Afloat - A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they are still beautiful.” Alice Walker

A log of wood, floating in the still waters at the banks of Kaveri river near Dubare Forest in Coorg. The moment my eyes captured this sight, I knew I had to paint it some day. I decided to go with the soft pastel medium for this work as I wanted a dark background which can be achieved so well using my newly purchased Sennelier pastels from Creative hands online store. The log of wood was half immersed in the water and the light and shadow play gave a new definition to the entire set up.

I scraped an old white pastel to create the sparkles on the water. Apart from using my usual Mungyo and Kohinoor Toison Dor soft pastels, I also use pastel pencils from Derwent as it helps to create some sharp details like grasses and twigs.

Afloat

A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 4.5” X 6.5”

Sennelier extra dark soft pastels

If you wish to know about the papers I use for my soft pastel paintings CLICK HERE. I have created a post regarding the same in 2016. 

If you wish to see all my artworks in Gallery format, visit my INSTAGRAM site where I post my works on a regular basis. Thanks for visiting my blog and browsing through my artworks. 

Sunset at the beach - A watercolour painting

"Watercolour is probably the most satisfying of all mediums. Although difficult in the beginning, after practice its mysteries will unfold, providing the utmost pleasure for the dedicated." Robert Lovett

Painting a sunset scene has been on my mind since long, therefore I decided to create one on handmade paper. I chose handmade paper since it stays wet for long and I can keep dropping in colours which blend smoothly into the background. If the paper does not have water holding capacity then I it starts drying up quickly and that leads to some unwanted hard edges.

The sky in this particular painting has a mix of warm and cool colours, so I mixed up enough colour in the palette before beginning the painting. In water colour painting, I have realised that I need to have a definite plan in my head regarding the steps that I am going to follow or else the painting gets ruined. For the sea weeds I picked up dry paint from the palette and used my coarse flat brush sideways and to create the tall grass blades I have made use of a rigger brush. It was fun creating this work using Camlin Artists water colour tubes.

Sunset at the beach

Created on handmade paper

Size 5"X 7"

Hand made paper is great, however it is important to know if it is acid free or else over a period of years the paper colour turns a pale yellow. I have some old papers in my collection and since they are not acid free I use them for my study works. The paper that I have used for my above work seems to be acid free and I have purchased it from Himalaya Stationery at Fort.

To know more about my upcoming Art Workshops CLICK HERE and thank you for visiting my BLOG.

Sketching a Mountainscape using white pastel pencil

The black Strathmore Artagain 400 series paper is fun to work with. I have not tried the pastel chalks on it, however the white pastel pencil works really fine on its smooth surface. After my last work that I created recently, I was inspired to do another one on the same subject.

Therefore I went ahead with my next creation of yet another of my "Mountainscape" in this series using the white pastel pencils. The source of light in the sketching below is from the right and hence accordingly I had to work out my highlights and shadows. 

White pastel art work on a black paper is a great way of doing a "Value study".

The Peak

White pastel pencil sketching on black paper

Size 4.5"X 5.5"

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

White pastel pencil sketching on Strathmore paper

A beautiful, inspiring Quote...

"Learning never exhausts the mind." Leonardo Da Vinci

Sometime back I posted my white pastel sketching of a Mountainscape which I created on

Strathmore 400 series black paper. I enjoyed creating the sketch and had it in mind to create

a few more in the same series because I felt that this is a simple sketching process which is not 

very time consuming and in return helps to understand the unique aspects of each mountain range with respect to scale, form, value and detail. 

For the sketching below I have once again used the snow mountains as a reference. The source of light is from the left which helps in deciding on the light and the dark values. The black colour of the paper acts as the darkest value. 

The slopes

White pastel pencil sketching on black paper

Size 4.5"X 5.5"

I have used three different pastel pencils to complete this work namely Conte, General and Cretacolour. In the initial stage I use only Conte as it is lighter and much smoother in

comparison to General and Cretacolour.

Conte, Cretacolour and General white pastel pencil

5" X 6.5" Small value study of a landscape, using white pastel pencil.

After having created a landscape with snow mountains, ( As in my last post ), I got interested
in doing another one. However this time I decided to use a small piece of Strathmore 400 series.

The white pastel pencils I used are from General, Conte and Cretacolour. The black colour of
the paper acts as the darkest value in this landscape sketch.Towards the end I have used a little of
white soft pastel chalk from Kohinoor to create the brightest bright of values.

Small value study work

Size 5" X 6.5"

White pastel pencil on Strathmore 400 series ( Black paper )

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

I truly enjoy drawing and sketching. Be it charcoal on white paper or pastel pencils on toned

paper, it gives me immense satisfaction. Until some years back I was mostly creating charcoal

and pencil sketches on white paper. It's only recently that I have started exploring the other

options like working on coloured papers ( Mainly Canson Mi Teintes ).

I have also started another art work ie a Forest scene on beige coloured Canson 

paper, using only charcoal pencil and white pastel pencil. The work is in progress and I will be posting it as soon as it completes. 

Tonal value study of a Landscape

Today's post is a tonal value study of a landscape with mountain and slopes.

The fun part is that I did not do it alone. I had an artist friend over at my place. She has done her
fine art from Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore. Whenever we meet we create a small piece of
art. This time we had about three hours of time between us so we decided to try out a tonal value study sketch on Black Canson Mi Teintes paper. This work required the use of only white pastel pencils and a kneaded eraser.

So we went ahead and created this white pastel pencil sketch. Apart from the sketching we
had a lengthy discussion on art related topics. We also decided to meet more often as it gives
us an opportunity to interact, share and create more art.

Tonal value study of a Landscape

with mountains and slopes.

White pastel pencil work on Canson Mi Teintes paper.
Size 5"X 7"

"The first things to study are form and values. For me, these are the things that are the basics  of what is serious in art." Jean Baptiste Corot. ( French Painter )

The quote as above speaks a lot about what every artist feels and experiences in life. To get
better at anything we have to get the basics right. Value study helps in rendering the colours
in a very effective manner.

Thanks for browsing through my artworks. 

Charcoal sketching of a Rustic Wooden Door

Charcoal and white pastel pencil sketching of a Rustic Wooden door.

For a change I have deviated from my normal routine of painting subjects pertaining to NATURE. Creating this door was fun. There were so many different textures to take care of and the pencil movements did all the job. This image in particular appealed to me. Some mystery, some untold story.

I used a grey hand made paper for this artwork which I picked up from a handmade paper shop at FORT area.

The Closed door
Charcoal and white pastel pencil work on grey handmade paper
Size 6" X 8"

As an artist I love to try out new subjects and new mediums. Over a period of time my technique too has slowly evolved for the better. Painting everyday has become a passion. I try to find some time everyday to create a little art, be it sketching or painting. Every creation adds to a new experience which in turn motivates me further.