Why I love working with Chitrapat handmade paper

“Painting is silent poetry.” Plutarch

“Sky” is a major part of any landscape and painting a cloudy sky can be a challenge. The subject for my today’s painting is an “Evening Sky” and I have used Chitrapat handmade paper for this water colour painting. 

I love this paper and enjoy working on it mainly for the following reasons:

• It is great for wet on wet technique 
• It is available in 270 gsm as well as 440 gsm and hence does not buckle much. 
• It is very economical as compared to imported papers like Arches and Fabriano 
• It is easily available on online stores 
• It is acid free paper

If you have been following me on my INSTAGRAM account, you can browse through a lot of my recent paintings created on Chitrapat handmade paper. I am more regular at posting in my Instagram feed. However for blogging I write a lot more in detail and it takes time so no matter how hard I try to be a little more disciplined, it eventually gets a bit delayed.

Dusk
A water colour painting on Chitrapat handmade paper
Size 5” X 7”

Chitrapat rough textured pad

Info printed on the pad

Close up of the rough textured Chitrapat handmade paper paper

For most of my watercolor paintings, I use a mix of Winsor and Newton and Camlin Artist watercolor tubes. They are both good in their own ways.

Painting in watercolor medium is a beautiful experience. All I need is a palette, a few brushes and a paper. It’s very convenient to carry it along when travelling. I plan to pursue my water colour passion for a long time ahead. 

Thank you for visiting my blog and browsing through my artworks.

Fishermen returning home - A watercolour painting on Arches cold pressed paper

“Dance with the waves, move with the sea, let the rhythm of the water, set your soul free”. C A Martine

Today's post is a water color painting of a scene that I came across while I was at a seashore in Goa. Through this painting I wanted to capture the monsoon atmosphere, a cloudy evening sky and its lovely reflections at the beach. The fishermen are returning home after their day out at sea. The painting is also intended to tell their story. For painting the small figures in the distance, I made use of my rigger brush.

I have used Arches Cold pressed water color paper for this painting which is made of 100% cotton fiber content, acid free, pH neutral and air dried. I am loving this paper as it stays wet for long and helps me to add more colors slowly to increase the tonal values. I have used very few colours in this painting and it is almost a limited palette painting.

Returning home

A water colour painting on Arches CP paper

Size 5” X 7”

I take workshops in different mediums from time to time and if you are interested in learning my techniques drop me a mail at manjupanchal5@gmail.com or DM me at INSTAGRAM account.

Thank you for stopping by and for browsing through my works.

Using Chitrapat handmade paper

"To draw, you must close your eyes and sing." Pablo Picasso

I love the above quote by Picasso. Painting is an amazing phenomenon. I do not know about singing but yes it does transport me to another world where it's me, my colours and my art. It is a kind of meditation which relaxes me completely. Not painting on a particular day makes me restless and so I look forward to doing some art everyday irrespective of the size and the medium.

Today's post is about Chitrapat handmade paper ( I had been reading great reviews about it since long ) which I recently purchased from Art Station. Unfortunately the stationery store did not have the Matt version so I decided to go with the rough surface pad. 

Normally when I begin my first painting on a new paper I go for a small size. It takes a couple of paintings to get to know and understand the paper. The subject I selected is “An evening sky” and I gave a suggestion of a few houses in the distance. I loved the paper and enjoyed working on it mainly for two reasons. First reason being it is great for wet on wet technique and secondly it is 270 gsm and hence does not buckle much.

An Evening sky

Water colour painting on Chitrapat paper 

Size 5” X 7”

I feel good working with this new paper and sometimes it takes just one painting to feel the connection. I have a feeling that this paper will work for my kind of techniques. Prashant Sarkar, a water color artist has posted several of his videos on youtube and he has used Chitrapat paper for most of his paintings. It is inspiring to watch other artists create beautiful works.

Posting below some images of the Chitrapat Handmade paper pad and information printed on it.

Chitrapat Handmade paper pad

Close up of the rough textured 

Chitrapat handmade paper

Info printed on the Chitrapat handmade paper pad.

When I like a particular paper then I try and include it in my "List of favorite papers" and Chitrapat is definitely going to be one of them. Very soon I shall post another work created on the same paper.

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

Small water colour study works on hand made paper

Apart from soft pastels and charcoals, I love the water colour medium and try to take out time for small works, as and when possible. The paintings below are inspired by the beautiful beaches of Goa namely Uttorda beach and Benaulim beach. I visited these beaches in August end last year. Both these beaches are rather unexplored and tranquil beaches. Perfect for relaxation. Through these two works I got to do two different skies.

Benaulim beach, Goa

Water colour study work on hand made paper

Size 4.5" X 5.5"

Uttorda beach, Goa

Water colour study work on hand made paper

Size 4.5" X 5.5"

Hand made paper works really good for the wet on wet technique as it holds the water for a long time and I get to add colours slowly. However it is not an acid free paper. Therefore I am planning to start using the Arches cold pressed paper very soon. It is expensive but one of the best and widely used by water colour artists around the world. 

A beautiful quote on water colour painting - 

"Master water first and then paint." Josh Goldberg. 

Plein air sketching - Cloudscapes

"Plein air sketching" or in other words "Painting on location" can be a very enriching experience. I tried my hands at painting clouds as seen on a clear day just outside our Coorg Homestay. All three works as given below are Graphite works ( 3B and 4B pencils ), small in size and are done in my Travel sketch book.

What I enjoyed the most was that I could very clearly see the values, the shapes and I agree with all Plein air artists when they say that painting on location is so much better than painting from a photograph. A photograph never captures the details and colours as eyes can see personally. However if plein air is not possible then a combination of both works well with me as of now but I do plan to do more of Plein air sketches and paintings.

Since clouds were shifting every two minutes and were changing their shapes and shadows as well, I had to be quick to get the basic shape and shading in less than five minutes and I took another ten minutes to complete the shading based on my observation.

Plein air sketching of

Cloudscapes

Size 4" x 5"

All the cloudscapes as done above are either in early morning or just before sunset. Some time later I could make use of these study sketches in creating water colour paintings or I could use it in one of my pastel landscapes.