Sketching a Mountainscape using white pastel pencil

The black Strathmore Artagain 400 series paper is fun to work with. I have not tried the pastel chalks on it, however the white pastel pencil works really fine on its smooth surface. After my last work that I created recently, I was inspired to do another one on the same subject.

Therefore I went ahead with my next creation of yet another of my "Mountainscape" in this series using the white pastel pencils. The source of light in the sketching below is from the right and hence accordingly I had to work out my highlights and shadows. 

White pastel art work on a black paper is a great way of doing a "Value study".

The Peak

White pastel pencil sketching on black paper

Size 4.5"X 5.5"

"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary." Pablo Picasso

White pastel pencil sketching on Strathmore paper

A beautiful, inspiring Quote...

"Learning never exhausts the mind." Leonardo Da Vinci

Sometime back I posted my white pastel sketching of a Mountainscape which I created on

Strathmore 400 series black paper. I enjoyed creating the sketch and had it in mind to create

a few more in the same series because I felt that this is a simple sketching process which is not 

very time consuming and in return helps to understand the unique aspects of each mountain range with respect to scale, form, value and detail. 

For the sketching below I have once again used the snow mountains as a reference. The source of light is from the left which helps in deciding on the light and the dark values. The black colour of the paper acts as the darkest value. 

The slopes

White pastel pencil sketching on black paper

Size 4.5"X 5.5"

I have used three different pastel pencils to complete this work namely Conte, General and Cretacolour. In the initial stage I use only Conte as it is lighter and much smoother in

comparison to General and Cretacolour.

Conte, Cretacolour and General white pastel pencil

5" X 6.5" Small value study of a landscape, using white pastel pencil.

After having created a landscape with snow mountains, ( As in my last post ), I got interested
in doing another one. However this time I decided to use a small piece of Strathmore 400 series.

The white pastel pencils I used are from General, Conte and Cretacolour. The black colour of
the paper acts as the darkest value in this landscape sketch.Towards the end I have used a little of
white soft pastel chalk from Kohinoor to create the brightest bright of values.

Small value study work

Size 5" X 6.5"

White pastel pencil on Strathmore 400 series ( Black paper )

" I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing."  Vincent Van Gogh

I truly enjoy drawing and sketching. Be it charcoal on white paper or pastel pencils on toned

paper, it gives me immense satisfaction. Until some years back I was mostly creating charcoal

and pencil sketches on white paper. It's only recently that I have started exploring the other

options like working on coloured papers ( Mainly Canson Mi Teintes ).

I have also started another art work ie a Forest scene on beige coloured Canson 

paper, using only charcoal pencil and white pastel pencil. The work is in progress and I will be posting it as soon as it completes. 

Tonal value study of a Landscape

Today's post is a tonal value study of a landscape with mountain and slopes.

The fun part is that I did not do it alone. I had an artist friend over at my place. She has done her
fine art from Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore. Whenever we meet we create a small piece of
art. This time we had about three hours of time between us so we decided to try out a tonal value study sketch on Black Canson Mi Teintes paper. This work required the use of only white pastel pencils and a kneaded eraser.

So we went ahead and created this white pastel pencil sketch. Apart from the sketching we
had a lengthy discussion on art related topics. We also decided to meet more often as it gives
us an opportunity to interact, share and create more art.

Tonal value study of a Landscape

with mountains and slopes.

White pastel pencil work on Canson Mi Teintes paper.
Size 5"X 7"

"The first things to study are form and values. For me, these are the things that are the basics  of what is serious in art." Jean Baptiste Corot. ( French Painter )

The quote as above speaks a lot about what every artist feels and experiences in life. To get
better at anything we have to get the basics right. Value study helps in rendering the colours
in a very effective manner.

Thanks for browsing through my artworks. 

On the way to Dhankar Monastery

"Nature is not a place to visit. It is home."  GARY SNYDER

Dhankar is situated at a high altitude ( 12744 feet ) in Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh . Reaching Dhankar and viewing the world around literally makes you feel at the top of the world. Painted below is a Commission work in watercolour, of a beautiful scene at Dhankar. It is situated between Tabo and Kaza, two beautiful small towns surrounded by deserted, barren land and mountains.

The air is pure, the wind chilly, the clouds so clearly visible in the sky. There are homestays for tourists which we were unaware of when we visited about more than two years back. Had we known, we would have stayed there for may be two full days soaking in the breathtaking views.

Dhankar, Himachal Pradesh

water colour painting on Fabriano paper

Size 14" X 18"

Not available for sale

For this particular painting I have used Fabriano water colour paper. I purchased the Fabriano water colour pad of 24 sheets some months back as it was on a discount. This paper is cold pressed, 300 gsm and fairly good for landscape works. But for wet on wet paintings I would prefer the Arches.

Fabriano studio water colour paper pad.