The Limestone cliffs of Phi Phi Leh

The plan was to complete my soft pastel painting of "Niagara Falls" which I started a few days

back. However I changed my decision as I felt I needed a little more "Analyzing and Planning"

in order to handle certain elements in the painting.

Therefore I went ahead and completed another of my "Phi Phi Leh" series art work. I 

encountered this scene while touring the island in the Long Tail Boat. At one particular turn,

this scene was so amazingly beautiful that I immediately captured it on my mobile. 

The image quality on the mobile did not have much clarity but since I was there and had seen and 

observed it all, I applied my own interpretation and creativity to recreate this scene on Canson Mi 

Teintes paper. The sparkling aquamarine waters and the tall limestone cliffs added so much

beauty to the atmosphere.

The Limestone Cliffs

Soft Pastel painting on Canson paper

Size 6.5" X 8.5"

Before I started the above painting I created a small "Thumbnail sketch" Canson paper.

A thumbnail sketch works like a guideline to help me follow a particular colour pattern, 

the composition, form and shape etc. I do make changes as and when necessary. Creating a 

"Study work" before proceeding with the actual artwork has now become a habit with me and

it helps a lot as I rarely have to discard a painting midway.

Thumbnail sketch

Size 3.5" X 4.5"

Ending with some beautiful words on nature, 

"I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery - air, mountain, trees, people. I thought,
"This is what is to be happy."  Sylvia Plath. The Bell Jar       Courtesy buzzfeed.com

I get inspired by beautifully written quotes and thoughts so I share them on the blog. Some days
we are all self motivated and on other days we look for inspiration.

I am conducting a two days workshop in charcoal as well as soft pastel medium in the last week
of this month ie June 2016. To read more about it CLICK HERE.

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.

Soft pastel demo work on Strathmore paper

A small soft pastel demonstration done on Strathmore pastel paper during one of my recent soft pastel workshops. There is a slight fold/crumple in the paper as can be seen from the image as below. The crumpling of the paper was caused due to the wet brush which I used on the first layer of pastels in order to get an underpainting of basic colours. 

Later I went on to add more colours of similar values and a few details in the foreground. Richard McKinley, a Master Pastel Artist from America uses the underpainting technique in most of his works and I like his style a lot.

Added two small figures on the beach, taking a casual relaxed walk. Painting a seashore is a very relaxing experience and I am always looking out for more subjects based on sea. 

Small demo work in soft pastel medium

Paper used - Strathmore

Size 5" X 7"

An image of the Strathmore pastel paper pad .

It has 24 sheets of assorted colours

Image: coutesy GOOGLE.

Quotation by Einstein

"Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen, and thinking what no one else has thought."

Soft Pastel Workshop

My plan was to continue doing portraits but it got interrupted as a Two days Soft Pastel workshop came up for a private group of four people.It was a welcome change as I got to know people who are passionate about art and I got the opportunity once again to share my knowledge and ideas with them. I basically introduced them to the pastel medium and demonstrated my technique by doing a few demonstrations on different subjects and guided them to pursue their passion.

They did four small pastel works on different subjects using Mungyo, Gallery and Kohinoor soft pastels. The papers used were Fabriano Elle erre, Fabriano Tiziano and Canson Mi Teintes.

Few Quick Demo's done by me as shown below.

Quick Soft pastel Demonstration works

done during a Soft Pastel workshop.

Few soft pastel works created during a recent workshop

Last two days were spent in SOFT PASTEL workshop. I had a participant coming all the way from Mulund and I was glad that at the end of the two days she had created five different works and was happy and determined to continue with this medium. I also had a young IT engineer who is so very passionate about her art and on her request our second day went in creating some complicated landscape. Overall it was a lot of fun.

 Art workshops are a great way of meeting people who are as passionate about art as you. Once together, apart from demo's and serious works, there is lot of sharing that goes on. Sharing one's experiences in the journey of art, sharing of ideas and of resolutions for the future. And lots of ART TALKS. Basically its a lot of fun.

Few of the soft pastel works done by participants during a Two Days Soft Pastel Workshop