HowToPastel Archives

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Painting an Eggplant: Gail Sibley, "Eggplant and Garlic," Mount Vision pastels on UArt 400 grit paper, 6 x 11 in

Painting An Eggplant And Garlic

I couldn’t decide what to paint for my next video demo until I saw a big beautiful eggplant (aubergine) in the market calling out to be painted! So I created a video on the complexities of painting an eggplant. Have a look.

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Pastelling Outdoors: 10. Gail Sibley, "Summer's Here," Sennelier pastels on Wallis paper, 9 x 12 in, available

Pastelling Outdoors (And Chillin’!) In Oak Bay

Yayyyyyyy, summer’s here in all its glory. That means it’s time to get pastelling outdoors!! For me, it takes some revving up to do when I’m out of the habit. While Cam was away, I made it a goal to start the ball rolling. I took myself out for breakfast (hmmmm…reward first?) then found a

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11. A few more tweaks and for now, it's done! "Garden Corner, Schminke pastels on Wallis paper, 9 x 12 in

Garden Corner – An En Plein Air Progression

There’s so much in a garden to paint – long views and closeups, flowers and garden accoutrements, seasonal changes or a single season, a garden corner or an entire garden – all make for great subject matter! I’m in Ontario to teach at the ICAN Pastel Conference in Aurora during the week. Happily the plan is

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The Importance of Play In Art: 7. I decided I like the painting in the second orientation so back it went upside down. I kept working on it. This is as far as I got. I quite like it as is but I need to give it some time. Then I'll come back and see what it needs. I'll let you know if and when I change it. (This photo is a bit darker than it actually is.)

The Importance Of Play In Art-Making

Today, I’m thinking about the importance of play in art. I feel pulled in so many different ways on a daily basis. There’s so much to get done – finishing my new course, writing and organizing blog posts, updating my websites (hah!), nevermind painting. And oh yeah, what about fun time, downtime, a balanced life?!

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Pastels on black aper: Gail Sibley, "Untitled [at this point], Mount Vision pastels on Sansfix pastel card, 5 1/2 x 7 3/4 in

Using Pastels On Black Paper

Occasionally I get asked the question: Do you ever use soft pastels on black paper? And the answer is: Well no, I don’t. Mind you, when I first started in pastels over 20 years ago, I worked on a dark green mat board. So I have worked with pastels on dark paper, just not black

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Simplify, Simplify, Simplify: Gail Sibley, "View From Martin's," Sennelier pastels on Wallis paper, 9 x 12 in

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify! Working En Plein Air in Mexico

We’re back from our two-week vacation in La Manzanilla, Mexico where we danced up a storm during the first week in a tango intensive workshop and then relaxed a bit in the second which is when I managed to get some pastelling time in. This pastel is a view from the verandah of Martin’s Restaurant.

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Life experience in painting-for now, the final

Making Use Of Your Life Experience In Painting

I’m in La Manzanilla, Mexico. My first thought was to do a plein air piece to share with you but guess what? It was a cloudy day and without the sunlight to sparkle the scene, nothing inspired me. So what to do? I decide to make use of my life experience in the painting. I’d

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pastel finished? : Gail Sibley, "OverCast Day At The Beach," pastel on Wallis paper, 9 x 12 in

Is This Plein Air Pastel Finished?

I think many of us artists have this problem – knowing when a painting is finished. Sometimes, without our realizing it, a painting is finished back a few steps. I know my tendency is to want to pick away, making the tiniest of tweaks. Often this can eradicate the spontaneity that was there especially when

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En Plein Air: Another pondering. Even with all the lit grasses in lower part of the painting I felt the eye was still held by the house. So I softened the detailing of the siding and slightly greyed part of the yellow by glazing with light blue. Later I added the mauve to the upper portion of the wallto encourage the eye to move down. I also felt the third window kept your attention too much. I tried darkening it but in the end, decided to cover it with tree branches! After working at a few other bits and pieces, I signed it! Gail Sibley, "The Old Creamery," Schminke pastels on Wallis paper, 12 x 9 in

En Plein Air At The Old Creamery, Salt Spring Island

This summer on Salt Spring Island, I was fortunate to paint en plein air a few times with my Mum and Dad. I keep saying it but really, there’s nothing like painting on location for a rewarding experience, both in life and in technical and skills learning. So what did I learn this time? Before

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Since Bernadette suggested seeing all three together (see comments below), here they are: Original, Crop option A, Crop option B

When All Else Fails, Crop!

 A couple of blogs ago, I gave you the step-by-step progression of the pastel I did in Budapest. The painting wasn’t completed and I promised to share the finishing process with you. Well I finally got back to it on Sunday…then again on Monday. Hmmmmm. Every time I worked on it, I thought, Ah yes,

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