Learn to Enjoy Painting in Pastels with Paul Taggart
"Welcome to Learn to Enjoy Painting in Pastels with Paul Taggart.
There are many forms of ‘dry’ pastels, which come in all shapes and sizes and just as importantly, different hardnesses – giving rise to some confusion for anyone new to the medium, or starting out.
The pigment used in pastels is exactly the same as that found in paint, but, being pure pigment powder, bound into sticks with which to apply it, the colour appears more intense. Unlike paint, it cannot be mixed into different colours, hence the need for a range of tints in any one colour.
Through my tutorials I hope to inspire the use of pastels and to that end you will find tutorials where sketching pastels (harder than soft pastels) are used on their own, whilst others are rendered purely with Artists’ Quality Soft Pastels, which are exploited to their utmost.
You will find tutorials where I have pushed the boundaries, to encourage you to experiment. There are tutorials in which the underpainting is applied with wet paint. Another where texture paste is used to bring out the highly textured nature of the subject. I even show how to exploit masking fluid to protect previous layers.
I also set out to prove that pastel painting can be applied in several layers, so as to work gradually from the darkest of dark accents to the lightest of lights and those delicious ticks of super-highlights.”
Paul Taggart
[Module 1] Paul Taggart's Essential Sketching & Drawing Guide
eighteen-videos, box-set total running time 8hours 12minutes
We are breaking down the art of sketching and drawing to the bare essentials, so that whatever your level - whether a complete beginner- or someone who wants to develop your sketching & drawing further - you will enjoy working-along with the projects.
The art of sketching and drawing can range from the simplest of quickly rendered sketches, through to the most detailed of tonal drawings – the choice is yours alone to make - using a wide range of possible equipment – from the simplest pencil to an exciting range of water-based tools.
Sketching and drawing sits alongside painting – as an equivalent art-form in its own right or as a companion to painting.
We kick off with Module 1, in which a 2B pencil is our drawing tool and this box-set featuring three step-by-step, work-along projects, in which Paul shares three specific techniques.
Work-along at a pace to suit you - and let your pencil take you on this journey of discovery.
[Series 1] Topical Techniques for Pastels
seven-videos, box-set total running time 2hours 43minutes
Helping to enjoy your experience of painting in soft pastels is our aim, as it is to provide you with the techniques with which to experiment and develop your repertoire. Each video covers one particular technique to enhance your experience of painting in soft pastels. The term pastels can be confusing, for there are many different varieties and knowing what to choose and how to use them can be overwhelming. Which is why our tutorials on the subject focus on one specific type at a time and this box-set offers you possibilities for use with Artists’ Quality Soft Pastels.
[Series 1] Masterclass
six-videos, box-set total running time 6hours
Followers of our tutorials are fascinated to have a greater understanding of traditional techniques and so it is we film a selected number of Masterclasses, focusing on one particular painting at a time. However, to film each and every stroke as I paint would involve a monumental amount of filming and viewing time – which is why in these Masterclasses we focus on one particular section (perhaps one other), so that you can watch that develop from start to finish.
This box-set takes you through my traditional layering technique of working from dark to light; you can watch as Eileen’s camera tracks every brush-stroke, every colour mix, every detail – with close-ups revealing the results of maximising specific techniques such as glazing and tinting. Through my running commentary you will pick up a host of techniques, hints, tips and more as I describe my actions, my thought process, my method, my colour mixes. You will learn about glazing, about tinting, about sgraffito, about tonking.
Nothing is left out, for I do not believe in holding anything back. You are right there with me at my Masterworks easel.
[Series 2] Learn to Enjoy Painting in Pastels
eleven-videos, box-set total running time 10hours 47minutes
In Series 2 you will be preparing a watercolour underpainting to achieve those darks accents that occur in landscapes. You will be introduced to a raft of different techniques within this method of working, such as blending, scratching through, surface mixing and more. Paul takes you through a couple of start-to-finish paintings which have been chosen for their linked subject matter.
The main composition of a landscape vista, in which the sun is setting at the close of day, is dependent on aerial perspective and swathes of dark reliefs. To prepare you for this, an intermediate landscape painting, featuring aerial perspective and dark recesses throughout the village scene and foreground foliage.
