Water colour Paintings on cartridge paper by Manju Panchal

Two small water colour works.

Created two small water colour paintings using wet on wet techniques on ordinary cartridge sheets.

Forest with wet road and the reflections of the trees and foliage, followed by an apple on a folded 

fabric. Since these are study works for me, I normally use inexpensive paper like cartridge paper.

Some time later I may use it as a reference to create a larger piece of work.

Water colour paintings ( cartridge paper )

Mountains and slopes - painting in watercolours - by Manju Panchal

KALPA - Himachal Pradesh

This painting shows the view as seen from the high hills of KALPA, ( small town in kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh ). Created from a reference photograph, ( our holidays June 2014 )
Walking along the road soaking in the beauty around us, the chilled atmosphere, the quiet surrounding, it felt so much like heaven on Earth.

The paper used for this water colour painting is FABRIANO ( 200 gsm ) and the 

colours used are Camel artists quality water colours. I have added a hint of pastels though, on the road.

View from Kalpa

Water colour painting on Fabriano paper

Available for sale

We also visited NAKO, TABO, KAZA......and went up right till KUMZUN PASS. I will be creating

more paintings referring to photographs of these beautiful places.

For more information on unique places to go for holidays

visit the site www.bcmtouring.com

A site with a whole lot of information for all nature lovers.

My palette for water colour paintings

The Folding Palette 

Years back I had picked up this folding palette which i did not put to use earlier as I had got into charcoals, pastels and other mediums. Hence recently when I began using it I realised how convenient it is. It is made from lightweight plastic, so you can hold it steady for as long as you wish to paint. It has a  hinged thumb hole which is deep enough to hold short-handled brushes and small paint tubes. 

The small rectangular depths are perfect to put in the different colours from tubes. The bigger rectangular depths are perfect for creating the mixed colours that are required.

The palette in folded state

The open palette with colours in it.

Over a period of time I have realised that I use certain mixed colour schemes a lot. So more or less my

each rectangular space is fixed for a particular colour. The violets, the greys, the dark greens and so on.

It saves me a lot of time and once done with the painting, I fold the palette and keep it aside.

Thumbnail sketches done in water colours - by Manju Panchal

Loosely done water colour sketches

The five paintings done below have been done on different occasions on cartridge sheet using Camel artists water colours. They are more or less like study sketches or thumbnail sketches where I have used the brush

strokes very freely ( wet on wet technique ) just to get an overall idea about the results or what it would like

if I were to create it in a bigger size. 

There is a landscape, a foilage created using spray technique, a wet street scene, 

a slice of melon ( as placed on my dining table ) and the last one is done out of imagination. A wet road

with reflections. 

I have used the App PicCollage to put together these five different sketches together.

Carol Marine - An artist with great still life works

An artist I admire - Carol Marine

During one of my browsing sessions I came across a you tube video of Fine Artist Carol Marine.

She has a very different style of creating the still life works and her paintings are amazing.

I follow her works even now. She is from Texas, USA

Do watch her video as given below. ( COURTESY : YOUTUBE )

A Demo session by Fine Artist  CAROL MARINE

New Header for my Blog

Creating a NEW HEADER for my BLOG

After almost six months of regular blogging , I felt the need to change the header. Putting together
some of my paintings in App PicCollage I went about creating a new one, adding my signature to the
extreme right. Feels good to see the new Header.

Creating a BLOG has helped in the following ways

• I have a personal space where I can put up all my works
• My paintings are getting a better exposure
• It gives me an opportunity to review all my works under one roof
• Gets me connected to more people who are so much into art like me.

Water colour painting - The greens by Manju Panchal

After the seascapes and the still life water colour paintings, it is time to do landscapes with trees. The greens can be very intimidating with so many different hues. Especially when one cannot get the colour that one

desperately needs. Lot of mixing of colours and most important PATIENCE. 

I almost ran out of patience but the best thing that happened is that I completed it. Both the paintings as shown below have been done on Indian hand made paper and I have used Camel artists quality water colour tubes.  

Water colour painting of forest and a single tree.

Water colour painting of Colva beach in Goa by Manju Panchal

Water Colour Painting - wet on wet technique

Using Camel Artist's quality water colour paints I have created this watercolour painting of a stormy sky using wet on wet technique. To create this painting I have referred to my Goa holiday photographs. ( COLVA BEACH ) 

Had come to watch the ocean , got caught up in the sky. The beautiful evening sunrays gently falling
on the surface of the seawaves, it was a an enriching moment.

Colva beach, Goa

Water colour painting on Indian handmade paper

Size 9" X 11" ( Including mountboard )

Creating a painting from my own photograph is like bringing to life the beautiful moments of past and then reliving them.

I recently browsed through the water colour paintings of Indian artist Milind Mulick and found them
absolutely amazing. He resides in Pune and has years of experience with water colour medium
and it shows through his works.

