Watercolor paintings of Icebergs on Chitrapat handmade paper

“The real subject of every painting is light.”

Claude Monet

A few months ago, I happened to come across beautiful documentaries on nature on NETFLIX. The more I watched, the more I got fascinated and then my art journey took a new turn. I started painting “Icebergs” and “Glaciers”. Ideally, I would love to experience these beautiful marvels of nature myself, however I do believe that I can travel to these places via my paintings. When I create them on paper, I actually feel the atmosphere bit by bit using my brushes, paints and my thoughts. The final outcome transports me to these lovely places and I am practically in a different world.

For reference photographs, I normally browse through free sites like PIXABAY and UNSPLASH.

At times I also ask permission from photographers and travelers, and give due credit to them once the painting is done. More details about the paintings posted below can be seen on my INSTAGRAM handle, where in I am more regular at posting my works. If you have observed already, I am more into using a limited palette in each of my paintings below. When I post on Instagram, I normally mention the colours used which can be anything between three to five colour hues. ( Each colour hue could be made of one or more colour pigments ). Lesser the better. 

The paints, the brushes and the paper matter a lot when creating a Watercolor painting. I am still learning, experimenting and exploring but have realised that Chitrapat handmade paper is wonderful as it is great for wet on wet technique. In paints I majorly use Camel Artists quality Watercolor tubes and for brushes I will be writing another post soon as each of the brush that I use today has a story behind it and over a period of years I have invested in some expensive brushes which I do not regret as they have made a lot of difference in the quality of my works.

Aerial Drift

Watercolor painting on Chitrapat handmade paper 

4” X 5.5”

Gentle Drift

Watercolor painting on Chitrapat handmade paper 

3.75” X 5.5”

Watercolor painting on Chitrapat handmade paper 

4.5” X 6.5”

Resting on the blue

Watercolor painting on Chitrapat handmade paper 

5.25” X 8”

I have not been very regular at writing posts for my blog. However if you love my works you can follow me on INSTAGRAM. 

Dramatic sky at the beach - A water color painting

"Smell the sea and feel the sky, let your soul and spirits fly.” Van Morrison

There are days when you get to witness the dramatic sky at the seashore. The diffused sunlight through the clouds, reflecting on the waters below made for a good composition. Inspired by this scene ( Photo reference: minera13/Pixabay ) I created this watercolor painting on Fabriano Acquarello watercolor paper.

I got more involved with watercolor quite recently and before getting into this medium, I went on to purchase many different brands of watercolor papers. Fabriano Acquarello happens to be one of them. So in the past few months I have tried all the papers at hand, and got to know so much about each one of them. ( Check My INSTAGRAM account  ). Now that I have resumed my blogging I will try and post a little about each one of them.

Fabriano Aquarello ( 200 gsm ) is a student grade watercolor paper, however in this category I find it pretty good to use. It is a professional grade, acid free paper and economical too.

Dramatic sky at the beach
A watercolor painting on Fabriano Aquarello paper
Size 5” X 7”

In the above painting, I used both Camlin and Winsor and Newton cotman tubes. My palette consisted of very few colors and I like it that way. It helps in simplifying my painting procedure. I enjoyed working on the sky. 

As I already mentioned, I am presently totally involved in watercolor medium but soon plan to get back to my charcoals and pastels.

Thank you for visiting my blog and browsing through my artworks.

PIXABAY - Free reference images for painting.

"It is in the silence of nature where one will find true bliss." j.j.c  ( Courtesy: Pinterest )

In December, I created a charcoal drawing of the scene as below to understand its basic tonal value structure.It is a beautiful landscape depicting "Fog and mist". I have referred to a photograph taken by Thomas B, Deutschland.( Courtesy: PIXABAY ) I am grateful to Mr Thomas for uploading this photograph and making it free for commercial use.

This photograph reminded me of my own visits to Mahableshwar and other hill stations during monsoon period when we would encounter such marvels of nature and hence inspired by the foggy lake scene, I created this water colour landscape using very limited colours from Camlin. The dark foliage and the drooping branches on the left pushed the other elements in the distance, creating depth. With this painting, I inaugurated my newly purchased rigger brush and Raphael mop brush. One of these days I shall create a post about the different brushes that I use to create my water colour paintings.

Fog and mist at the distance

A water colour painting on hand made paper

Size 7"X 10"

I am working on a few more water colour paintings before I make a switch to soft pastel medium, so keep browsing. Pastels are fun and I am very excited with the thought of getting back to them. 

To know about my upcoming workshops in different mediums CLICK HERE

Thank you everyone for visiting my blog and INSTAGRAM page.

Making a mark - Using willow charcoal

"If I create from the heart nearly everything works: if from the head almost nothing."

 Marc Chagall

I have a big data bank of photographs and study sketches as a reference but at times when I am looking out to create a particular subject I never seem to have one in your collection. After doing my last foggy landscape I got interested in creating yet another one. So I decided to browse through PIXABAY which has a big collection of photographs and they are free for commercial use.

Today's charcoal drawing is with reference to a foggy landscape photograph taken by Thomas B, Deutschland. I am grateful to him for having shared his works on Pixabay so that artists like me can use them as a study reference. This scene gave me the opportunity to work on the background trees and bushes with lost edges, fog in the distance, reflections in the water and branches drooping low in the foreground. I have used charcoal pencil and willow charcoal to create the dark leaves and branches which pushed the background in the distance creating depth.

A charcoal drawing is all about "Mark making techniques". We all hold the a pencil in a different way, creating strokes and marks that we feel is appropriate for a particular element. For instance, in charcoal drawing as below I have used "Willow charcoal" extensively. I used its tip to create the foliage, whereas for the background I used it sideways. I am creating marks to convey the shape, the rhythm and the energy in the elements in the scene. This is my way of working with the willow charcoal and being self taught, I do not follow any particular rule. Tomorrow I may change my style a bit if I find it better. This the journey of art and I am enjoying every moment of it.

The Haze

Charcoal drawing on Cartridge paper

Size 6" X 8.5"

In my next charcoal drawing, I plan to use the General's Compressed charcoal which helps create a very dark black and is great to create textures while using sideways.

Thank you all visiting my blog and keep browsing for more charcoal works that I will be posting soon.