CHECK OUT the companion box-set 'Painting Topical Techniques with Paul Taggart [Series 3]'.
[Series 1] Learn to Enjoy Colour Mixing : Yellows
five-videos, box-set total running time 4hours 44minutes
Box-Set No. 2 [Series 1] – helps you learn how to make YELLOW Work for You - how to control your colour mixes, rather than let those pesky mixes control you. No need for all those tubes of different yellows – instead, here’s how to mix an infinite variety of yellows for yourself. In this box-set Paul shows the basics of mixing a range of yellows, how to identify the colour in your subject, how to adjust colours, how to correct colours and finally two detailed step-by-step studies for you to work-along with, in which yellow is the colour bias of the subject.
A box-set of detailed demonstrations showing how, with only six colours, you can achieve most of the YELLOW colour mixes that will serve you well in any composition.
Practice the basics learnt in each tutorial and you will find that you are prepared for the next stage.
[Series 1] Learn to Enjoy Colour Mixing : Blues
six-videos, box-set total running time 7hours 32minutes
Box-Set No. 4 [Series 1] – helps you learn how to make BLUE Work for You - how to control your colour mixes, rather than let those pesky mixes control you. No need for all those tubes of different blues – instead, here’s how to mix an infinite variety of blues for yourself. In this box-set Paul shows the basics of mixing a range of blues, how to identify the colour in your subject, how to adjust colours, how to correct colours and finally two detailed step-by-step studies for you to work-along with, in which blue is the colour bias of the subject.
A box-set of detailed demonstrations showing how, with only six colours, you can achieve most of the BLUE colour mixes that will serve you well in any composition.
Practice the basics learnt in each tutorial and you will find that you are prepared for the next stage.
Learn to Enjoy Painting Portraits & Figures - Features
nineteen-videos, box-set total running time 9hours 46minutes
Do you want to take those first steps into painting portraits and figures? As with all of Paul’s tutorials, the sixteen specific lessons and three Problem Solvers in this pick’n’mix box-set are packed full of helpful hints and tips and illuminating facts that will encourage you on this journey into the world of painting portraits and figures.
Nothing is held back, as Paul takes you right back to the basics on the various Features that make up the human head - for as he explains, to fully enjoy the rewarding experience of painting figures, or portraits, you do need the bare facts; for how else would you know what to do to correct something that is going wrong - or for that matter know when something is going right.
But this set of tutorials is so much more than that, for each video provides detailed instruction on how to paint and draw.
Workshop - Oil Pastels
two-videos, box-set total running time 1hour 27minutes
Looking for help with oil pastels? In this Workshop and accompanying Equipment Focus, filmed in real-time, with no editing, an introduction to working with Oil Pastels Paul takes you on the first steps of a journey into the world of oil pastels - a medium that is more often than not dismissed as being merely for use by children and therefore underused as an adult medium. We set out in these workshops to show that this needn’t be the case and that oil pastels can be enjoyed even further by using them either in their ‘dry’ form, or exploiting their potential as a ‘wet’ medium, with brushes and thinners so that you can extend your repertoire of techniques.
As with all of our tutorials, you are taken through each and every stroke
from beginning to end - accompanied by Paul’s running commentary throughout.
[Series 3] Topical Techniques for Pastels
six-videos, box-set total running time 4hours 22minutes
What’s in the box? Firstly, the basics of using sketching pastels over a watercolour (or acrylic) underpainting; a simple little study, through which you can concentrate on the technique, rather than the subject. Then we move on to a more detailed exercise using the exact same technique. After that I use a simplified, but detailed set of tutorials to demonstrate various techniques for exploiting sketching pastels, including how to achieve graduated, aerial perspective, linear perspective in a landscape and finally, I show the relationship between light & shade with linear perspective.
As with all of our tutorials, these are filmed in real-time, so that you do not miss any aspect of my process as you work-along; whilst my running commentary throughout reveals yet more hints and tips.
[Series 2] Masterclass
ten-videos, box-set total running time 10hours 4minutes
Although produced in oils – this masterclass can be adapted for use with acrylics – for Paul often exploits his traditional techniques for use across other media, as demonstrated in all of his online art tutorials. Another in our occasional series, where we film Paul at work on a section of one of his Masterworks Paintings, as a detailed Masterclass, accompanied by Paul’s running commentary. Light and water are the two elements in our world that excites Paul most as an artist.
