“Blue and green should never be seen” – ever heard that saying? It’s an oldie that generally applied to fashion and home decor. Personally, I could never understand it as I’ve always loved blues and greens together – think green trees against a blue sky!! BUT, I’ve found a place where blue and green really
If you know me, you know I LOVE colour! I love painting with bright colours and then, when needed, layering pastels to create greys. This de-intensifies the saturated colours. Seeing colours in greys can sometimes be tricky. It all just looks grey! With time, deep looking, and the tips below, you’ll see the colour that’s
That’s a rather bold statement I realise but I mean it: Paint anything with this set of soft pastels! And the set I’m talking about is my brand new set of 36 pastels just launched by Unison Colour. It’s the one that’s taken me two years plus to develop. So why did it take me
A couple of months ago, I published a post where framer Mitchell Jones and I chatted about a number of topics around the protective aspects of framing. As pastel artists, we need to protect our artwork from the elements (and curious fingers!). In our chat, among other things, we talked about glass choices and the
I’m recently home from a wonderful and relaxing getaway to Ontario (yay to a bit of travel!!) where Cam and I spent time with family and friends. Part of our trip was a week at the White family cottage on Big Rideau Lake where I planned to do some pastelling en plein air. I hadn’t
I’ve written on this topic of translating your thumbnail before (click here to read an earlier post on it), but I think it’s good to repeat the idea as it does tend to be a stumbling block for many students. So what am I talking about? You create a black, white, and grey thumbnail and
Pastel paintings need to be protected…that’s just the way it is. A piece can be smudged (and changed dramatically) if left uncovered or at least where fingers other than yours can get at it! That pastel pieces need to be protected before putting them on display is probably the main downside to using pastels (and
Recently in my IGNITE! art-making membership, I asked members: What’s your favourite lesson so far? Happily, many of them said they found it difficult to make a decision (“A difficult question- each lesson has been so valuable”) but one of the lessons that emerged as a group favourite was the one on value dominance. And
Recently in my IGNITE! art-making membership, a member asked about how to make an interesting painting from a boring photo. This isn’t an uncommon question. I’ve also been asked: “How do I the greyness that I see in my photo more colourful in my painting?” Or how about this: “I was so taken with the
One of my HowToPastel subscribers recently reached out to me. She’d been invited to demo in an open space, with COVID-19 precautions in place, but was feeling too afraid to do it. (Her fears weren’t related to the pandemic.) Because I’d recently demoed at Peninsula Gallery where my mini solo show was hanging, I knew
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