The Fence - A charcoal drawing

“As music is the poetry of sound, so is painting the poetry of sight.” James McNeil Whistler

I am blogging today after a long number of days. Last week was busy as I was preparing for my "Charcoal drawing Workshop" which happened on the 17th of December at Art Station, Four Bunglows. I had in all nine participants in different age groups who were keen on knowing the basic techniques that I use to create my charcoal drawings.

On the 13th and 16th, I was invited to judge three different events in the "Fine Art" category, by Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. These competitions ie "La La Land", "Wat-A-Waffle" and "Artathalon" were part of their annual "VAAYU FESTIVAL". Each competition was unique in its own way and it was a great experience to be a part of this event. The student committee who organised these events put in lot of efforts since last many months and I appreciated their efforts in making these events a success.

Today I am posting a charcoal drawing of a landscape which I completed last week using willow charcoal and my other basic charcoal drawing tools. It is a beautiful morning scene that I came across during my early morning walk, while we were at Coorg, also popularly known as Madikeri. It is a small hill station in Karnataka. The fence with the barbed wire running along the border had a great appeal and hence I wanted to keep that as my main focus in this drawing.

The Fence

Charcoal drawing on Cartridge paper

Size 6” X 8”

I have been working with charcoal medium for a long time now and getting very tempted to get back to my "Soft Pastels". Soft pastel being a dry medium is quite like charcoal medium and I have to more or less use similar technique of creating marks. I love pastels for its vibrant colours and if you are into this medium do browse through the works of EDGAR DEGAS, ( 1834 - 1917 ) a French artist who used pastels in many of his artworks.

Thanks for visiting my blog and browsing through my works.

Making a mark - Using willow charcoal

"If I create from the heart nearly everything works: if from the head almost nothing."

 Marc Chagall

I have a big data bank of photographs and study sketches as a reference but at times when I am looking out to create a particular subject I never seem to have one in your collection. After doing my last foggy landscape I got interested in creating yet another one. So I decided to browse through PIXABAY which has a big collection of photographs and they are free for commercial use.

Today's charcoal drawing is with reference to a foggy landscape photograph taken by Thomas B, Deutschland. I am grateful to him for having shared his works on Pixabay so that artists like me can use them as a study reference. This scene gave me the opportunity to work on the background trees and bushes with lost edges, fog in the distance, reflections in the water and branches drooping low in the foreground. I have used charcoal pencil and willow charcoal to create the dark leaves and branches which pushed the background in the distance creating depth.

A charcoal drawing is all about "Mark making techniques". We all hold the a pencil in a different way, creating strokes and marks that we feel is appropriate for a particular element. For instance, in charcoal drawing as below I have used "Willow charcoal" extensively. I used its tip to create the foliage, whereas for the background I used it sideways. I am creating marks to convey the shape, the rhythm and the energy in the elements in the scene. This is my way of working with the willow charcoal and being self taught, I do not follow any particular rule. Tomorrow I may change my style a bit if I find it better. This the journey of art and I am enjoying every moment of it.

The Haze

Charcoal drawing on Cartridge paper

Size 6" X 8.5"

In my next charcoal drawing, I plan to use the General's Compressed charcoal which helps create a very dark black and is great to create textures while using sideways.

Thank you all visiting my blog and keep browsing for more charcoal works that I will be posting soon.

Charcoal Demo Works created during "Art Workshop"

"Life is pretty simple. You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else." Leonardo Da Vinci

In today's post I am sharing a few small charcoal "Demo works" that I created during my recent "Charcoal drawing workshop" that I conducted for two private students.

All of them are sized 5" X 7" and have been created on cartridge sheet, Fabriano Academia and Canson paper. I spend roughly around fifteen minutes or so to create these small works. For a bigger charcoal drawing I use a whole lot of different drawing tools, however for these small works I simply use a Camlin charcoal pencil and willow charcoal.

Charcoal drawing, Demo work

A beach scene from Maldives

Charcoal drawing, Demo work

A scene at Zero point, Sikkim

Charcoal drawing, Demo work

A scene from Langkawi

Charcoal drawing, Demo work

A seashore at Phuket

Charcoal drawing, Demo work

A tree from Dubare forest, Coorg

For every workshop that I conduct, I try and do a different demonstration, step by step, which helps the participants to understand the technique I follow in order to create a simple Charcoal drawing. 

I have used my personal photographs of places that I have visited in the past, to create the above drawings. I may refer to these study works to create a few "Water colour paintings" in future. 