Light – for its effect on our surroundings, its ability to deceive the eye and how formes seem to alter with the change in direction of falling light, its creation of the deepest and richest of shadows – a source of continual change in any subject; one that requires the artist in us to observe and analyse what we see before us. Water – for its luminescent and reflective properties, its movement and mysterious depths, its chameleon-like qualities in taking on the colours of its surroundings – a source of constant change in any composition.
Even here in Masterclass, you will see every brush-stroke, the process of colour mixing on Paul’s palette and every technique.
Topical Techniques : Composition Matters
five-videos, box-set total running time 4hours 43minutes
Ever wondered what to paint? How to decide on your composition? How to make your composition unique to you? How to accurately transfer the composition to your painting surface? Ever started in the middle of the blank surface and run out of space, or ended up with too much space to fill? Let Paul guide you through the techniques that he uses to map out his own paintings, through this box-set of five detailed tutorials; which, as ever, are accompanied by his running commentary and a basketful of hints and tips which will make your painting experience all the more enjoyable.
Some of the subjects covered here in drawings are then followed-through into step-by-step painting tutorial box-sets, such as [Series 4] Learn to Enjoy Painting in Watercolours, [Series 4] Learn to Enjoy Painting in Oils and [Series 4] Learn to Enjoy Painting in Pastels.
[Series 1] Learn to Enjoy Colour Mixing : Oranges
eight-videos, box-set total running time 7hours 14minutes
Box-Set No. 5 [Series 1] – helps you learn how to make ORANGE Work for You - how to control your colour mixes, rather than let those pesky mixes control you. No need for all those tubes of different oranges – instead, here’s how to mix an infinite variety of oranges for yourself. In this box-set Paul shows the basics of mixing a range of oranges, how to identify the colour in your subject, how to adjust colours, how to correct colours and finally two detailed step-by-step studies for you to work-along with, in which orange is the colour bias of the subject.
A box-set of detailed demonstrations showing how, with only six colours, you can achieve most of the ORANGE colour mixes that will serve you well in any composition.
Practice the basics learnt in each tutorial and you will find that you are prepared for the next stage.
[Series 1] Learn to Enjoy Colour Mixing : Greens
five-videos, box-set total running time 5hours 23minutes
Box-Set No. 7 [Series 1] – helps you learn how to make GREEN Work for You - how to control your colour mixes, rather than let those pesky mixes control you. No need for all those tubes of different greens – instead, here’s how to mix an infinite variety of greens for yourself. In this box-set Paul shows the basics of mixing a range of greens, how to identify the colour in your subject, how to adjust colours, how to correct colours and finally two detailed step-by-step studies for you to work-along with, in which green is the colour bias of the subject.
A box-set of detailed demonstrations showing how, with only six colours, you can achieve most of the GREEN colour mixes that will serve you well in any composition.
Practice the basics learnt in each tutorial and you will find that you are prepared for the next stage.
[Series 3] Masterclass in Oils (suitable for opaque media)
eight-videos, box-set total running time 7hours 26minutes
The focus and purpose of this Masterclass box-set is to share with you the method for rendering a ‘moving’ figure within a landscape; to share with you my thought-process and the traditional techniques/method that are the basis of my Masterworks oil paintings. Just as we do with all of my online video tutorials, nothing is withheld as you get to watch from start-to-finish, each layer of the process of rendering the figure, working from dark-to-light – accompanied by my running commentary and footage of my colour mixing on the palette. Close-up footage captures those all-important layers; from the thin underpainting through the impasto layer and the rich quality of glazes, not to mention the subtle, yet powerful effects of tints, to the final super-highlights.
Throughout the eight videos, we also feature a reprise of the overall work as I complete each layer; in order that you can follow the development of the surrounding landscape as you watch the figure being brought to life through my colour mixes and brush-strokes.
[Series 2] Learn to Enjoy Colour Mixing : Whites
eight-videos, box-set total running time 6hours 47minutes
Box-Set No. 1 [Series 2]
Having broken down the Basics of Colour Mixing, into a comprehensive collection of easy-to-follow tutorials in Series 1, which cover the nucleus palette of six colours, we now move on to Series 2.
