Key Monastery - Spiti valley

"Connecting shapes is most important, after that comes the tonal values. Colour comes last."
Joseph Zbukvic ( Australian water colour artist )

The above quote by Joseph Zbukvic is so very true. Watching his works is like magic unfolding before your eyes. Zbukvic creates absolutely amazing water colour paintings and its a pleasure always to go through his works.

When I visited Spiti Valley about three years ago, I got an opportunity to visit two beautiful Buddhist monastries, namely Dhankar Monastery and Key Monastery. I created a soft pastel painting of Dhankar Monastery in May last year. Key Monastery was on mind too, however it never really happened but the visual image of the scene was indelibly printed in my memory. I finally took the decision to paint this beautiful scene using my water colour palette.

Key Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery located on top of a hill at an altitude of 13668 ft above sea level, close to the Spiti river, in Spiti valley, Himachal Pradesh. It is the biggest monastery of Spiti Valley and a religious training centre for llamas. It is believed to be at least a thousand years old. Courtesy : Wikipedia

It is a heavenly experience to be at a place like this away from the hustle bustle of the city life. Some days when I am free and not painting I simply go through all the photographs taken while on my trip to Spiti Valley. It refreshes the mind with beautiful memories and momentarily you seem to escape to a different world altogether.

Key Monastery

Water colour painting on hand made paper

Size 7" X 10"

I truly enjoyed creating this painting in water colour medium and have plans to do a few more soon.

Keep browsing and do look through my INSTAGRAM account too where in I have recently started uploading the images of my works.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Water colour painting - On the way to Ladakh

"Watercolour will paint itself; if you let it." Joseph Zbukvic 
( An Australian watercolour artist )

Joseph Zbukvic's water colour paintings are stunning and he is a big inspiration to all those who love to paint in water colour medium.

I am a lot into soft pastels and charcoal medium, however I love water colour medium too. So every once in a way I take out a little time for my water colour passion. Therefore I decided to take a break and removed my palette which has Camlin Artists water colour tubes and got started with a painting which has been on my mind since long. Its a scene with snow covered mountains as seen on the way to Ladakh. I must have mentally painted this picture in my mind quite a number of times and it has been on my "To do" list since long.

The paper that I have tried for this work is PETALS artists handmade paper which I purchased recently. I love this paper as it is pure white in colour and has a rough surface which is ideal for landscape paintings. Moreover it is very reasonably priced.

Journey to Ladakh

Water colour painting on hand made paper

Size 7" X 10"

Posted below is the image of my work in progress and the photo reference can be seen next to the palette. The photograph has been provided to me by a close friend who visited this heavenly place recently. 

Painting in progress, palette, water containers,

few brushes and reference photograph

From Pastels to water colour painting. A change of medium refreshes my mind. After having created this work, I am tempted to do another one. The next work would definitely be of "Key Monastery", yet another beautiful place on the way to Kaza in Spiti valley. I have already done a tonal value study work of Key Monastery using graphite pencil some time back and it is one of the most memorable visits during my Spiti Valley tour. 

Thanks for browsing through my works. 

Gullfoss waterfall ( Iceland ) - A soft pastel painting

Gullfoss ( Golden waterfall ) is situated in Iceland. This iconic waterfall offers a spectacular 

view of the forces and beauty of untouched nature.

This is my first attempt at painting a waterfall in soft pastel medium. The photograph that

I used as a reference has been taken by my husband while he was there a few years back.

Being a cloudy day, the photograph did not do much justice and it had mostly shades of grey.

I have added colours after doing my own study. 

The subject being a little out of my "Comfort zone", I reminded myself to go ahead step by 

step in a very patient manner.However as the painting progressed, the confusion increased.

I did manage to complete this work but it did not match my "Visualisation" or the image that

I painted in my mind. This work has an abstract feel to it. 

Nevertheless it was a great learning experience and I am ready to paint some more waterfall

paintings. Mistakes happen and they happen for a good reason. It helps you learn better.

Joseph Zbukvic, a world famous water colour artist said in one of his interviews

 "If you succeed everytime, you are not painting properly...."

Gullfoss

Soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 6.5" X 8.5" 

" I don't say everything, but I paint everything." Pablo Piccaso

Experimenting with water colour techniques

Painting with water colour medium is teaching me new lessons everyday. Each day is a new revelation. I am getting more deep into "COLOUR STUDY" as I realise that some colours work and some don't for a particular scene and atmosphere. Then there are transparent and opaque colours, warm and cool colours. Knowledge about these fundamental aspects definitely helps in better painting.

Everytime a painting completes, I evaluate and analyse the artwork looking for areas where I could do a little better next time. Given below are two small study works on hand made paper using camel paints. Both the scenes are from my "TRIP TO HIMACHAL". The scenic beauty of Himachal is unparalleled. Its truly a paradise on earth. Painting scenes from Himachal gives me true happiness.

It revives the beautiful memories of the past. 

Two water colour studies of landscapes

from Himachal on handmade paper.

Joseph Zbukvik  ( Eminent water colour artist from melbourne )said in one of his interview's that "If you succeed everytime, you are not painting properly." 

Read his interview HERE. Courtesy Artist Sterkhov

About Joseph Zbukvic - master water colourist

Learning never ends. Every step that I take in my art journey, it adds to my knowledge and it surprises me. There is so much more to learn, understand and enjoy.

While surfing the net some time back I came across the works of Joseph Zbukvic, ( Master water colourist from Melbourne ) and immediately fell in love with them. Each of his water colour painting speaks a volume. Joseph Zbukvic has the ability to transform any subject into visual poetic language.

Posted below are his works. Courtesy http://www.josephzbukvic.com/

Some water colour paintings by

Joseph Zbukvic

Joseph Zbukvic says, " Painting precise locations is irrelevant; simply capture the character"