About the Workshop

Here’s a rare opportunity to learn from one of the country’s foremost pastelists! For beginners or pros, you will benefit from time spent with this dynamo! Pastel as a drawing and painting medium, an examination of related materials, various methods of application and the aesthetics of creating a piece of art will all be covered. Students will work on both still life and figurative subject matter with lots of personal, at–the–easel instruction.

What to expect in this Pastel Workshop

Day 1
Morning: Demo on paper—drawing
The characteristics of pastel—both a drawing and a painting medium
The materials: pastels—pencils, hard, less hard, soft
The surfaces—paper, sanded surfaces, boards, canvas
The strokes: how to apply the stick to the surface
Afternoon: Participants practice (still life), instruction at each easel

Day 2
Morning: Demo on board—painting/wet underpainting
Color—the great strength of pastel—theory, how to control color
Afternoon: participants practice (still life), instruction at each easel

Day 3
Morning: Demo—figure painting
Afternoon: participants practice (figure), instruction at each easel

Day 4
Morning: discussion on the care, framing and shipping of pastels. participants practice (figure or portrait)

Day 5
Morning: putting it all together—the issue of aesthetics; how to make a work of art.
Demo: aesthetic decisions
Afternoon: students select a subject that interests them and practice aesthetic decisions in creating a work of art with pastel workshop closes with show of participants work and brief discussion of challenges it presented and how they were tackled