When Gifting a Painting Feels Like a Leap of Faith
Friday, 21 March 2025
Painting Workshops & Retreats
2026
Upcoming Events:
Costa Rica
2-11 April 2026
Imagine winter – ugh. And then…think about warmth and colourful, lush vegetation. About quiet and a perfect place to paint. About fresh mountain air and food that’s so delicious you can’t believe it how good it is. About a place that feels… magical?
Well, I’ve got just the thing – my Art Retreat in Costa Rica
We had a fabulous Zoom session about this art retreat. If you missed it, you can watch the recording HERE. Let’s Pastel in Paradise!
Minnesota
11-13 May 2026
Things are still being finalized but we’re looking at a wonderful three-day workshop with the Lake Country Pastel Society.
Stay tuned for all the details!
Dakota Art Pastels
23-25 September 2026
Limited Palette, Maximum Impact
Discover how less really can give you more. In this three-day workshop, you’ll explore how working with a limited palette actually expands your colour choices (yes!). Rather than being overwhelmed by scores of pastels, you’ll learn to harness a focused set of colours to build paintings with expressive power. We’ll dive into how value underpins everything, how colour relationships work in practice, and how choosing fewer sticks encourages bolder decisions and a stronger, more personal artistic voice – your voice.
Sicily
23-31 October 2026
MARK YOUR CALENDAR!! The details of this workshop aren’t yet on the website but you can get a sense of what it’s all about here (my friend Mel Williamson’s workshop this October!).
We will be staying at the Hotel Sopra le Mura in Castellamare del Golfo. Pick up will be Palmero Airport on the 23rd, drop off on the 31st.
Contact Raffaele with any questions at: raffaele.villanobile@gmail.com
2025
CORFU, Greece
5-12 October 2025
FULLY BOOKED! 🎉
But hey, you can join the waitlist because, you know, life happens…and you never know!!
Sooooo excited for this retreat.
COSTA RICA
4-13 December 2025
Art Retreat with Martine, the fab organizer of Rainforest Escape. Last time, it was pretty darn incredible!! The workshop still has space. AND there’s a special deal if you sign up before the end of June 2025!
PAST Events:
Hood River, Oregon
3-5 September 2025
🖍️The Northwest Pastel Society – Luminous Layering with a Limited Palette. Details about this three-day workshop are now available here!
Currently FULL but life happens and being on a Waitlist can pay off!!
(I will also be jurying and judging the NPS Members Exhibition! 😁)
SANTA FE, New Mexico
4-7 June 2025
“Expressive Color with a Limited Palette“
This four-day workshop will be studio based. Presented by Bluebird Studio, there is still space so sign up soon!
ICAN
30th, May 2023
The workshops will include a variety of breathtaking locations chosen to inspire your creative work. Subjects will include architecture, perspective, landscape, and most articularly texture, tone, and colour, working with the clarity of light that is so much a part of Tuscany’s natural beauty.
Cornwall Festival
20th, August 2023
Gail balances her art practice with creating content for her well-respected blog ‘HowToPastel’ and her online art membership IGNITE! She loves to travel and combines that with her love of teaching, offering workshops worldwide. Her pastels and accompanying instruction are featured in the book ‘Artist’s Drawing Techniques.’
2022
Pastel Live Online
August 18th-20th, 2022
The workshops will include a variety of breathtaking locations chosen to inspire your creative work. Subjects will include architecture, perspective, landscape, and most articularly texture, tone, and colour, working with the clarity of light that is so much a part of Tuscany’s natural beauty.
TUSCANY JUNE 2019
June 18th-20th, 2022
During this 10-day workshop, our focus will be working from life. Much of our time together will be spent painting outdoors on location but since we are lucky enough to have a studio on site, we’ll also spend some time there too.
We’ll go through the process of creating a painting en plein air step-by-step, from choosing what you’re going to paint, to simplifying the scene, to drawing up a thumbnail (a getting-to-know-you tool which also shapes a value pattern for your painting as well as a good composition), to blocking in the big shapes as an
2022 IAPS Convention - Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico
June 18th-20th, 2022
Gail balances her art practice with creating content for her well-respected blog ‘HowToPastel’ and her online art membership IGNITE! She loves to travel and combines that with her love of teaching, offering workshops worldwide. Her pastels and accompanying instruction are featured in the book ‘Artist’s Drawing Techniques.’
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Favorite Tutorials
15 Minutes To Paint En Plein Air In Cayman
Friday, 14 March 2025
Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures…In Art
Friday, 7 February 2025
Getting Back To The Easel…With Rufus
Friday, 24 January 2025
Taking Time in Tuscany – Sketch Your Way to Better Paintings
Friday, 6 December 2024
From Snapshot to Painting
Friday, 4 October 2024
Painting Reflections on Water
Friday, 20 September 2024
Latest Edition
What Is A Studio, Really?
Friday, 3 April 2026
Do you need an art studio in order to paint regularly? Perhaps the better question is: what makes a space support your return to the work?
Recent Guest Artists
Michael Freeman On Surviving the Competitions Rollercoaster
Friday, 19 December 2025
Entering art competitions can be exciting, daunting, and deeply personal. In this guest post, Michael Freeman shares thoughtful, experience-based insights into navigating the competitions landscape — from deciding whether competitions are right for you, to improving your chances of acceptance, and handling disappointment when things don’t go your way. Grounded, honest, and practical, his reflections help artists approach competitions with clarity, resilience, and a stronger sense of self.
Alain Picard – Four Keys to Creating Beautiful Portrait Backgrounds
Friday, 20 February 2026
Portrait backgrounds can make or break a painting. In this guest post, Alain Picard shares four simple but powerful principles for creating backgrounds that truly support the portrait.
Cory Goulet: Painting Without a Map
Friday, 22 August 2025
Cory Goulet dives into her process of intuitive abstraction, where bold marks, colour, and courage meet discipline and practice. Discover how she balances chaos and harmony, lets intuition lead, and creates work that is both spontaneous and deeply intentional.
Colette Odya Smith On How To Grow As An Artist
Friday, 23 May 2025
Colette Odya Smith shares honest, inspiring lessons from her own art journey—full of growth, reinvention, and being your own teacher.
Susan Kuznitsky On Simplifying Complex Subjects
Friday, 20 June 2025
Guest Susan Kuznitsky shares how she approaches complex subjects in pastel—from crowded café interiors to a crowd of grandchildren (yes, really!). Through years of experience, she’s learned how to simplify without sacrificing richness, and how to suggest detail without overworking it. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by too much going on in a scene, this is the read that’ll help!
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Gail Sibley
Artist. Blogger. Teacher.
My love of pastel and the enjoyment I receive from teaching about pastel inspired the creation of this blog. It has tips, reviews, some opinions:), and all manner of information regarding their use through the years – old and new. Please enjoy!
