Workshops

Still Life

Still Life provides such a wonderful opportunity for painting, because there are bits and bobs around us, wherever we are. A great passion to ignite in all artists!

Each session in this series of standalone workshops will focus on a different aspect of the pastel painting of still life compositions. Exploring how to draw a collection of objects and their relation to each other within a composition, and then how to complete the painting using pastels.

Please see the photos opposite and the Workshop Calendar for the individual workshop themes. Areas we will cover will include the introduction of different objects for different textures, glass bottles for shadows and reflections, and looking at the refraction of a single stem.

Pastel Techniques

This course is just as suitable as a refresher for an artist who hasn't touched their pastels for a long time or has always wanted to have a go at painting with pastels, as it is for an absolute beginner.

The idea of these workshops is to develop a student's dexterity and skills with pastels and a variety of papers.

During the course I will cover all techniques, basic to advanced and experimental mark making. Mark making being a fundamental building block in art and is how you begin to express emotion and movement.

We will explore scraffito, liquid/pastel under painting, blending and knowing when to stop to allow a pure mark to shine through, basic colour theory and when and how to use different pastel paper textures, including specialist papers for their expertly designed surfaces.

At the end of the course, you will have all the information on papers and techniques you need to start to practice on your own and be able to slot into any of my other workshops.

Landscape

For this series of standalone Landscape Workshops, each will feature a different famous landscape painter.

Please see the Workshop Calendar for details of which painter I am featuring at which workshop.

We will look at each artist's unique way of observing and interpreting the landscape in order to experiment with our use of pastel mark making and colour palettes.

We will explore what is involved in developing your concentration and observation skills to produce an interesting composition and your use of pastels to paint the textures of that particular landscape.

We will also work on your ability to use colour effectively and be expressive in your paintings with your colour choices and mark making skills.

You will need your own landscape photos to work from.

Sea and Sky

We will spend half a day painting clouds and skies and half a day painting seas.

Both are really pleasurable and meditative subjects but with totally different techniques.

Colour Theory Part 1

When you are using paint you can easily mix your primaries and see how they make some secondary colours. Whereas pastels are all powder, so we have our colours made for us already.

But we still need to know what's cool, what's warm, what's light, what's dark & everything else. So really understanding the different emphasis of colour theory for pastels is a vital part of painting with and using them and is why I have developed this sequence of 3 full day workshops.

In the first workshop, we will look at how to identify colour and how to create it. For example we will look at something like the colour beige and if we imagine just our primary colours, a black and a white, how are we going to actually physically make beige?

We will explore a colour's temperature, tone and purity. Whether it's vibrant, dull, bright, subdued, saturated or a desaturated colour. Essentially, we will deconstruct the colour, so we know how to re-create it.

A great opportunity for beginners or experienced artists, who simply need a refresher, to gain, or renew your knowledge, experience and confidence in using colour, knowing its construction.

Included in the cost of the workshop is a set of 18 pastels. Primary, secondary and tertiary colours I have picked out from the colour wheel. There are 12 colours which make up the colour wheel and I have also included a black, a white and 4 greys to use throughout the sequence of 3 workshops.

The Colour Wheel set is a beautiful selection and will complement any pastels you may already have.

Colour Theory 2

When you are using paint you can easily mix your primaries and see how they make some secondary colours. Whereas pastels are all powder, so we have our colours made for us already.

But we still need to know what's cool, what's warm, what's light, what's dark & everything else. So really understanding the different emphasis of colour theory for pastels is a vital part of painting with and using them and is why I have developed this sequence of 3 full day workshops.

An essential element of colour theory is colour relativity.

In this second workshop, among other practical exercises, we will observe a simple still life subject, experimenting with a variety of colour palettes to witness the changing relationships between the chosen colours.

Students will need to have attended the Colour Theory 1 workshop and we will use the Colour Wheel set of pastels from the first workshop.

Colour Theory 3

When you are using paint you can easily mix your primaries and see how they make some secondary colours. Whereas pastels are all powder, so we have our colours made for us already.

But we still need to know what's cool, what's warm, what's light, what's dark & everything else. So really understanding the different emphasis of colour theory for pastels is a vital part of painting with and using them and is why I have developed this sequence of 3 full day workshops.

How do we make use of colour theory in our pastel painting practice?

In this third workshop, from your own photo or sketch, I will guide you through the process of using your knowledge of colour and technique to create a balanced and expressive piece of work, liberating you from the static procedure of simple copying.

This will open up your artwork generally for further development.

Students will need to have attended the Colour Theory 1 and 2 workshops and we will use the Colour Wheel set of pastels from the first workshop.

Pastel Session

This is a single 3 hour session intended to give you a taste of pastel techniqiues if you are a beginner or new to this medium, or to focus on a particular subject or techniqiue if you are a more experienced artist.

A Pastel Session is a fun idea for a birthday present or ideal to concentrate on for example learning or improving pastel mark making, landscape or still life.