Pastels 101 Online Course
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Everything you need to create fabulous art in soft pastels.
Master the skills it takes to develop your ability as an artist in soft pastel whether you’re an absolute beginner or have worked in pastels for some time.
You're here for a reason!
Just Starting?
You've experienced a deep desire to create with pastels but you don't know where to start
You feel unsure about the sequence of painting
You're overwhelmed by what you think you need to learn to be successful in soft pastels
More advanced?
You want to know how to work with a limited palette and how to deal with not having the "right" colour
You're never sure what to do about the background in a painting
You have trouble knowing when a painting is finished
This course covers it all!
Start
online
today
Whether you want to paint as a hobby or paint full-time as a professional artist, whether you’re just starting out or already have some experience using soft pastels, Pastels 101 can help.
This online programme provides the crucial elements vital to your success!
It will provide a clear path on how to move forward. You will gain knowledge about materials and dive deep into the skills you need to create successful artwork in soft pastels.
All course material in Pastels 101, including Streaming Videos, Take Action worksheets (aka skill growth assignments!), and additional Resources, are within the online member’s portal.
Here's what you'll get in Pastels 101
Section 1 – Getting Started
Section 2 – Materials
Section 3 - Skill Builders
Section 4 – Gail Demonstrating
Section 5 - After Painting
Section 6 – Resources
And throughout the sections will be scattered Pep Talks!
Course Content:
1. GETTING STARTED
These videos set you up for success in the course!
- You’ll learn how to get the most out of this course
- Take a tour around the course showing what’s available to you
- A supply list that will serve you through this course and beyond
At the end of this short section, you will be ready to take on the course!!
2. MATERIALS
In this set of videos you’ll learn:
- Which brands of soft pastels work well for starting out
- Why working on mid-tone paper can help enormously
- All about papers!
- Everything you want to know about fixative
- Why an easel will make your painting more successful and how to choose one
- Beyond pastels and paper – the best tools to have
By the end of this section, you’ll have a good grasp of the various types of materials you’ll need to create in soft pastels.
3. SKILL BUILDERS
Learning the various skills you need to work in soft pastels can be daunting! That’s why I’ve broken everything down to manageable chunks. For each Skill Builder, you’ll have a video to watch and below it you’ll find a TAKE ACTION PDF to help you put into practice what you’ve learnt on the video.
Some of the things you’ll learn are:
- What values are and why they are so crucial for painting in colour
- Different ways to come up with great compositions
- How to create a roadmap for your whole piece and how to keep on track
- Colour – how to see it and what it all means
- Everything’s relative and how you can use that to your advantage
- All about edges and why using them intentionally can make a big difference to your work
- What to do about backgrounds
- How to block in shapes by using dry underpainting
At the end of this sequence of 23 videos, you’ll have a tool kit of skills to take with you into any painting you do.
4. GAIL DEMOS
There’s nothing like watching someone work and hear their thoughts as they do so. Watch over Gail’s shoulder as she takes you through the whole process of painting, from setting up the still life, to drawing up thumbnails, to beginning the piece and then working her way through to the end.
The painting demo is about 90 minutes long. You can watch the whole thing in one go. OR, when you don’t have time to sit through the entire demo, you can watch it over 12 short videos. You can also watch the sped-up version which will show you the fast progression of the piece. Watch them all or pick and choose!
The demo is marked throughout whenever a certain Skill Builder applies to what’s happening in the demo. You can choose to stop the video and go to the Skill Builder video, or you can just watch and work along with me and go to the Skill Builder videos another time.
At the end of this section, you’ll have a firm grasp of what goes into creating a piece!
5. AFTER PAINTING
This section will guide you through all the steps to take once you put down your pastel.
- You’ll have a list of tips and questions to help you decide if a piece is finished
- You’ll learn what to consider when signing a piece and how it can affect the whole piece
- Discover how to store your work
- Learn a few framing considerations
At the end of this section, you’ll know everything that needs to be thought about and done after you’ve finished painting.
6. RESOURCES
In this section you’ll find a few other sped-up demos by Gail. You’ll also find videos on other tricks and tips related to art-making and soft pastels.
And scattered throughout
PEP TALKS
Much of being an artist is about mindset and treating yourself as an artist. These videos are scattered throughout the other sections. They’ll give you a wee break from learning and give you some encouragement along the way.
Some of the videos you’ll find are:
- How to stay healthy
- Why taking risks is the best thing you can do as an artist
- The art of observation
Think of these videos as Gail whispering in your ear, supporting you along your artistic journey!
