Painting a beach scene in water colour medium

"You only fail when you stop trying." Albert Einstein. A very meaningful quote by Einstein.

When I paint, I just paint. I do not think about failure or success. To me the journey of painting is more important rather than the final outcome. It's a day today routine. To paint, to try out something new. If it does not work, then I plan out an alternate technique to get the desired result. End of the day it makes me happy that I tried out rather than just sitting over it.

Given below is a Simple beach composition which I tried out on Arto Campap watercolour paper using the water colour medium. I created this work using one of my photographs from Langkawi, Malaysia.

I am quite happy with this paper but unless I create a few more works I will really not be convinced about using it for long term in the future. So the plan is to keep on painting different subjects to understand more about the different features of the paper and get accustomed to it. I am also in the process of checking out the Fabriano Artistico Cold pressed paper which

Morning at the beach

Water colour painting on Arto Campap paper

Size 5" X 7"

"Seashore" as a subject appeals to me a lot and I don't think I will ever get tired or bored of painting beaches. CLICK HERE to view one of my favourite beaches that I have painted in the soft pastel medium. I will get back to soft pastels but after a little while. As of now I want to continue my water colour painting adventure.

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Thank you for all your support.

Looking back - Soft pastel paintings of seashore

"Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things." 

Edgar Degas ( Soft pastel artist 1834 - 1917 )

I am a big fan of soft pastel works by Edgar Degas and always take out time to browse through his works. It is very inspiring.

Having an "Art blog" is like maintaining a digital record of all one's works. Sometimes I browse through my own works which I created in the past. I do it so as to observe, analyse and do a little study of the design, composition, colours and techniques that I used to create a particular work.  

I am posting below three of my favorite seascapes that I created using soft pastel medium. The top two were inspired by my visit to Langkawi island in Malaysia and the last one in the series has been inspired by the white sandy beaches of Florida.

Soft pastel paintings of Seascapes 

created in the past

Browsing through old works brings back some pleasant memories and it also motivates me to continue working with my art.   

For most of my soft pastel paintings I use Canson Mi Teintes paper which is acid free and comes in many different shades. I have posted earlier about "The papers I use for my soft pastel paintings" and you can click on the link to read the same.

Thank you for browsing through my works.

Painting the greens

We were at Kilim Geoforest in Langkawi, Malaysia, two years back. ( Ecotourism 

destination )The soft pastel painting below is from a scene at one of the beaches that we 

visited while we were touring the island. 

When I see something beautiful in nature I photograph the place so that I can create an 

original painting in future referring to the same. However some scenes are complicated 

and intimidating so I keep postponing my decision to paint them. This scene has been one 

of them but the place was so beautiful that I knew some day I would be painting it.

I finally took the decision of getting it started last week using my soft pastel medium.

It went through various stages of correction but nevertheless I completed it. 

Some art works become a source of great learning experience and this happened to be one

of them. I had to paint the foliage in background as well as in the foreground, taking care of

the cool and warm colours. The greens cannot be created by mixing of different pastels as this

is a dry medium and too many layers can cause the "MUDDY EFFECT". Hence I have to

depend on all the greens available from different brands. 

This particular painting has lots of greens and blues in it and to tone it down I have added

the warm browns at places. Overall it was a tedious affair but lots of fun too. Every painting

poses a different challenge and this challenge keeps the interest going.

Amidst the greens
Soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper.
Size 6" X 9"

Kilim Geoforest park is a beautiful place with an ancient heritage, countless natural wonders, 

home to myriad of flora and fauna, and a vibrant local community of Kilim village. It is a must

visit place for all nature lovers, artists and photographers.

One of my favorite paintings from Langkawi that I painted in 2014 is as below. 

Soft pastel painting on Fabriano Tiziano paper

SOLD

My plan as of now is to continue working on both Landscapes as well as Portraits

and to blog more regularly. Will be posting another soft pastel painting soon

created referring to my recent visit to Phi Phi Islands.

Thanks for browsing.

Three seashore paintings in water colour

"The vision must be sharper than the pencil." Bob Brendle

Painting seashore using Camel Artist water colour tubes.

All three paintings as below are sized 4"X 5".They are done on different papers like Canson Montwal, Canson Vidalon, Handmade paper etc. Every paper is different with respect to its texture, thickness etc and I like to experiment with my techniques in order to get a better understanding of the paper.

