Pangong lake - A soft pastel painting

A painting inspired by nature

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads." Henry David Thoreau Walden

Nature inspires me to draw, sketch and paint. Any place beautiful triggers the artistic cells in me and I get charged up to commence my artwork. It is a continuous cycle, a never ending quest to keep performing. The painting as below has been inspired by Pangong Lake ( 14270 ft ) Ladakh. I have not been to Leh Ladakh but many of my friends who have been to this heavenly place, keep providing me with the beautiful reference photogaphs and I cannot resist the temptation to paint the amazing scenes.

For this particular soft pastel painting I have used Fabriano Tiziano paper. Many of my earlier landscape paintings have been created on this paper and it has a texture which is pretty similar to Canson Mi Teintes. I love both these papers.

The mountains in the backdrop, the tranquil lake with ever changing shades of blue can carve beautiful memories in a person's mind. Most people who visit Leh Ladakh say that words are inadequate to describe the beauty of this place.

Pangong Lake

Soft pastel painting on Fabriano Tiziano paper

Size 5.5" X 7.5"

Some time back I posted an article about the papers I use for my soft pastel paintings and to know more about you can CLICK HERE.

Fabriano Tiziano paper can be purchased from Amazon or Snapdeal. I purchased quite some time back from Flipkart. It is available in different shades but I purchased a pad with black coloured paper.

I am addicted to painting and ideally would love to paint and blog everyday but owing to so many different factors I am unable to do so. However as and when I get time I paint and blog and it gives me immense satisfaction to be able to do so. Thanks to everyone who has been browsing my site at some time or another. Would appreciate if you leave a comment.

The snow capped mountains

" I put my heart and soul into my work, and I have lost my mind in the process." 

 Vincent Van Gogh

Created four more study works in water colour medium using my photographs from Himachal.

I have also used a few photographs from Leh Ladakh trip which were provided to me by a close

friend of mine. 

Most of the paintings as below are done with very limited colours. Since a major part of the 

landscape is covered with snow, the other colours that I use are ultramarine blue, crimson, 

burnt sienna, sap green, raw sienna and sometimes Indian red.

I keep creating these small works and then when I want to create a larger work then along with

the photograph I use these water colour sketches. After completing each one of them, I write a

few notes under each of these paintings, as a reminder to myself regarding some new colour 

that I used OR if I have made a mistake and how to rectify it when doing a bigger painting.

Most of the times it helps.

Water colour study sketches

of snow covered mountains

as seen in Himachal

and Leh-Ladakh

Leh, Ladakh - water colour painting by Manju Panchal

Another water colour painting in the series of Leh Ladakh Painitngs.

It has been great fun doing these beautiful snow capped mountains, creating shadows and rocks.

Makes me feel so close to nature. The serenity in the atmosphere is so captivating.

I have used Indian hand made paper and Winsor and Newton water colours to create this

water colour painting.

Leh Ladakh journey

Water colour painting on Indian hand made paper

Size 8" X 11" ( Including mountboard )

What I love about water colour paintings is that is that I do not have to worry about storing it

as there is no tension of smudging. I can simply put it in a polythene sheet and stack it in a 

folder for later use.