Start right now!
This course can show you everything you need to get started painting with soft pastels today.
I’m confident that if you go through the whole course and do the work in the Take Action worksheets that you’ll get tremendous value! I back that up totally with a 100% risk-free guarantee.
Test drive the course for 15 days and if you don’t feel I’ve delivered the value, just email me and ask for a refund. Easy peasy.
I want you to feel confident when you purchase that there’s absolutely no risk to you!!
Have a question?
Fill out this form and I'll get in touch!
Want to see the FULL LIST of videos in the course and read some awesome reviews?
It's easy to use!
Everything is online. There’s no need to travel anywhere. If you want you can watch the whole course in your jammies! (You may want to change when you work in your studio but that’s totally up to you!)
Learn at your own pace, on your own schedule, at your convenience. The way I’ve created the course, you can watch all at once without sleeping OR you can go through it more leisurely, when you have a few minutes here and a few more there.
Watch on any device be it your desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone (though that last may be kinda small!)
You have LIFETIME ACCESS to all the training. So once you’ve been through it all, you can go back again and again whenever you need a refresher.
Pastels 101
So let me sum it up - Here's everything included in your tuition!
The Videos
- Getting Started (3 vids)
- Materials (14 vids)
- Skill Builders (23 vids)
- Watch Me Work (17 vids)
- After Painting (10 vids)
- Pep Talks (10 Vids)
- Resources (10 vids)
Take Action Worksheets
With each Skill Builder video (and a few others!) you’ll find an exercise sheet that sets out either one or many assignments based on the Skill Builder Video watched. These will undoubtedly lead you to the next level of your art-making.
Total Pastel 101 investment only $297 for LIFETIME ACCESS!
Perhaps you’ve heard that voice inside that keeps whispering (or is it screaming?!)
“I need to express my artistic voice but I haven’t a clue where to begin.”
Or maybe you’re feeling that frustration that comes from not knowing where you’re going wrong, why your painting is not revealing the vision you see.
You know you have a lot to say on paper. You just don’t know what tools you need or how to develop the skills to result in a beautiful piece.
One thing’s for certain:
Opening your heart and soul to expressing your artistic voice and learning the skills to do so can profoundly change your life.
I know this first hand. Once I discovered pastels – their luminosity, their capability of being both a drawing and painting tool, their vibrant colour, the ease of picking a stick up and using it in an instant – I began my journey of discovery. Painting in pastels allowed me to express myself in a spontaneous and colourful way and I knew I’d found the medium in which to reveal my artistic voice. I felt free to express myself.
Painting is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling ways to experience this precious life. And I believe if more people can unleash their creativity, this world will be a better place for it.
I’ve been painting in pastels for close to 30 years and teaching for almost as long! I know the struggles and frustrations you’re going through. When I started pastelling, there were only a few books to help me. I faced a lot of trial and error. I want to save you time and get you where you want to go faster.
Which is why I’d love you to join Pastels 101
This online course will help you to fast track your growth to achieve extraordinary results and save trial and error. It will enable you to move forward to share your unique artistic voice with the world!
Here's Proof That Pastels 101 Works!
Marsha Schauer
"I am a senior citizen, and three years ago I decided I just 'had' to answer the call to Paint Something. I stumbled onto pastels and instantly fell in love with them. But I had no previous art training to tap. I knew nothing about the importance of paper, pastel brands, color theory, etc. I looked around my good-sized city and couldn't find any pastel teachers or classes except a small class at a local community center. So, I have been mostly self-taught, by following pastel artists whose work I like, reading blogs, gleaning tips and techniques as best I could. And that has been frustrating because what I want to create has been disappointing, without knowing why. I so wish this course was available to me in the beginning of my journey! I would have saved a lot of trial and error and impatience with myself. This course is perfect for the beginning pastel artist because the lessons are short and the information is basic, not confusing or overwhelming. One doesn't need too many supplies to get started and Gail covers those basics. This course covers the techniques and skills on which to begin developing good painting habits. I like that the workshop is online! I don't have to hop a plane somewhere for an intensive 3-day workshop with a master artist! It is an excellent value. It is available to me right in my home. Watching Gail patiently and thoughtfully develop the painting of the pears is a lesson in itself. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS COURSE to anybody who wants to learn 'how' to paint with pastels, as well as refresh techniques."