Whilst nearly all the colour mixes you will ever need can be achieved with this palette of six colours, when it comes to working with opaque mediums, such as oil painting and acrylics, you will also need white for your colour mixes. In this box-set I deal specifically with the two whites that will serve well in oil painting – Zinc White (for tinting) and Titanium White (for painting), accompanied by a couple of step-by-step practice studies.
Colour Mixing is every bit as important in making a composition work as thumbnails and perspective. With colour control you can communicate with your viewer, tell a story or evoke a mood - hence the phrase 'to paint a picture'.
How to Paint 'Webstrand the Tooth Gatherer' : Elphen Chronicles
eight-videos, box-set total running time 6hours 46minutes
The first book in my Elphen Chronicles related the tale of Lacewing and her human companion Artimus Glin. One of the illustrations in that book captured the three Elphen Warriors, Bloodsword, Serpentspear and Thunderaxe – a watercolour painting that attracted the most questions about what process I had used to depict their luminescent, transparent wings.
We are delighted to show you exactly how to achieve the ethereally transparent wings of Webstrand, the Tooth Gatherer, the subject of my second book. Close-up filming will show you exactly how the techniques are applied and behave on the surface. You will see how to mix the colours on your palette, how to exploit your brush-strokes, how to make masking fluid work for you, how to draw out and ink in, how to achieve transparency through controlling your paint mixes and exploiting lift-off and losing edges.
The list of hints, tips and techniques that you will pick up from working-along with me in painting Webstrand, the Tooth Gatherer will prove invaluable and can be applied to any subject.
[Series 1] Learn to Enjoy Painting in Pastels
five-videos, box-set total running time 4hours 45minutes
Soft Pastels are a medium that perplex many, resulting in this purest of pigmented mediums to be often overlooked in favour of working with wet paints. Yet the layering technique of working from dark-to-light; as demonstrated in this painting project, has been adapted from the traditional technique that Paul uses in his oil paintings.
CHECK OUT the companion box-set 'Painting Topical Techniques with Paul Taggart [Series 1]'.
Out and About with Paul in Pastels
four-videos, box-set total running time 2hours 24minutes
In this workshop, Paul introduces you to the technique of working pastels over an underpainting layer – a perfect introduction to this technique and in preparation for the more worked-up painting ‘[Series 2] Learn to Enjoy Painting in Pastels’. Working through in layers from dark to light, Paul nevertheless keeps the process simple, using directional strokes to suggest the lie of the land, the structure of the buildings, the direction of the sand on the beach and so on.
Although the underpainting here is done in acrylics, it could equally be carried out in watercolours – which is the purpose of this workshop, experiment with different types of pastel as well and you will add to your painting repertoire and enjoyment of working in pastels.
Even though the process is simple, Paul’s demonstration is as detailed as ever, accompanied by his running commentary throughout.
[Series 1] Learn to Enjoy Colour Mixing : Basics & Nucleus Palette
six-videos, box-set total running time 3hours 8minutes
Box-Set No. 1 [Series 1] - begins with the BASICS of the COLOUR CIRCLE and shows how, with only six colours, you can achieve most of the colour mixes that will serve you well in any composition.
Colour Mixing is just as important, in the process of painting, as brushwork and techniques and is equally enjoyable and rewarding – acquiring the know-how does not need to be complicated, as Paul demonstrates. There are seven box-sets in Series 1 - a comprehensive and detailed series, Paul’s easy-to-follow guide to colour mixing. Ideal for complete beginners and those who already paint, wishing to control their paint mixes and extend their painting repertoire.
Practice the basics learnt in each tutorial and you will find that you are prepared for the next stage.
[Series 2] Topical Techniques for Pastels
six-videos, box-set total running time 3hours 39minutes
Paul starts you off with a basic study of the technique using a wet underpainting, followed by soft pastels; then we move on to an exercise to show the dark-to-light layering technique over a wet underpainting. Aerial perspective, is covered and a separate video deals with reflections in landscape in which water is a feature, both in terms of still-water and in terms of moving water, where the reflection is broken by the disturbed surface. Problem Solver round off the box-set.
