Thumbnail sketches in soft pastel medium

Creating thumbnail sketches

"Thumbnail sketch" is my preliminary step towards creating my final artwork. It helps me focus on the composition and design elements. It is small in size, loosely done in a short span of time. 

Given below are two of my recently created thumbnail sketches on black coloured Canson Mi Teintes paper. In due course of time, referring to these sketches, I shall be creating an enlarged version of the same painting but with more details in the foreground. 

Working on small sketches saves me from loads of frustration later. A thumbnail sketch helps me plan out my colours, composition, design elements right at the beginning which proves very beneficial later when I am creating the final artwork. 

Thumbnail sketches of 

Niagara Falls

and Emerald green waters of Phi Phi island

Size 3.5" X 4.5"

I have been posting regularly about my "Thumbnail sketches" and to view one of them you can CLICK HERE. 

A Quote

"Painting is a means of self-enlightenment." John Olsen

Soft pastel demo work on Strathmore paper

A small soft pastel demonstration done on Strathmore pastel paper during one of my recent soft pastel workshops. There is a slight fold/crumple in the paper as can be seen from the image as below. The crumpling of the paper was caused due to the wet brush which I used on the first layer of pastels in order to get an underpainting of basic colours. 

Later I went on to add more colours of similar values and a few details in the foreground. Richard McKinley, a Master Pastel Artist from America uses the underpainting technique in most of his works and I like his style a lot.

Added two small figures on the beach, taking a casual relaxed walk. Painting a seashore is a very relaxing experience and I am always looking out for more subjects based on sea. 

Small demo work in soft pastel medium

Paper used - Strathmore

Size 5" X 7"

An image of the Strathmore pastel paper pad .

It has 24 sheets of assorted colours

Image: coutesy GOOGLE.

Quotation by Einstein

"Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen, and thinking what no one else has thought."