Apart from charcoal drawings I am into other mediums as well and to browse through my other artworks you can follow me on INSTAGRAM. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Charcoal drawing of a landscape from West Sikkim

"To see what others can not.....
You must climb the mountain." Ron Akers

While we were in Sikkim during our holidays we got to stay at a Homestay in Hee Bermiok ( West Sikkim ), which was located quite high up in the mountains. It was a herculean task reaching there but once we got settled we realised the advantage of being there among pristine nature.

Later during the next few days we gathered energy and explored still greater heights in order to get a clear view of Kangchenjunga peak, meet the local people and understand more about their tradition and culture.

On one such route while climbing up the mountain I came across some stunning pathway scenes, the kind I love to paint and I decided to create a charcoal drawing of the same. For creating a study work I love to use "Willow charcoal" which helps in achieving the desired values in a very short period of time.

An upward climb

Charcoal drawing on Cartridge paper

Size 5" X 7"

Camlin charcoal pencil works good in combination with willow charcoal. Willow charcoal is very soft and blends into the paper without leaving too many permanent stains. 

Willow charcoal

Chinese brand,

CLICK HERE to view some of my earlier works created using willow charcoal. I will be conducting a "Charcoal drawing workshop" soon in which I will be discussing in detail regarding the techniques I use to create my charcoal works. To know more about my art workshops you can visit my "ART WORKSHOP" page.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Step by Step - Charcoal demo of a landscape during an art workshop

 "I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do." Leonardo Da Vinci

During one of my "Two days Charcoal workshop" I created a 12" X 16" quick charcoal sketching on cartridge paper. The reference photograph has been taken from"Geotripper" with prior permission from Garry Hayes ( Geologist ). I love the blog as it has some of the most inspiring photographs of nature and the posts are very very informative.

Charcoal landscape drawing

Demo work on cartridge sheet

Size 12" X 16"

Step 1

Using willow charcoal, blocked in the major shapes.

The sky was kept very light using my blending tool ( Cloth )

Step 2

Blending the willow charcoal

and adding strokes using pencil to show crevices.

Foliage was created using willow charcoal

and pencils.

This kind of a demo takes about forty to forty five minutes. The time is not enough to do the details but the demo helps in understanding the steps involved in creating a charcoal landscape painting and the techniques involved in creating it.

CLICK HERE to read through another post in which I posted about my step by step creating of charcoal art in my sketch book.

You can browse my works on Deviantart, Instagram and Facebook.

Thanks for visiting my blog and would love to read comments from you.

Getting back to water colour medium - study works

After a break, trying to get back to my water colour medium. So back to the routine of creating
the "STUDY WORKS" before actually creating the serious work. My small cartridge sketch 
book is of a great help.

A lot many artists use the cartridge sketch book to create their rough sketches before actually beginning the painting. It helps because on a cartridge sheet the paint dries up quickly and
if the painting process is planned out in the head before hand then it takes roughly fifteen to
twenty five minutes to create each of them sized 4" X 5".

Given below are four different landscape study works created in water colour medium.

Water colour study works created on 

small cartridge sheets. ( In sketch book as below )

This sketch book is excellent for small study works and has forty sheets in it. Ideal for 

carrying when away from home. Initially I created my own sketch book by using

the hand made paper but now that I have this option I find it so convenient.

( At a cost of Rs 65/- only )

Presently I am on my third sketch book and have another three standby. I use this

book a lot. Apart from water colours I also do pencil and charcoal tonal study on

the cartridge sheets.

( This book is available at ART STATION, a shop in my vicinity. I have written

a post about this shop earlier )

Three water colour study works on cartridge paper

Be it "Thumbnail sketches" OR "Study works", I believe in working this way to have a better understanding of the medium. With more experience in handling the medium, the confidence to create bigger works comes easily.

Given below is three images water colour paintings of randomly selected landscapes. I have tried the wet on wet technique in most of them. The last of the images is of the view in front of the Coorg Homestay, early morning. The far off land was covered with fog and everything was hazy. Tried to capture the atmosphere in the paintings.

Three small water colour works on 

Cartridge paper.

Each one is sized 4" X 5"

Quotation

By

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The landscape belongs to the person who looks at it."

Water colour Paintings on cartridge paper by Manju Panchal

Two small water colour works.

Created two small water colour paintings using wet on wet techniques on ordinary cartridge sheets.

Forest with wet road and the reflections of the trees and foliage, followed by an apple on a folded 

fabric. Since these are study works for me, I normally use inexpensive paper like cartridge paper.

Some time later I may use it as a reference to create a larger piece of work.

Water colour paintings ( cartridge paper )