Working on an unfinished portrait drawing

"I invent nothing. I rediscover." Auguste Rodin

Hand made paper is not my my preferred choice of toned paper for portrait drawing. The two papers that I would love to use today are "Canson Mi Teintes" and "Strathmore toned paper". However the portrait drawing that I am posting today is a work that I started quite some time back on hand made paper and for some reason it was left a little incomplete. Therefore I spent some time working on it and finally completed it.

I do not have much of this hand made paper ( 300gsm ) left with me and after working with Strathmore and Canson paper I realised that the texture and quality of the paper matters a lot when it comes to drawing and sketching. I have also ordered a new Strathmore book of Toned warm tan papers and would be using one of the sheets soon.

A portrait study
Charcoal and white pastel pencil drawing on hand made paper
Size 5"X 7"

During my earlier years of drawing I exclusively worked with charcoal on white paper. Its much later that I discovered the beauty of working on toned paper. So these days I try out both the options ie charcoal on white paper as well as toned paper. 

Thank you for visiting my blog and to browse through my works in Gallery format you can visit my INSTAGRAM page.

Step by step -Water colour painting on hand made paper

"The artist does not see things as they are, but as he is." Alfred Tonnelle

It feels good to be blogging once again after a long number of days. I have not painted much for a while as I have been busy travelling. 

The water colour painting that I am posting today got completed last month just before I left home for my holidays. Its a painting which has been inspired by "A Journey to Ladakh". Ladakh is one of my dream destinations and some day soon I plan to visit this place with famuly and friends. The reference photograph for the painting below has been provided to me by a close friend and I am thankful to her for the same.

It is a 11" X 14" painting on hand made paper and I have used Camlin Artists water colour tubes for the same. To view my Palette, CLICK HERE. 

The road to heaven

A water colour painting on hand made paper

Size 11" X 14"

Posted below are the steps involved in creating this water colour painting. I have used both, the wet on wet and wet on dry techniques to complete the above painting.

Step 1. Wet on wet, creating the sky and distant mountains

Step 2. Adding the foreground using flat brush and painting the 

mountain in the foreground using warm colours

Step 3. Adding details on the mountain slopes using

wet on dry technique

While I was away, I carried my small travel sketch book, water colour palette, two round brushes, few pencils and an eraser in order to create some plein air paintings provided I got time and opportunity. Fortunately on some days I did get a good view from the Homestay where we were put up and I managed to create a few small water colour study works. I shall try and post them soon.

In the meantime I am also gearing up to get started with my portrait works. I also have plan to create a few landscapes especially with reference to some beautiful photographs that I took while I was at Gurudongmar Lake in North Sikkim.

Thanks for browsing through my works and do visit my ART WORKSHOP page in case you are interested in taking one of my workshops to learn the basics of different mediums.

A little experimenting with textured handmade paper.

I mentioned in my last post about experimenting and exploring the new possibilities of using

the textured hand made paper ( From Sun Papers - Fort ) for my soft pastel paintings.

The soft pastel painting of a seascape is a quick study work on blue coloured hand made

paper with beautiful textures on it. I wanted to try out the underpainting with water 

before adding the second layer of pastels.

After having drawn the rough outline with white pencil, I blocked in the initial colours in 

my usual technique and then instead of blending the colours I ran a wet brush over the sky, 

followed by the other elements. Everytime I painted on a different coloured area, I made 

sure that I washed the brush again in clean water. After having done that, I let the paper 

dry. The paper being thick, fortunately did not buckle.

Once the paper was fully dry, I added the second layer of pastel colours and a few details 

at places where required. In all I enjoyed using this paper. It is very reasonable too. I 

purchased it long time back but I think it should not be more than Rs 60/- a sheet.

Seascape on Blue handmade paper.

Just an experiment.

I love soft pastel medium because of its rich and vibrant colours. Moreover it is a dry

medium and one does not have to wait for it to dry. We do not need many tools around.

Just the pastels, a kneaded eraser and a sheet of paper. 

The pastel colours do not fade or crack in time. I do not have to worry about the painting

catching fungus though I still take precaution to keep Silica Gel around

my art work to absorb the moisture around.

One of my favourite Quotes

"I dream my painting and then I paint my dream." Vincent Van Gogh

The sunlit seashore - a water colour painting.

WISHING EVERYONE A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016.

