Sailed out - A water color painting on Chitrapat handmade paper

"Watercolor with all its subtle color and value gradations and its many welcome surprises, is the perfect medium for capturing mood.” Ray Hendershot

 The watercolor painting that I am posting today has been inspired by a photograph taken by my husband while he was at "The Bund", in Shanghai. There were a few more shipping vessels in the vicinity but I decided to keep just one in order to get a better composition.

It’s a morning scene, with a little warmth in the sky and a few clouds scattered across. A small cargo vessel is headed towards its next destination. This painting to me is the story of this shipping vessel and it’s journey ahead. 

“Sailed Out”

A water colour painting on Chitrapat handmade paper 

Size 7” X 10”

For the above artwork I have used Chitrapat paper and Camlin Artists watercolor tubes. 

Thank you for browsing through my artworks and if you wish to see my latest works and techniques you can follow me on my INSTAGRAM page.

Another water colour study on Chitrapat hand made paper

"Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." Albert Einstein

When a paper works for me, it motivates me to create more works on them. As I have already written in my previous posts, Chitrapat hand made paper is new to me but somehow I am loving it. However to understand it better and to connect with it, I plan to work more with it.

Today I am posting a landscape painting that I created mainly to do the cloud study. I have used a mix of warm and cool colours ( Camlin artists water colour tubes ). As can be seen in the image below, I have also started using my Raphael sable hair mop brush. It is very expensive as compared to my other brushes but worth it.

Water colour study on Chitrapat hand made paper

Size 7" X 10"

Thanks for visiting my blog and browsing through my artworks. My works can also be seen on INSTAGRAM and if you like them please share. Thanks.

Checking out Moulin du Roy, Rough textured paper by Canson

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." Albert Einstein

Today’s water colour painting is a small study work on Moulin du  Roy, rough surfaced water colour paper by Canson. I picked up this sample paper from Art Lounge last year. The subject that I have chosen is a “Cloudy day” at Maldives. The reference photo was provided by a friend and I am grateful to her for the same.

For this work I have used Winsor and Newton Cotman water colour tubes.

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A cloudy day

Water colour painting on Moulin Du Roy paper

Size 4” X 5.5”

I have used Moulin du Roy, 300 gsm rough paper for the first time and it works good for wet on wet technique. I will create a few more paintings on some more sample papers that I have before deciding on buying the larger sheets.

Follow my latest works and techniques on INSTAGRAM and if you love my works and they inspire you, share them with your friends. Thanks for browsing through my blog and being a part of my art journey.

Trying a cloudy sky using water colour medium.

"Avoid illustrating. Express the intangible, the atmosphere, the smell....the sound, the feeling of the place."Alvaro Castagnet 

It is important to know and understand water colour as a medium and reading quotes by master water colorists every once in a while helps. I enjoy reading quotes by Joseph Zbukvik, Alvaro Castagnet and others. I also take out time to watch them doing their paintings. It enlightens me and encourages me to never give up.

Today's post is a painting of a beautiful sun kissed sea and I am sharing a poem which I came across recently while I was browsing through PINTEREST.

The Sun kissed sea

A beauty rare, beyond compare,

is sun kissed sea,

No scene so calm, no scene so fair,

As this to me.

When floods of light dispel the night,

The morning kiss on waves

which sparkle with delight,

Is loveliness.

When ends my day, I trust and pray,

My voyage be

O'er the waters, where some golden ray,

May kiss the sea.

The Sun kissed sea
Water colour painting on hand made paper
Size 7"X 10"

With my soft pastel palette, all organised and cleaned up, I am ready to begin with my pastel art. To begin with I shall be doing a few thumbnail sketches or study sketches, which will help me warm up. Small study works are great in order to understand the composition, value masses, colour etc. It helps you visualize the final outcome. If it looks fine in its initial stages then it encourages me to go ahead to create a bigger sized artwork on the same subject.

Are you into doing study sketches too? If yes, do write to me and share your experience. It will be fun to know more about it.

Follow my latest works and techniques on INSTAGRAM and if you love my works and they inspire you, share them with your friends.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Travel photography - Thangu, North Sikkim

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein

Nature inspires me to paint. When I travel, it is not always possible to create study works or quick sketches as we are constantly on the move. Therefore I photograph the scenes which appeal to me, so that I can refer to it later some day and create beautiful memories by painting them in different mediums. I try to get the best composition possible but if not then I edit the photographs just before I begin my artwork. 

