The Pine Trees ( Roghi Village, Himachal Pradesh )

“Art is a space in which freedom tests its wings.” Marty Rubin

The ride from Kalpa to Roghi village in Kinnaur valley, Himachal Pradesh is an amazing experience. Today’s soft pastel painting is a small study of what I saw on my way. 

We have been to Himachal Pradesh many a times and road travel helps us to witness some stunning views on the way. While on our way to Roghi Village, I remember having stopped at this place and the “Pine Trees” against the sky looked magnificent. It almost felt as if they were reaching for the sky. 

I have used the twilight shade of Canson Mi Teintes paper. This is a medium toned paper and it goes well for most of my paintings where I have to work on subtle shades of color. However when I intend doing a forest where a major part of the landscape requires dark tones, I go in for either black or dark brown paper. Selection of the right color of paper makes a big difference in the painting.

Reaching for the sky

A soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 4” X 5.5”

For most of my pastel works I use the Mungyo pastels in the beginning to block in the major shapes and later I use the Koh-I-Noor and Gallery pastels. During my final touch up I make use of my recently purchased Sennelier pastels.  

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.

Confluence of Sutlej and Spiti river - Himachal Pradesh

While on Himachal trip as we proceeded from Kinnaur valley towards Spiti district we came across Khab bridge as seen in the photograph below. After crossing this bridge we followed the road which led us to Nako, our next destination in Spiti district.

This is the place where the two rivers Sutlej and Spiti meet. Spiti river is on the left of the bridge and cannot be seen in the photograph.

The Khab bridge in Himachal

As we cross the bridge and move on the left we come across the view ( as painted below ) entering the Hangrang valley. With the dry barren mountains on both the sides and the road leading forward, it was interesting to paint this scene in soft pastels.The view was intensely captivating and I remember spending quite some time here revering the beauty of nature and photographing at different angles. 

I decided to paint this scene in a very loose manner without getting into too many detailed strokes. Just wanted to get the feel of the place. These small works are a big help in getting to understand mountains, rocks and skies. New subjects are always challenging and I feel it is good to break the rhythm of doing the same subject for long as it stagnates the mind.

Enroute Spiti District

Soft pastel painting

Size 6" x 8"

I have used a grey coloured Canson mi tentes paper for this pastel work and worked with very limited colours from my pastel palette.

If you are passionate about travelling and visiting beautiful places then you can read the travelogues posted in bcmtouring.com which provides a whole lot of information about some of the remote places in India not commonly visited by tourists. It will help you select a good destination for your next holiday trip. I was informed about this site when we were in Chitkul in Himachal by a group of tourists who had arrived there from Delhi.

On the way to Roghi village from Kalpa in Himachal Pradesh

Roghi village is 8 kms from Kalpa in Himachal Pradesh. The cliff hugging one way road to this beautiful village has spectacular views. I have painted one such view where we stopped the vehicle and spent a few moments looking around. The depth below was alarming. Some parts of the road do not have any kind of barrier at the edge but the locals from Himachal, I guess are adept at driving in these areas.

The painting below has been done on canson paper using soft pastels of miscellaneous brands.

Deep Below

Soft pastel painting on Canson mi tentes paper

Size 6" x 9"