

Plan by the tides

And follow the sun."

Sandy Gingers

I am posting today after a very long time and I must say that I have missed my blogging sessions. However I have been very active at Instagram where I have been posting my watercolor studies and paintings on a regular basis. Blogging is different in its own unique way. In my blog, can share my ideas, my thoughts, my techniques and can write in more detail about my “Art Experiments on day today basis.” So I am glad that I am back to blogging and will try and share a lot about things that I have done in the past few months.

To begin with, I am posting a watercolor painting of a seashore today that I created on Arches Cold pressed paper ( 300 gsm ), using my old collection of Winsor and Newton cotman watercolortubes. The sand dunes and the sea oats at the beach inspired me to create this painting. Sea. oats are miraculous little plants with a massive root system capable of holding soil and sand in place during extreme weather. They may look like weeds but are vital part of the ecosystem.

Sand dunes and Sea oats

A water colour painting on Arches CP paper 

Size 6” X 8”

Seascapes is one of my favorite subjects and I can never get tired of painting them. For the sea oats on the dunes, I used my flat brush and rigger brush. In the past few months I have tried out many different water color papers and will be writing more in detail about them very soon. In the meantime you can also browse through my works on INSTAGRAM, where in I try and remember to mention the paper and the colors used to create a painting.

Thank you very much for all your support and I shall try to be more regular at my blogging so that I can share my art journey with all of you.

Painting a forest scene in soft pastel medium

"The artist is always beginning. Any work of art which is not a beginning, an invention, a discovery is of little worth." Ezra Pound ( Courtesy: skinnyartist.com )

The paper that I use most often for my soft pastel works is "Canson Mi Teintes" which fortunately comes in assorted colours. This works as an advantage because choosing the right colour for the subject makes a lot of difference. To know more about the different shades and its specific names you can visit the site DICKBLICK. I normally use Twilight, Tobacco, Sand and Moonstone but I am open to experimenting and exploring with the other colours as well.

For my today's soft pastel painting I decided to go with black Canson MT paper as I wanted the foreground and part of the middle ground to be dark and in shadows. This is a beautiful scene from Karnala Bird Sanctuary and I love this place as I get to walk through different muddy pathways. It is densely populated with trees and in the morning hours I get the perfect light and shadow scenes. 

I have titled this painting "A walk through the shadows" as it reminds me of those beautiful moments in the tranquil nature. 

A walk through the shadows

A soft pastel painting on Canson MT paper

Size 5"X 7"

The soft pastel painting as above progressed in stages and the images can be seen as below. The broken pastels that can be seen around are from Mungyo, Gallery, Camlin and Koh-I-Noor. I also have a set of 24 dark Sennelier pastels which I use towards the end as they are very very soft.

Step 1. Creating the basic outline of the main elements

using white soft pastel pencil and blocking in the colours

of the winding pathway and the distant foliage.

Step 2. Blocking in the major shapes with respective colours

keeping in mind the source of light and atmospheric perspective.

In the final stages, I redo the layering of colours, making changes where ever required. All the detailing happens in the end.

Before I begin any painting, I create small "Thumbnail sketches" or "Tonal value studies" which help me understand the subject well and these little ten minute works enable me to decide on the best composition. Two of the small quick art studies can be seen below. The black and white study has been done using a single Staedtler 8B pencil. I have started using this pencil quite recently and am enjoying it. Both are sized 2" X 3".

Tonal value sketch & Thumbnail sketch

of a landscape.

Thank you all for visiting my blog. If you are into soft pastel medium I would love to know about the papers you use. Do leave in a comment. Browse through my other artworks on my INSTAGRAM page.

Soft pastel painting

"In nature, light creates the colour. In painting, colour creates the light."Hans Hoffman

Pastels is a vibrant dry medium and I got into using it a few years back. I started with Camlin and Mungyo and then went on to purchase Koh-I-Noor and Gallery too. My latest brand in pastel collection is Sennelier which is very very expensive, however it is very soft and creamy and has deep rich colours. I have not used it much but plan to do so soon as the last and final layer on my paintings.