Water colour paintings with a touch of soft pastels by Manju Panchal

Water colour paintings - A little experiment

It is not always that a painting turns out as desired. Many a times things go wrong and it is precisely in these moments when one is forced to think of an alternate solution. During such moments one experiments wtih inovative techniques. If it works, then it works. If it does not, then at least there is this satisfaction that one tried instead of giving up.

Below are two different seascapes in which I was trying out complicated skies using wet on wet technique and things did not go quite the way I wanted. So I kept it aside and later decided to experiment with my soft pastel collection. The soft pastels worked well on the Indian handmade paper as it is a bit rough
and the pastels got fixed on it. My two paintings almost got a second life. Some day I would love to try a mixed media painting using both water colours and soft pastels on it.

Two Seascapes

Water colour and soft pastels on Indian hand made paper

Still life oil paintings put together - by Manju Panchal

Arrangement of small oil paintings on the wall 

I have made several 6" X 6" small still life paintings on canvas and posted them individually 

on my blog. In order to get an idea as to what will it look like when put together as a collection on the wall

I used PicCollage App and AVIARY App for editing to create this collage as shown below.

This is one way of putting them together. I will be posting more different ways in which three or
two long art works can be placed together. The way paintings are framed and put up
in the right way on the wall makes a big diference in enhancing the looks of the house.

This arrangement when placed in kitchen area or dining area adds a lot of colour

to the surroundings.

You can also check out for Art Arrangement at this site

http://www.bhg.com/decorating/home-accessories/wall-art/plan-the-perfect-art-arrangement/

I found it helpful.

Charcoal paiinting of clouds above - by Manju Panchal

Charcoal Painting on Scholar drawing paper

Last week when I was down in my residential complex waiting for a friend to arrive, I looked up at

the sky and the composition of the clouds in the sky looked very appealing. The very dark clouds were

so low and the setting sun was reflecting light on the clouds above.So I clicked a photograph

using my mobile. The photo was not very clear but I wanted to use it as my next subject to create

a charcoal painting on Scholar drawing paper.

I used SCHOLAR drawing paper quite some time back when I was doing my portraits in charcoal. 

When I started the initial drawing and shading it looked simple but as I began the shading and blending
I realised that I had to take care of perspective and all the different layers of shadows. Nevertheless I enjoyed doing it. I used CHUNKY CHARCOAL from CRETACOLOUR and CONTE charcoal pencil. Since it is more of a study work for me I did it on a small sized paper. 

The clouds above

Charcoal Painting on Scholar drawing paper

Size 5" X 7" ( excluding the mountboard )

White soft pastel painting - still life composition by Manju Panchal

This White soft pastel painting on black paper is done in a loose manner, more of study work, to get an idea of the folds of a cloth and the shading involved in creating the depth. 

Moreover I wanted to check out the white pastel work on FABRIANO ELLE ERRE paper. This paper is rough on one side and has horizontal in built lines on the other side which gives a textured effect on the art works created on it.

I created this composition by placing the metallic container and the cloth on top of a tall wooden 

shoe rack and then I let the light from my living room window fall on it. it is great fun to create a 

painting from a live subject in front of you.

The folds

Soft pastel on Fabriano elle erre paper

The Fabriano Elle Erre paper is available in many different colours and are quite good

to work on if you are into soft pastels.

Water colour painting - demo work by Manju Panchal

Water colour painting WORKSHOP - Demo work

Created this water colour painting as a quick demo work, avoiding too many details. 

Since the technique used is wet on wet, the painting gets completed in about fifteen to twenty minutes

but to get things right one has to have real control over the water and colours in the brush.

once the colours are rendered it is difficult to erase the mistakes as in other mediums.

This water colour painting of a beautiful landscape with the evening sky is done on a small sized Indian handmade paper using Camel artists quality water colours.

The painting got completed in two layers. In the second layer glazing was done, and even wet on dry

technique was used.

The Evening Sky

Water colour painting on Indian handmade paper

Water colour painting of Leh Ladakh landscape by Manju Panchal

This is my fourth water colour painting in the Leh Ladakh series from a reference photograph.
I selected the photograph because I liked the composition very much but photographs always do not capture
the natural lights and shadows well. The photograph was a bit dull with lots of greys in the foreground.
Hence I added a few colours to add warmth to the painting.

For me it is very important that I do a realistic work. The work when complete should make me feel the atmosphere as the PAINTING is depicting. There should be this " FEEL GOOD " factor. AND most important aspect of my day today painting and drawing experience is that " I LEARN ALMOST EVERYDAY". I learn because I make mistakes and that makes me rethink my strategy to overcome
the problem. It makes me put in more efforts and the efforts always have a positive outcome.

The Road Ahead

Water Colour painting on Indian Hand made paper

Size 9" X 11" ( Including Mountboard )