The new year has finally begun and its time to look back and analyse and evaluate. I have completed two years of BLOGGING and I need to write a post on the series of works that I have created and the mediums that I have explored. Will write a detailed post about it soon.

As of now I am posting yet another of my seashore paintings inspired by FLORIDA. In this particular seascape I have added a lot of warmth and since the colours of the sky always reflect on the land I have used raw sienna in the foreground as the initial layer. The light that falls on the grasses creates beautiful shadows. The footprints on the sand too add a lot of drama in the scene. Without these elements the seascape would not look so interesting and magical.

The Sunlit seashore

Water colour painting on hand made paper

Size 6" X 9"

When I started with the series on water colour seashore paintings my plan was to do a few of them and then change the subject. However I have changed my mind and I may do a few more beaches before shifting to another subject because there is a lot to learn and with every painting my knowledge and experience is adding up. 

Normally when I get into a new medium I start with landscapes, ie seashores and mountainscapes. Its much later that I jump to creating forests as the trees, the bushes, the perspective and all the greens is very very challenging. 

I believe in "TAKING ONE STEP AT A TIME" and I am doing just that.

Enjoying my art as I move on in life.

Morning at the beach

Another of my seashore paintings with reference to the beaches at Florida. I added a little warmth to the sands in the foreground before painting the shadows. The sand dunes help in creating a dramatic composition. 

Presently I am continuing to use the Camel artist's colour tubes but have plans to use my old collection of Winsor and Newton cotman colours too as some of them are drying up. Also the plan is to shift to Arches paper as it has more water holding capacity and is an acid free paper.

Morning at the beach

Water colour painting on hand made paper

Size 6"X 9"

I somehow feel comfortable painting on a common size such as 6" X 9". This kind of an arrangement helps because in future if I have to frame some of my works then I can go and buy Frames of a common size which adds to the convenience. Moreover this size is very easy to store in a Folder.

Walk to the beach - A water colour painting

The water colour painting as below is the second in the series of Florida beach paintings. My experimenting and exploring new colour mixing combination continues. In this particular painting I have used wet on wet technique in the sky using crimson, ultramarine blue and cerulean blue colour. I avoided adding clouds and wanted to keep the sky clear so as to keep the eye focused on the walk towards the ocean.

In the foreground I have made use of fan brush as well as the round brush to create the tall grasses on the sand dunes. The sand dunes have many different plants growing on it with extensive root systems.
Since I am painting lot of sand dunes in my present beach series, I decided to read a little more about it. More information about the subject that I am painting helps me to connect with it better.

Dunes play an important role both to the beaches that front them and the land behind them. Dunes act as a sand reserve for beaches. Dune systems act as a buffer between the high energy of the ocean and the land. Dunes provide a barrier to salt intrusion from high tides and storm surges, and it protects the land behind the dunes from erosion.

Courtesy: http://www.floridaocean.org/uploads/docs/blocks/175/sand-dunes.pdf

Walk to the beach

Water colour painting on hand made paper

Size 6" X  9"

The sand dunes at the seashore - A water colour painting

I finally started the Florida seashore painitngs in water colour medium after having done the water colour study works. The study works help me to follow the same technique as I applied while I was doing the small 4"X 5"painting. Most of the times it works.

The first of my Florida beaches is as below. Creating the grasses was a challenge. I used the round brush sideways dragging the colour upwards. The paint that I lifted from the palette was very dry or else it would have smudged a lot. Later I used the pointed brush to create the long blades of grass. I need to work on the sky and a few more elements and will experiment with some new techniques in my next painting. For the water colour painting below I have used Camel artist quality water colour tubes.

Sand dunes at the beach

Water colour painting on Indian hand made paper.

Size 6"X 9"

By December end I will have completed two years of blogging and a whole lot of paintings and sketchings. Blogging has got me more focused towards my art. At times I just browse through my older works and it makes me realise how one step at a time I have slowly moved forward.

I have some resolutions lined up for the coming year and will be posting about it soon

If you wish to see my creative side wherein I design some unique ethnic home decor 

products then please visit my blog www.ethnikhomedecor.blogspot.in

Experimenting with more water colour techniques

Apart from soft pastel and charcoal medium, I love to try out water colour medium as and when I get time. Doing small water colour works in my sketch book helps me to try out new techniques.