Posted below are a few photographs which we clicked while we were at Thangu. Thangu is a small beautiful village which is about two hours drive from Lachen in North Sikkim.It is situated at a n altitude of 13,500 ft above sea level and most tourists halt here for breakfast and to get acclimatized to the change of altitude before proceeding to Gurudongmar Lake.  From here on to Gurudongmar Lake the altitude increases to 17,800 ft in a short span of three hours. The roads are bad but the beauty of the landscape hypnotizes you. I would love to visit North Sikkim yet again.

At Thangu, North Sikkim

The road further leads to Gurudongmar Lake

The landscape at Thangu, North Sikkim

A cloudy sky at Thangu, North Sikkim

Local women basking in the sun

My database of photographs from different places is growing and I am having fun painting these beautiful places and people. I have not had the opportunity to paint a landscape from Thangu. However I am almost done with a portrait of the woman as above with the scarf. I photographed her from different angles, had a small chat with her and learnt about her life in general. Time was short and it was pleasure to interact with her.

Have you been to North Sikkim? If yes I would love to hear from you and do leave in your comments. Thanks for visiting my blog.

From photograph to charcoal drawing

"While drawing, I discover what I really want to say."Dario Fo

As an artist I am always looking for meaningful quotes as they speak my thoughts and keep me inspired. The above quote holds true, I guess for most of us. It is through our art that we slowly discover what we are trying to convey to the viewers. 

Malshej Ghat is a mountain pass in the Western Ghats range in the Thane-Pune district of Maharashtra, India.The site is nestled in the lofty rugged hills of the Western Ghats. The road journey to this place will take you through winding roads, lush greenery on either sides, thick dense fog and countless number of waterfalls touching the highway. 

We visited this place in the monsoon season this year and I found some perfect subjects that I was looking to paint.. My today's post is a charcoal drawing of one such scene from Malshej Ghats wherein the majestic mountain slopes can be seen fading off in the distance. This drawing was not planned but while browsing through my stationery I came across a white sheet of Canson Mi Teintes which initiated the idea of experimenting with this paper out for my charcoal drawing?. 

I love to experiment with new papers all the time. I have created a post regarding the "Papers I use for my charcoal drawings". After using Canson Mi Teintes, I am quite convinced that it will be an added paper in my list for charcoal drawings. It has this beautiful sanded smooth surface ( which I also use for my pastel drawings ) which takes on the charcoal pretty well.

Sometimes it takes just one drawing to come to a conclusion and there are times when you want to check a paper/paint again and again and you are not really sure if it is going to work for you. 

Monsoon at Malshej Ghats

Charcoal drawing on Canson MT paper.

Size 5.5" X 7"

Initial stage of charcoal drawing

The above image shows the initial stages of the charcoal drawing wherein I have "Blocked In" the different elements in the scene, namely the sky, the mountains slopes etc using charcoal powder and my other blending tools.  The distant mountain slopes are kept light and without any details to create atmospheric depth.

In the subsequent layers I use the pencils and the kneaded eraser to create the highlights and shadows

The photograph from Malshej Ghats

which inspired me to create the charcoal

drawing such as above.

While on location, I try and take a few different photographs with different compositions and later after a little editing I use the image that looks good to to be converted into a painting. I also do a few quick "Thumbnail sketches" using my charcoal pencil and sketch book to roughly block in the value scale in the scene. It always helps. 

Follow my latest works and techniques on INSTAGRAM , where in I post my latest artworks regularly. 

A water colour study work of A Cloudy sky at the beach

"Watercolour is probably the most satisfying of all mediums. Although difficult in the beginning, after practice its mysteries will unfold, providing the utmost pleasure for the dedicated." Robert Lovett

Water colour painting is getting fun. Painting a little every day is helping me loosen up my style. It is a great learning process. I am moving ahead one step at a time.

The painting below is something that I wanted to try out since long ie a cloudy scene during monsoon in Goa. The landscape in Goa during monsoon is magical.With the onset of rains the sky changes dramatically into different shades of gray and blue. With every new painting, I get to explore a little of colour mixing. For the grays in the sky I have used ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. The three primary colours too mix to give a good gray colour. 

The paper that I have tried out for this painting is Brustro 300 gsm. It is difficult to do wet on wet on this paper as it starts drying up pretty fast, which then leaves hard edges. Therefore for my future works I will have to rethink about this paper as I am more for wet on wet works.

Monsoon Magic

Water colour painting on Brustro paper

5.5" X 7.5"

My art is about finding simple beautiful scenes in nature and bringing them to life on paper, to relive the happy moments for ever. Presently I am trying out the seascapes and mountainscapes in water colour medium but later some day I would want to do forest scenes too. Before getting to the forest landscapes I need to get a proper understanding of the "Mixing of greens" which can be very intimidating. I am in no hurry and would love to go slow, one step at a time.

My sincere thanks to all the visitors for browsing through my works.