HowToPastel Archives

Showing Results for: still life

Loriann Signori On Risk-Taking

Some painters wow you with their use of colour. Others evoke an emotional response through their work. My guest this month manages to do both at the same time. Artist Loriann Signori uses the luscious vibrant colour of soft pastels to their full effect, creating luminous spaces that elicit feelings of deep pleasure. When I

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Silja Salmistu – Tackling The Darkness In The Nursery

Every October for the last four years, I’ve run a 31-pastels-in-31-days Challenge in my HowToPastel Facebook group. It’s awesome to see all the work and everyone pushing themselves (cos the going does get tough!). I think it was in our first or second year when this month’s guest, Silja Salmistu, was posting her still life

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Jeri Greenberg, "Tipped," 2019, Richeson/Nupastels, 9x14 in. Available

Jeri Greenberg – On Loving Still Life

Hey! It’s time for another guest post. Whoo hoo! And I was thinking it was time to move to the still life as subject. With this thought came berries in glass and unmade beds….namely the work of this month’s guest, Jeri Greenberg! I’ve featured Jeri’s work three times in my monthly roundups. The first was

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Creating Art Is Hard Work!: An hour after starting, this is what I have. I can see a couple more tweaks to make but other than those, this is pretty much done. Gail Sibley, "Escapee," Unison Colour pastels on UART 400, 9 x 9 in.

Creating Art Is Hard Work!!

Creating art is hard work!  Some context….I’m at my Mum and Dad’s on Salt Spring Island. I’ve joined them for their 14-day quarantine on their return to Canada and so far, we’ve had a lovely time together! On our To-Do list is to paint so a couple of days ago, Mum and I set up

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Making a statement with you art: Gail Sibley, Demo pastel painting of a single toilet paper roll, Unison Colour pastels on UART 400, 6 x 5 3/4 in.

Making A Statement With Your Art

Sometimes you may have the feeling that you’d like to make a statement with your art, something about the times you’re living in (like the time of the COVID-19 pandemic!), or some specific event, or some political issue. But you don’t necessarily feel comfortable making an overt statement or perhaps you just don’t know how

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Jeanne Tangney, "Spotted Bowl," 2015, soft pastel on UART, 12 x 12 in. Private Collection. This painting received the Juror’s Award in the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod’s 2015 For Pastels Only national exhibit.

Jeanne Tangney – Luminous Stillness

When I first saw pastel artwork by Jeanne Tangney, I had to slow down and really look. I was mesmerized by the quality of light, by the mood, by the solidity of objects taking up three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface, by the quality of edge work, by the subtlety of colour and value transitions.

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Steph Mouw, "First of May Daffs," assorted pastels on Pastel Premier, 10 1/2 x 8 1/2 in. I spotted this bunch in the grocery store and immediately wanted to paint them!

Steph Mouw – Flower Power!

A bouquet of flowers – they lift us up and bring us joy. Which was one of the reasons I was taken by the work of this month’s guest blogger Steph Mouw – it goes beyond that happy emotional feeling. I’ve featured Steph’s pastel work twice in the roundups – the first was a still

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Kathy Hildebrandt, "The Pepsi Generation," Pastel on UART paper, 16 x 21 in

Kathy Hildebrandt – Painting Childhood Memories

As we approach the holiday season, I wondered who I could ask to guest blog, whose work would reflect the season of joy and warmth and love. And then it became obvious – Kathy Hildebrandt and her amazing still life paintings filled with childhood memorabilia. Happily, Kathy agreed to contribute a post and here we

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Pastel to Paper: Gail Sibley, Still Untitled, Unison Colour pastels on UART 400 paper, 9 1/2 x 9 in

Pastel To Paper – That’s What’s Important!

I was on Salt Spring last weekend for art group meetings and friendship connections. I had also planned to go out painting en plein air with my Mum and Dad. But the weather was against us – the skies opened and we were stuck inside. So then what to do? We dithered about and in the

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