Rocky Seashore - A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

“The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul.” Robert Wyland

Canson Mi Teintes  has been with me for a long number of years. It has been my favourite paper surface for most of my “Soft Pastel Paintings”.

When I like a paper a lot and it agrees with my kind of techniques, I make it a point to buy a good number of them for long term use. So during my initial years of pastel days, I went ahead and purchased quite a few of them in different shades. Then as I began my pastel journey, I realised that some dark toned shades went well for “Forest paintings” whereas “Seashore” subject did well on pastel toned papers.

Today after years of my working experience with pastels, I have realised that I love “Twilight” toned Canson MT much more than other colors. However, I am now left with one last sheet in this shade. My stock of other sheets too has diminished. So once the Covid Lockdown is over, I will be placing my order for my requirements. In the meantime I am trying to work small, ie 5” X 7”  or 6” X 8” sized works.

Today’s soft pastel painting is inspired by the beautiful rocky seashore at Bogmolo in Goa. I have used a mix of Mungyo, Sennelier Toison Dor and Sennelier soft pastels for the artwork.

Rocky Seashore

A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper 

Size: 6” X 8”

I keep my pastels organised color wise in different trays. Being in touch with each other the pastels get coated with pastel dust ( Multiple shades ), hence it requires to be cleaned up on a regular basis. Therefore every once in a way, I take a break and clean up my pastels and reorganise them so that the original vibrant shade is clearly visible. CLICK HERE to view my post on the same.

Thank you for browsing through my artworks and do visit my INSTAGRAM feed to see my latest artworks. If you happen to like my works, I would appreciate if you share it with others. Thanks.

The Morning Calm - A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

“Nature is the art of God.” Dante Alighieri

Goa has some beautiful beaches and Bogmolo beach is one of them. I happened to be there last December and captured the beach at different hours of the day using my mobile. The soft pastel painting that I am posting today is a morning view of the beach from the higher floor of our beach facing hotel. I loved the white buildings in the distant hills and the morning calm at the beach. At the beach, life is different. It is always a very relaxing experience. I look forward to being at the beach again.

Canson Mi Teintes is a great paper for pastel works and I have used it once again for my present seascape painting. As of pastel brands, I start my first layer using Mungyo pastels and then go on to use the Kohinoor Toison Dor and Sennelier in the subsequent layers. To create the small figures at the beach I have used pastel pencils.

“The Morning Calm”

A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper 

Size: 5” X 7”

I plan to create few more paintings on “Bogmolo Beach series” soon using both water colour and pastel medium.

To know about the papers I have been using for my pastel artworks CLICK HERE. ( I have created a detailed post in the past )Thank you for browsing through my artworks and do visit my INSTAGRAM feed to see my latest artworks.

Deeper into the forest - A soft pastel painting

“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than one seeks.” John Muir

Of late, I have restarted working with my “Soft Pastel” medium. I began my journey with Mungyo pastels and then like any other artist, went on to add other brands like Kohinoor Toison Dor, and Sennelier. Now I use a mix of all these brands to complete a painting.

Today’s post is a complicated scene in my “Forest” series and I have used the textured side of Canson Mi Teintes paper for a change. In general I go with the smooth textured side. However I know of many artists who regularly use the textured side and I wanted to give it a try.

Deeper into the forest

A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size : 5” X 7”

Selecting a subject for painting is a very personal decision. Some years back I was a lot into “Portrait drawing and sketching”, and then over a period of time as I traveled to different parts of the country, I was fascinated by the stunning beauty of nature. I felt the connection and decided to capture the beauty of nature on paper using pastels and water colour medium. In a way I feel my paintings are an “Ode to Nature”.

To know about the papers I have been using for my pastel artworks CLICK HERE. ( I have created a detailed post in the past )

Thank you for browsing through my artworks and do visit my INSTAGRAM feed to see my latest artworks.

Sunset at Colva beach - A soft pastel painting

The soft pastel painting below is a scene from Colva beach, Goa. I have created this painting with
reference to a photograph taken by me about four years back. It was monsoon season and one evening during sunset we witnessed this dramatic sky with beautiful cloud arrangement in the sky.
The sun rays scattered in the sky and lit up the edges of the dark clouds. It was an amazing sight.

This painting has always been in my "To Do" list as it had this element of "Clouds" in it. I have
been painting landscapes since long but have not painted the sky as my main subject. This painting
has been a new and interesting experience for me.

I have used a black coloured Canson Mi Teintes paper and Koh-I-Noor soft pastels ( Few are 
from Camlin and Mungyo brand ) for this art work. Whenever I start with a new unknown "Subject", I prefer creating a small painting. It gets done fast and all the suspense regarding the outcome is revealed soon. 

Sunset at Colva beach.

Soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper.

Size 5" X 7"

I am posting an image of the pastels that I used for my above painting. Instead of using my full pastel palette I decided to pick only those few which I felt would be required for the above art work. Limited Palette is always a convenient option and it helps avoid a lot of confusion.

Limited Pastel palette.

An interesting quote

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

Organising my Soft Pastel Palette

Since I am back to soft pastel works, I decided to organise my palette which has got into a mess lately. Over a period of time, the broken pieces get all mixed up and the colours cannot be distinguished clearly as the pastel dust catches on the surface of each other. The first thing that 

it requires urgently is a major "CLEAN UP". 

Given below are two images of my "Soft pastel palette arrangement" that I used earlier. Top

image shows the pastels in the "DUSTY" state. Second image shows the "Cleaned up" Palette.

Soft Pastel Palette

with broken pastels from MUNGYO, GALLERY

and KOH-I-NOOR.

After clean up.

To read about HOW I CLEAN THE SOFT PASTELS , CLICK HERE I have already posted about it earlier in detail.

After cleaning up the pastels by shaking it all up ( one set of colours at a time ) in a jar of rice, I decided to rearrange my pastels in three different cardboard boxes. I separated out the blues, greens and the rest of the colours. I took this decision as I use a lots of greens and blues in my landscapes and keeping them grouped together in two small cardboard boxes helps in better judgement and

I am able to find the appropriate colour more easily.

Therefore my new "Soft pastel palette" looks like the image below. Organizing my palette this way

is definitely helping me and whenever I am not painting, I keep it covered with a soft cloth to 

avoid dust collecting over it.

New Arrangement of Soft Pastel Palette.

This arrangement is proving to be more convenient. Sometimes I use a very limited set of colours.

In that case I select the required pastels and place it in a new container and it works like a 

"Limited Palette" for me. A limited palette painting helps avoid a lot of confusion as all the 

colours required are right in the front and there are less chances of overuse of colours which otherwise causes "MUDDY" effect.

A Limited Palette.

Therefore my new arrangement of pastels in three different boxes is working out fine right now.

However after a couple of artworks I know from my experience that the pastels may not go back to their original specified location. In a state of excitement and getting too involved with the painting,

the pastels go on the table and also get jumbled up with in the boxes too. Therefore I am prepared 

to clean it up every once in a while because when they are all in a dusty state, it puts you off and

you are forced to restart the "CLEAN UP". 

Ending this post with a beautiful quote by Martin Luther King Jr

"If you can't fly, then run,

 If you can't run, then walk,

 If you can't walk, then crawl,

 But whatever you do, 

You have to keep moving forward."