Given below are four more recent water colour study works of mainly seascapes and a forest . I have used my photographs taken at Goa as a reference. In each of them I experimented a little. In the forest scene I used a little of spray technique for the foliage. In others I tried out the sky differently. In all it was a great learning experience.

I love painting seascapes and one of these days I will create an enlarged detailed version of one of these paintings.

Water colour study works

on cartridge paper

I recently came across a beautiful quote which feels so true and most artists will agree with it.

"Educate the eye before you educate the hand. The hand will become cunning soon enough when the eye has learned to see, whereas if the hand be educated before the eye one may never see."

Carolus Duran

Road to Spiti - a water colour painting

After having done couple of small water colour landscapes, I finally decided to take a leap and create a bigger painting.

The subject that I chose is a scene from Himachal, with mountains on either side and a road that curved and vanished in the distance. It was also time to test my new Winsor and Newton mop brush , which I had picked up couple of months back in order to create larger washes on the sky. The other brushes that I use are sable hair brushes from Himalaya Stationery.

Road to Spiti

Water colour painting on handmade paper

Size 10.5"X 14"

As an artist it gets difficult to control one's temptation to buy new art stationery. Everytime I visit an art shop I land up buying more than my CHECK LIST items. On one such occasion I had picked up the Winsor and Newton mop brush and a few other sable hair brushes from Himalaya. I had it in mind to use it some day and when I finally used all these brushes for the above painting it made me happy. Happy because I finally put them to use. Given below is the image of the four main brushes used in the above painting.

The brush at the top is mop brush from Winsor and Newton ( I paid Rs 1000/- for this brush and its worth all the money ) and the remaining brushes are manufactured by

Himalaya Stationery.

Trying out a new handmade paper from Himalaya Stationery ( FORT )

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently came across a handmade paper which I picked up from Himalaya Stationery. Not being too sure about how it will perform, I picked up just one sheet. After trying out three small water colour landscape paintings on them my conclusion is that this paper is a "DEFINITE YES" for me. The cost of each sheet is 35 Rs only and judging it by its thickness, it should be around 180 gsm. This paper holds water well and seems to be working fine with me for the "WET ON WET TECHNIQUE".

Given below are three different water colour paintings on this new handmade paper. I decided to select three different landscapes which could cover the clouds, mountains, sea, land, grassy land, shrubs etc. These are quick studies and I realised how the horizon line has gone haywire in the last two works. Anyways these works were done with the intention of getting the feel of this new paper and I was so very excited.

I have used some of my expensive brushes which I picked up from Himalaya, ie the sable hair brushes. They do make a lot of difference in comparison to the synthetic ones. Will post the images of the brushes that I have used for the present works. In fact I plan to use these brushes for most of my works from here on.

A scene from Himachal Pradesh

Inspired by Goa beaches

As seen in Coorg

My next plan of action is to create a bigger work sized 11" X 16" using water colour medium. But before I embark on a larger sized painting, as a routine I will first create a small thumbnail sketch to have a better understanding as to how the work will look with the technique and colours  that I plan to use. A thumbnail sketch helps me to evaluate my technique and then I can make changes accordingly in the bigger work.

DIY - Create your own travel sketch book.

Somewhere last year when I was looking around for a small sketch book in order to create small art works or study sketches, I did not find what would suit my purpose. Either it was highly priced or it did not have the papers that I was looking for. So I decided to create my own SKETCH BOOK.

I have posted earlier about the same. I had this hand made paper with me on which I was frequently doing small water colour works. So I cut forty small rectangles sized 3.5" x 5" and then took it to the stationery shop and got it spirally bound. This solved my purpose and moreover I got the paper which was appropriate for my works.

I am also planning to create a similar book for my pencil and charcoal sketches but then I will need to place butter paper in between the sheets to avoid smudging.

( Do it yourself )

Sketch book created using hand made paper

There are about six pages still to go so I decided to use them for my Himachal series,
study sketches. This way I also get to experiment with my mediums as I have done in the
 image below where I have used both water colour and soft pastels to just paint for fun.

Small study work for my future painting

water colour and soft pastel on hand made paper

I have also started posting some of my paintings and sketchings on Arti Chauhan's blog http://arti-artindia.blogspot.in. I am thankful to Arti Chauhan for making me a part of her blog and giving me an opportunity to share my works with other Indian artists and the world.