After having done a series of such small works I may settle down with the papers which suit my style of working. Presently I have small samples which I picked up some time back from ART LOUNGE, the art stationery shop at Churchgate.

The top two water colour paintings are from Goa reference and the lowest one is from Langkawi beach. I am working on some more water colour painitngs of landscapes and seascapes and will be posting the images soon.

My works can be seen on Instagram and Deviantart as well.



Adding colours to a Seascape ( Langkawi island )

The pastel painting below is created with reference to my photograph taken at  Langkawi 
( Malaysia ). All my recent works of beaches have been created on Twilight paper by Canson. 

I decided on this reference photograph as it gave me the opportunity to work on the background trees and forest, wherein I have not created any sharp edges and the details too are subdued. I have added darker and more saturated colours in the foreground tree which is casting its shadow on the sand.

Morning at the beach

Soft pastel painting on Canson paper

Size 6" x 8

Using willow charcoal to create foliage

The scenes below are from Langkawi, Malaysia. We were at this beach Pantal Pasir Hitam, also called the Black Sand Beach, located about two kms to the west of Tanjung Rhu beach. This is a very peaceful stretch of beach stained with black sand. The colour is owing to mineral contents in the sand such as iron oxide.

Both the photographs which I took while at the beach, are my favourites. As an artist when I take a photograph it is always with the intention of painting the scene some day. Some scene just strikes a chord and the composition seems just perfect.

While on a holiday at times we are just rushing from one place to another and it is not always possible to create a study sketch on the spot. Hence the next best thing to do is use the photograph.

I chose these two photographs mainly because of the contrast, the light and the dark. It gave me an opportunity to use the willow charcoal to create the dark foliage against the light background

Hitting the shore

Charcoal painting

Size 6" x 8"

Faraway
Charcoal painting
Size 5" x 7"

Quote : " Learning never exhausts the mind." by Leonardo da Vinci

Very inspiring quote and I continue to learn by my day to day art endeavours and experiments. 

Centai Kok - White sandy beach of Langkawi

Given below is a small study work done in soft pastels on red coloured Canson paper. The beach is Centai Kok from Langkawi, Malaysia. Langkawi island is in the north west of Peninsular Malaysia and has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. We visited almost all the beaches on the island as we had hired a car and that made it very easy for us.

Instead of the normal black or dark brown coloured paper, this time I chose a red coloured paper to see its effect on the overall painting. Little red of the paper shows through in the painting and I feel its ok as it adds a little warmth at places. Overall I feel using a complementary colour at times is not a bad idea.

White sandy beach

Soft pastel painting on Red Canson paper

Size 6" x 9"

Painting a beach scene has been a different experience altogether as now I have the sky element which in turn will have clouds. Must try out more such compositions where a major part is sky.

Langkawi series - third soft pastel painting

Every beach that we visited in Langkawi had a different story to tell. The landscape, the rocks, its flora and fauna are breathtaking. The KILIM geoforest area has been declared a heritage site.

The still waters, the tranquil atmosphere and the rocks underneath the water, made for an amazing sight. Nature has so much to offer and we as common citizens need to be aware of its significance thereby doing simple things such as keeping it clean. 

The water had so many different shades of greens and blues and it was quite an experience creating this work. For quite some time now I have been working solely on landscapes and seascapes and plan to continue doing the same. One reason being that I want to have an exhibition of my works may be five to six months from now. Secondly I am enjoying the challenges that I come across in my day to day painting subjects. It helps me grow as an artist. 

Beach at Langkawi

Soft pastel painting on Fabriano paper

© Manju Panchal

The blue green waters at the shores of Langkawi - Pastel painting

While at Langkawi during our holidays, we were at a private secluded beach surrounded by rocks and caves. The gentle blue green waters hitting at the shore made a beautiful sight and I have made an attempt to capture the scene in my soft pastel painting done on Fabriano Tiziano paper.

I recently purchased this Fabriano paper pad from FLIPKART.COM where it was available on a good discount and I am enjoying the experience.

The gentle waves

Soft Pastel painting on Fabriano paper

I have a big collection of many different photographs taken at all the different beaches of Langkawi island. My next pastel work in progress is once again of a lush green forest in COORG which I am doing referring to my photograph taken during our morning walk while we were holidaying in COORG. One reason why I am frequently painting the Coorg landscape is because the place is absolutely amazing. Secondly, we have been to Coorg on three different occasions and I have clicked photographs on all possible locations.