Bon Voyage - A water colour painting on Canson Moulin Du Roy paper

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working." Pablo Picasso

I am posting today after a very very long time. It has been a long break but I have been active on Instagram. Instagram is great for artists and other professionals as well, however I have been missing my blogging a lot and hence have decided to take out time to get started once again with my blog.

Blogging helps me to write a lot more and share my experience as I continue to paint and explore different mediums. Of late, I have been addicted to water colour medium and am creating small works on different subjects which include seascapes, mountainscapes and other landscapes as well. I intend doing cityscapes too but after a while when I get more comfortable with my brushes and palette.

Today I am posting a water colour painting that I created a while ago on Canson Moulin Du Roy paper referring to a photograph taken by my husband. The focal point in the painting is the Cargo vessel which has just sailed out from the port towards its new destination, which can take a long number of days. I used wet on wet technique for the sky as well as the mountains.

Canson Moulin Du Roy is a fairly new paper to me and I am beginning to like it. I shall write a little review about it in one of my upcoming posts. It is available on Amazon.in but I got my 9' X 12" pad from Spain through a very good friend of mine.

Bon Voyage

Water colour painting on Canson Moulin Du Roy CP paper

Size 5.5" X 8"

It takes a whole lot of paintings, to understand and feel the connection with a particular paper. I am definitely enjoying working with Canson Moulin Du Roy cold pressed paper and since I have a few sample pieces of hot pressed version of the same paper, will try out that too. 

I am planning a two days water colour workshop on the 17th and 18th of November and if you are interested in registering for the same, you can mail me or send a DM on my Instagram page.

Thank you for browsing through my artworks and being a part of my art journey.

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.

Fog at the distance - A charcoal drawing

"Without good drawing, the foundation of a painting will collapse." Ken Danby

 Today's post is a charcoal drawing of a landscape with fog in the distance and a fence running along in the foreground. The inspiration for this drawing has come from a photograph by Garry Hayes, a geologist who writes a very informative blog Geotripper.com.  I go through his blog frequently and enjoy reading the contents.

I have used Camlin pencil, charcoal powder and willow charcoal to create this artwork. Creating the fog using the different tools was an interesting experience. What I enjoy more than the drawing is the exploring and experimenting that enables me to discover new techniques to handle different elements in a landscape. For example in this painting I needed to create the grass and I wanted a little texture in the foreground. So I used the charcoal powder, the willow charcoal and after a little blending created the strokes of grass. It worked well.

Sharing a beautiful poem that I came across on "The Fog" by Carl Sandberg

The fog comes 

On little cat feet

It sits looking 

Over harbour and city

On silent haunches 

and then moves on

Carl Sandberg

Fog at the distance 

Charcoal drawing on Canson Mi Teintes paper 

Size 5” X 7”

My charcoal tool box is a collection of miscellaneous pencils of different brands which I have been purchasing for the last many years. When you enter an art store and come across something new and different you cannot resist buying it. Many a times it has happened that I have gone and purchased a pencil after reading a whole lot of reviews on the net and yet to my disappointment discovered that it is does not work for my kind of technique. Does this discourage me from buying more pencils? Not at all. I do that even today. It is a small investment compared to the happiness that I achieve by experimenting and exploring which in turn helps me to learn a little on a daily basis.

Frequently used charcoal tools

in my charcoal tool box.

Thank you for browsing through my blog and if you wish to attend my Charcoal drawing workshop, you can register by sending a mail at manjupanchal5@gmail.com