HowToPastel Archives

Showing Results for: Featured Artists – In their own words

Anna Wainright, "Night Comes," 2015, pastel, 9 x 12 in, Private Collection

Anna Wainright And Her Evocative Landscapes

The pastels by Anna Wainright have awed me over and over again ever since I discovered this artist a couple of years ago.  I featured one of her pieces in one of my first monthly round-ups and I remember having the dickens of a time choosing between three paintings! So I’m tickled pink that she’s here to tell

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Vianna Szabo, "Blue," pastel, 14 x 11 in

Vianna Szabo On Making Your Pastel Palette Work for You

I first met Vianna Szabo at the 2013 International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS) Convention. I was doing short interviews and I asked her what got her into her studio everyday. (You can see her answer at the end of this post!) Since then I have been an admirer of her work and featured “Pause” in last May’s monthly

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Jen Evenhus, "Wheatgrass Waltz," pastel on UArt paper, 9 x 12 in

‘Leave It And Love It!’ Exclaims Jen Evenhus

Bold colour. Confident strokes. Clear value pattern. Strong design. These are all phrases I would use when describing work by Jen Evenhus. And they are all things I admire and strive for in my own work. So you can imagine how pleased I was when she agreed to share one of her ideas about painting

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30 Paintings in 30 Days: Takeyce Walter, all pastel, all 6 x 6 in. Days 18-21. From top left clockwise: “Sunset Clouds,” “Hudson Shadows,” Winter Sunset Over The Cornfield,” Winter Shadows”

30 Paintings In 30 Days With Takeyce Walter

30 paintings in 30 days – that’s quite the challenge. One artist who was successful in taking on the challenge recently is Takeyce Walter. I featured one of her lovely pieces in January’s monthly curation and it occurred to me that it would be fascinating to hear all about the process of creating 30 paintings in

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Rita Kirkman, "Counting Sheep," 2015, pastel, 32 x 32 in - sold

Rita Kirkman Has This To Say- It’s Not About The Animals!

I’ve known about Rita Kirkman’s work for a few years now. I can’t remember when I first came across it but I do know she’s been an active blogger for some time. I featured one of Rita’s pieces in my monthly round-up (click here to see it) and finally met her at IAPS last year. It was

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Pirkko Mäkelä-Haapalinna, “The Last Page,” 2015, pastel and pumice on paper, 18 1/8 x 27 1/8 in (46 x 69 cm). “This painting is a metaphor about the end of person’s life as the last page is the end of the book. In this you can see the fragile lines that reach out of the picture to express hope. In the middle of the painting I used pumice-powder mixed in liquid casein to give a relief-like feeling."

Pirkko Mäkelä-Haapalinna – Painting The Essence Of Everyday Life

I have been following Pirkko Mäkelä-Haapalinna ever since she burst onto the Pastel Society of America’s Facebook stage. I featured her painting, “Memories,” last March in my monthly curation of work seen that month, and so I was so pleased to hear it had won 3rd prize in the abstract/non objective category of the 17th

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Ellen Eagle, “Winter 2006-2007,” 2006-2007, pastel on pumice board, 17 1/4 x 16 5/8 in.

Ellen Eagle – Portraits As Contemplations

I met Ellen Eagle at the 2013 International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS) Convention where I bought her marvellous book, Pastel Painting Atelier (see link at the bottom of this post to purchase). I asked her to sign it and then had the gumption to ask her to do a short video interview with me.

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Damilola Opendun, "Red Building," 2014, pastel on paper, 9 x 12 cm (3 1/2 x 4 3/4 in). Available. I took the liberty to really express my first impression about this place. This is a typical house in the Makoko community but the painting is not about the building but about the beautiful evening light."

Damilola Opedun – Up and Coming Nigerian Pastellist

Today, the 25th of October, is International Artists Day and in recognition of the day and to honour its mandate (“To celebrate the contribution all artists make to society by promoting and raising their credibility and visibility locally and around the world”), I invited Nigerian pastellist Damilola Opedun to join me as a guest on

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Daggi Wallace, "Elliott," pastel, 12 x 12 in

Daggi Wallace On The Ins And Outs Of Commissioned Work

For some time now, I have admired the work of Daggi Wallace. I featured one of her paintings in my October pastel choices. I knew Daggi did a lot of commissions and thought info on doing commissioned work would be a great topic for a blog. Happily, when I asked Daggi to write a guest blog, she

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