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.
Join me as I share the progression of a pastel nocturne — from thumbnail and charcoal block-in to layered colour and deepening night with glowing light — along with the thinking behind each stage.
When artist Terrilynn Dubreuil lost her mother, she turned to her pastels to make sense of the grief. In this moving story, she shares how painting became both tribute and transformation — revealing the profound power of art to heal and express what words cannot.
Pastels, breakthroughs, and a whole lot of bold moves — here’s what went down at this Northwest Pastel Society workshop.
Plein air painting with my Mum led to two paintings of one scene — and one powerful lesson about how thumbnails bring freedom to your art.
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.
![Gail Sibley, [Not yet titled], Unison Colour pastels and a Sennelier pink on UART 400 mounted on board, 15 1/4 x 11 1/2 in -close up of face](https://www.howtopastel.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/11.-Gail-Sibley-Not-yet-titled-Unison-Colour-pastels-and-a-SEnnelier-pink-on-UART-400-mounted-on-board-15-14-x-11-15-in-close-up-of-face-Feature-image-300x229.jpg)
Explore each stage of this pastel painting and learn about the woman who sparked its creation.
In this guest post, Kira Ru-djen pulls back the curtain on her pastel practice — from blind sketches to bold colour and skeletal forms full of character. Whether painting figures, landscapes, or her beloved “skelebuddies,” her process reveals the deep connection between improvisation, intention, and joy.
Discover how to use a mahlstick for pastel painting—what it is, how to make one, and why this old-school tool is still a game-changer.
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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