My today's post is an old work, a scene .from Mahabaleshwar which I created a some time back. Evaluating older paintings has become a norm and I always find a few mistakes here and there. So I touched up this painting with Sennelier pastels and was satisfied with the final results. 

Subjects such as these ie "Forest scenes" with winding pathways appeal to me a lot. I also get inspired by the sunlight that perforates through the foliage to lighten up the pathway at places. The light that falls on all the elements of the nature defines the form and shape and with every painting that we do we learn to see and observe.  

Light at the distance

A soft pastel painting on Canson MT paper

Size 8"X 12"

The greens in the landscape are always the biggest challenge and it continues to intimidate me. This colour along with blue is so predominant that it can be a mystery which gets tricky to solve. The only solution I find is to continue painting, have a keen observation and with time and experience it all gets better. 

I created a post on "The papers I use for my soft pastel artworks" in May, 2016 wherein I have written in detail about my experience with different papers before shortlisting the ones that I use today.  

Thank you for visiting my blog and CLICK HERE to browse through my gallery of paintings in other mediums as well. 

Drawing "An Eye" on Strathmore Toned Gray paper

"Where words are restrained, the eyes often talk a great deal." Samuel Richardson

When drawing a portrait it is imperative to focus on "Eyes". The eyes bring life into the portrait and they express the feelings and emotions the person is going through. Drawing eyes requires a lot of understanding of the underlying bone structure or rather human skull. Hence to get a better understanding of the eye and to try out my newly purchased "Strathmore Toned Gray paper", I decided to do few eye studies on this paper.

The pencils I have used are very soft Camlin Charcoal pencil, and Cretacolour white pastel pencil. Since it is a study work I decided to spend not more than forty minutes on each of them. The gray colour of the paper acts as the mid tone value. To view the other tools that I use for my charcoal drawings you can CLICK HERE.

Two Charcoal drawings of 

An Eye Study

on Strathmore Gray Toned paper

The Strathmore toned paper has a very smooth surface and yet has a little texture which helps the charcoal and pastel to fix on it well. I enjoyed working on this paper. Whenever I buy a new paper I start off with a few study works because it helps me know the feel of it. I try out all my pencils and other related tools to understand what works best on it. 

After having worked with different papers I have come to one very significant conclusion, ie every paper has a different texture and feel and a pencil which may have worked very good on a different paper may now always work on the new one as well. Therefore it is best to read and research through the net and listen to the advise of other artists BUT when it comes to actually using a pencil on a paper, the safest way is to try it out.

A new paper or a new set of colours is always an exciting experience for any artist. These days I do a bit of study myself on the net before going ahead to buy new art stationery. I have already tried Canson MT for similar works and it is very good. However I read a lot of positive reviews about Strathmore paper and fortunately it is available in Art Lounge or it can also be ordered online through Amazon India.

If you wish to purchase any of my original art or Commision a painting, contact me on my e mail id and I shall get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks to all the viewers who have been consistently browsing through my artworks. 

Art Station - for all your art stationery requirements

Shopping for art material can be a daunting task. So I decided to write a post about 

ART STATION, a shop which is in my vicinity ie at Four Bunglows, Andheri west. ( Mumbai )

In the initial years I would travel to Fort area to visit Himalaya for my annual shopping. Not any more as I get most of the things that I require at Art Station. This shop has grown big in a short period of time and they keep Indian as well as imported art and craft materials. 

One can find most of the popular brands like DERWENT, WINSOR and NEWTON, CRETACOLOUR, GOLDEN etc. As an artist there is no question of getting disappointed. You almost get everything here. If at all the paper or paint that we require is unavailable then they can get it for the client as per the order.

The Contact details for Art Station: 26339794 OR 9967202612

Before I buy my imported art stationery I do make it a point to compare

prices by visiting different sites like

www.amazon.com

www.dakotapastels.com

www.dickblick.com

www.ebay.com

www.flipkart.com

www.snapdeal.com

It gives me an idea regarding the prices of the product worldwide and also I get to read the reviews by people who have purchased the sets that I am looking forward to buy.