What pastels should I buy? This is probably the most common question I get from those who are just starting out in soft pastels. And it’s often followed by: I’m so confused! It’s a simple question, right? But, the answer isn’t so simple.
Every day on my walk, there’s at least one thing that will catch my eye. Inevitably the camera (well, my phone) comes out, a pause to compose, and snap. And sometimes, someone else will pause to see what I’m noticing. They may even ask me about what’s caught my eye as there’s nothing obvious, that
The October 31-pastels-in-31-Days Challenge is well behind us now. The primary purpose of the Challenge is to get something painted each and every day. And this can be oh so hard!! One thing that helps me make this daily practice happen is having a sketchbook of thumbnails. Why is this useful? Because a lot of
I’m not going to lie to you, staying the course of a 31-day challenge isn’t easy. But having done our 31-pastels-in-31-days Challenge for seven (!) years in a row, I now know that there’s a rhythm to it, a rhythm to the challenge. Let’s have a look at that rhythm and how it relates to
Many of you will know Karen Margulis and her work. (And if you don’t, where have you been?!) I’ve always admired Karen’s work as well as her consistency in painting and commitment to teaching. I’ve often thought about inviting her to guest blog but it was when I started seeing Karen’s postings of amazing and
Another painting in my Gallery Goers series is done! It’s such a great feeling when you think a painting is finished. But then I came back a few days later. Something wasn’t quite right. I hadn’t noticed it while working on the piece – too close to it physically, mentally, and emotionally. I needed some
I remember the moment I encountered the work of Olga Abramova. It was at the 2019 IAPS exhibition in Albuquerque. I walked in and saw this large painting of a bodhum with a steaming cup of coffee in front of it. A couple of jars completed the scene with the whole thing set contre-jour. This
“I’m crushed! I haven’t been chosen for a juried show.” This type of pronouncement by those not selected for a juried show is what a juror knows they’ll hear but that certainly doesn’t make it any easier. Recently I had the honour and anxiety of being Juror of Selection for a Society show. I say
I’ve been enjoying artwork by Jory Mason for sometime now (definitely go check out her fabulous Great Dane portrait that I wrote about here) but it was her announcement that she was illustrating a children’s book that spurred me to invite her to write a guest blog for HowToPastel. I wonder how many of us
Lightfastness in pastels. Is this something you’ve given any thought to? I have. And I haven’t. To tell you the truth, somehow, I thought we already had a general standard for lightfastness in place. Schmincke pastels from Germany note lightfastness on the pastel wrapper – five stars mean excellent lightfastness, one star, definitely fugitive. But
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