Using Arches 300 gsm cold pressed paper

"Master water first and then paint." Josh Goldberg

Gurudongmar Lake is a stunning lake situated at a height of 17100 ft above sea level in north Sikkim.
The lake can be reached by road from Lachen via Thangu. The approach road from Thangu to Gurudongmar passes through a rugged and enchanting terrain with high alpine pastures covered with many rhododendron trees. It is a difficult journey and most tourists leave Lachen early morning by 4 or 5 am as it takes three to four hours to reach the lake. However once the destination is reached it is an unbelievable sight and the beautiful view all around is mesmerising. To me it was like a dream come true.

Before creating any painting, as a rule I always create a few study works which helps me simplify the shapes, understand the values and colours. Creating a study work also helps me to decide on my technique that I would apply in order to create that particular work. Sometimes it is wet on wet and other times I go with wet on dry technique. I have used my newly purchased Arches cold pressed paper for this painting and if everything works out well I may use it as my preferred choice for water colour medium.

Gurudongmar lake

Water colour painting on Arches cold pressed paper

Size 7" X 9"

In conclusion, I enjoyed working with Arches cold pressed paper. It has a great textured surface which is ideal for landscape painting and being 300 gsm, it can hold water for long and does not buckle much. I am planning to create a seashore painting next on the same paper. After creating a couple of works on this paper I will be able to understand its quality better.

Thanks for visiting my blog and browsing through my artworks.

More Pencil drawings in my sketch book

"A true artist is not the one who is inspired, but one who inspires others." Salvador Dali

If you have been following my posts you will know that some time back I started off small pencil drawings in my sketch book, which has forty cartridge sheets in it. In the last few days I managed to add a few more in the same book. Some of these are demo works that I created for two participants who attended my ART WORKSHOP. ( Pencil/Graphite drawing )

Since these are more of study works, I normally decide on spending not more than twenty minutes on each of them but it never really happens this way. Most of the times I get carried away and I want to do just a little more of detailing here and there and then I realise that I am actually spending more than thirty minutes on some of them. But it is fun. I create these when I am done with all my serious artwork and have a few minutes to myself to experiment and explore some new subject. This is also a great way of doing value studies. 

Pencil drawings in my sketch book

Each sketch is sized 4" X 5.5"

Presently I am working on my Coorg Pastel Landscape which is almost complete. The next step is to photograph it, edit it and then post it. I am also posting my old as well as new works now on

INSTAGRAM. 

If you like my artworks and techniques please do share it with friends. Thanks for stopping by.

One morning at Vaddi beach in Goa - A soft pastel painting

Painting a seascape

Seascape is my all time favorite subject. I have done a series on them. Painting a beach scene has always been a very relaxing experience.

The soft pastel painting below is a scene from Vaddi beach, Benaulim in South Goa. We were at this beach in monsoon last year. It is a beautiful white sandy beach and the wild creeper as seen on the right appealed to me a lot. I have also created this very scene earlier in water colour medium.

One morning at Vaddi beach

Soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper

Size 6" X 8"

The pastels that I used for this particular painting can be seen as below. I selected these shades right at the beginning and then added more colours as and when required. 

The different soft pastels used for creating

the painting as above.

A Quote

"Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment." Claude Monet

Working with Cretacolour 8B water soluble graphite pencil

Water soluble graphite pencil

Adding new art stationery has become a norm. It is exciting and challenging at the same time. It adds to a change in the otherwise day today routine work which in my case is "Working with charcoals and pastels". 

I purchased Camlin water soluble sticks in March 2016 and enjoyed creating a few study works using the same. I am a big fan of "Black and white works"  and the art created by using these water soluble sticks gave the feel of water colour painting.

In order to work a little more on this medium, I went ahead and ordered 8 B Cretacolour water soluble graphite pencil from Amazon so that I could use it in combination with Camlin water soluble graphite sticks. These days before ordering stationery online I make it a point to read the reviews about the same. It helps a lot as it saves a lot of disappointment later.

Given below are the six small 4"X 5.5" landscape paintings ( Using water soluble graphite ) which I created in my  new sketch book that I purchased recently. In most of these works I started off with the initial drawing and shading with the 8B Cretacolour pencil and after running the wet brush at places, I let it dry. In the second stage I picked up the dark tone from 8B Camlin stick using a wet brush to apply it at places where I felt needed darker values. I am enjoying these water soluble pencils and am even contemplating buying the DERWENT brand which is available online at a very competitive rate.

Cretacolour 8B watersoluble pencils.

Camlin water soluble

graphite sticks 2B, 4B, 6B.

"In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Demo works of forest scenes created during my ART WORKSHOP

I recently conducted my usual Two days soft pastel workshop. The first day is like a warm up 

for the participants where in they understand all about the soft pastel medium, the papers, the techniques etc. and then go on to create simple works like seascape and landscape with mountains. 

On the second day I normally go about doing demo works of forest scenes, wherein I explain 

my step by step technique that I follow to create a landscape starting with the sky,

followed by the trees, bushes, the pathway etc. The painting technique that I follow normally

completes in two layers of soft pastels.

These demo works are normally completed in a duration of thirty to forty minutes each and

I add a few details here and there once the workshop is complete. Both the demo works as seen

below are done on Canson Mi Teintes paper are done with reference to my photographs from

Coorg. ( Madikeri )

Two soft pastel demo works done during

a Two days soft pastel workshop.

Since I am working a lot with soft pastels these days, I decided to experiment and explore.

I used a Prussian blue coloured hand made paper ( with textured surface ) and created a 

seascape on it using soft pastels with an underpainting created using wet brush

 on pastels. Just an experiment to check out if pastels work good on

 handmade textured paper. Will post the image of my experimental work soon.

Vaddi beach in South Goa - water colour painting

"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it."

Pablo Picasso

I love painting seascapes be it any medium. I find it very relaxing. The time spent near the seashore hearing the sound of waves crashing at the shore and the tranquil atmosphere kind of rejuvenates the body and soul.  

This year in the month of September we visited many of the pristine beaches of South Goa. I had the opportunity to click many photographs with my new Canon 7D camera. Using these photos as reference I plan to paint some of the beautiful seascapes.

The water colour painting as below is of Vaddi beach which is situated in South Goa. We spent a lot of time at this secluded beach as it is not a prominent tourist spot and therefore it is not too crowded.

I loved this simple composition and enjoyed painting this scene but am still struggling with the greens. In the meantime I am reading a lot about colour mixing so as to get the theory into practice.

Vaddi Beach
Water colour painting on Indian hand made paper
Size 10.5"X 14"

Thanks for visiting my blog. You can browse through my works at INSTAGRAM too.