Elaine Benevides
"When I heard that Gail was putting together a beginner's pastel course, I knew that it would be superb, as my experience with her has yet to be anything less. I've had individual and group Zoom sessions with her and I also attended her workshop in Croatia. I've walked away from all of these learning experiences with a tremendous feel-good feeling and more art knowledge than I thought I'd ever acquire, especially having started on this art journey at an older age. Anyway, her Pastel 101 online course even EXCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS. The course covers more than I ever would have expected it to; it's densely packed with answers to all questions that a beginner pastelist would have and more!! Someone at the beginning of this pastel journey will certainly come away with all of the skill and confidence needed to start/continue on their way. This course includes everything from pastel-appetizer to pastel-dessert (from prep to post-painting and EVERYTHING in between). Gail models the whole painting process for you and she makes the learning fun and addictive! The course is set up in such a way that it can easily be used as a reference for future paintings, and finding what you need will be easy as her indexing is great and the videos are short, so you won’t need to scan hours of video before finding what you need. I’m always hearing people complain that they can’t find their style or asking questions about whether to fix or not to fix. You WILL find the answers in this course. Personally, my painting anxieties decreased after taking the course. I think the course meets the needs of all kinds of learning styles. For passive learners, you’ll watch; for active learners, you’ll practice. I found the entire course to be visually stimulating. I was motivated and inspired. Gail’s instruction is also clear and understandable, even if one knows nothing prior to starting (like me, who had to learn a whole new language)."
Ruth Greenslade
“LOOK, SEE, DO! I RECOMMEND Pastels 101 WITHOUT HESITATION, not only for rank beginners, but also for seasoned artists looking to push their work to the next level. This course is like being with an energetic young friend who is also a master artist—and who happily shows you everything she knows. You can get into the fun part right away with a 90-minute painting demo. You can hear Gail’s thought process in real time as she paints. Then the demo is broken into 12 shorter sessions, so you can paint along at your own pace! Then there are 16 lessons on materials, where Gail demonstrates the use of various pastels, papers, and other things you’ll need. After that comes 23 “Skill Builders,” everything you need to know about composition, values, thumbnails, etc. You’ll learn basic color theory and be able to use colors in the most effective ways. You’ll see how adjacent colors affect each other, how to use negative space, how and why to do color studies. Each skill builder comes with printable exercises that guide you to learn by doing. In the last major part, “After the Painting,” Gail shows how to decide when your work is finished and what to consider when signing, using fixative, and preparing your work for either framing or storage. I feel sure this is the most information and guidance you can get anywhere outside of art school—all in your own home and on your own computer, yours to complete at your own speed and to revisit as often as you like.”
Dianne Adams
"When I first got into the course, I was thinking that I already knew a lot of the information given, and was hoping that I had not spent money on something that would not help me further my study of pastels. However, as time went on, I grew not only to love the course, but to also love Gail. She is such a thorough teacher who is funny, bright, cheerful and a great cheerleader! I just finished the course through watching all the lessons. Now I will go back through it, with all my videos and printed pdf's, and do the exercises. I'm anxious to put the knowledge to use! I am one of those with a busy life with family members..caretakers for both young and old; and I am not the most time organized person, but I hope to follow Gail's suggestion of painting a little each day. I've been inspired, so now I have to keep the inspiration going. Even though I may have liked some of the lessons to be combined rather than so many little things, maybe that's what kept things moving along. I look forward to seeing what I can do with Gail's help!"
TOP FAQs
Yes it certainly will! Pastels 101 is ideal if you’re just starting out because it will give you in-depth information on what materials you need as well as showing you how to build different skill sets using pastels. You’ll also be getting information that will carry over into all media.
Can I access the videos anytime I want?
You can access the material totally at your convenience. The training consists of pre-recorded videos and worksheets which you can access at any time you want whether you are a night owl or an early riser, whether you are travelling with access to the internet or at home, you are free to learn on your own schedule, at your convenience. And remember, you have LIFETIME access!
I’ve created the course to be consumed in short chunks of time if that’s all you have. You can also watch it all in one go which may take a few days. Remember though that the time required is not only for watching the videos but also for taking action and doing the exercises! Growing as an artist takes time and commitment to doing the work.
What if I try Pastels 101 and it doesn’t work for me. Can I get a refund?
Yes. The course is backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Here’s how it works. Try out the course. If you feel it isn’t right for you the just email me within 15 days of your purchase and request a refund. Please also tell me why you felt it didn’t work for you.