As with all of our tutorials, these are filmed in real-time, so that you do not miss any aspect of my process as you work-along; whilst my running commentary throughout reveals yet more hints and tips.
[Series 1] Learn to Enjoy Colour Mixing : Reds
five-videos, box-set total running time 4hours 39minutes
Box-Set No. 3 [Series 1] – helps you learn how to make RED Work for You - how to control your colour mixes, rather than let those pesky mixes control you. No need for all those tubes of different reds – instead, here’s how to mix an infinite variety of reds for yourself. In this box-set Paul shows the basics of mixing a range of reds, how to identify the colour in your subject, how to adjust colours, how to correct colours and finally two detailed step-by-step studies for you to work-along with, in which red is the colour bias of the subject.
A box-set of detailed demonstrations showing how, with only six colours, you can achieve most of the RED colour mixes that will serve you well in any composition.
Practice the basics learnt in each tutorial and you will find that you are prepared for the next stage.
Line & Wash Workshops in Oils : Acrylics : Watercolours : Pastels
four-videos, box-set total running time 4hours 14minutes
Do you want to take those first steps into painting? Nothing could be simpler than scribbling some linework and adding a few washes of colour. Let Paul take you on a journey into the world of ‘sketching’ and ‘painting’ – otherwise known as Line & Wash. Do not think of these as workshops specifically suitable for each of the four principal mediums of oils, acrylics, watercolours and pastels. Instead, use these as a way of getting the feel for these different mediums.
By experimenting in this way you will enjoy your sketching and painting experience all the more.
Workshop - Drawing
five-videos, box-set total running time 2hours 10minutes
Looking for help with starting off in drawing? Let Paul start you off in the Equipment Focus with an introduction to graphite pencils and sticks. Filmed in real-time, with no editing we take you on the first steps of a journey into this world, following-up with an Equipment Focus on paper wipers for graphite, an essential element for your drawing kit. The accompanying Workshop shows an unusual approach to drawing, using graphite shavings and a kneadable putty erase. Adapted from one of the methods Paul uses for working out the tonal values of a painting, this can be exploited as a stand-alone technique. Have you tried blending mediums for use with graphite? The Equipment Focus and accompanying Workshop may prove thought-provoking and provide you with even more ways to manipulate graphite for different results.
As with all of our tutorials, you are taken through each and every stroke from beginning to end - accompanied by Paul’s running commentary throughout.
[Series 3] Learn to Enjoy Painting in Pastels
nine-videos, box-set total running time 9hours 5minutes
Unlike Artists’ Quality Soft Pastels, these harder Sketching Pastels can be somewhat limiting. However there are ways to work around these limitations, one of which is to work them over an underpainting to provide the darker accents and contrasting base, which has the benefit of also providing a firmer ‘tooth’. Because you are working with a limited palette, you don’t have the luxury of being able to work through varying values of an extensive range of colours. Because you are working with sketching pastels, you don’t have the opportunity to apply too many layers. Which is where this method and the techniques demonstrated really will prove invaluable – for they afford you the opportunity to exploit as many techniques as possible to manipulate your pastels. The method used here is adapted by me from my own traditional painting techniques.
CHECK OUT the companion box-set 'Painting Topical Techniques with Paul Taggart [Series 3]'.
[Series 1] Learn to Enjoy Colour Mixing : Metals
four-videos, box-set total running time 4hours 47minutes
This box-set of three complete step-by-step workshops is filmed in real-time, so that you can watch every colour mix, every stroke and every technique. Red, White and Yellow Metals are currently available as three stand-alone workshops and we have filmed a dedicated fourth video, an invaluable companion to demonstrate how to achieve each of the three principal metal colours – [1] Copper & Red Metals [2] Silver & White Metals [3] Gold, Brass & Yellow Metals. A fourth video concentrating on how-to achieve the varying colour mixes, completes this comprehensive box-set.
Although demonstrated in acrylics, these detailed workshops, are equally suitable for oils and other opaque media, as the process is identical - for Paul is using the traditional layering technique of working from dark-to-light.
You will definitely find yourself wanting to work along with Paul as he helps you discover the delight in achieving ninety-five percent of the colours you will ever need from a core palette of six colours.
Creating the Elphen Masterworks 'Starway to Shimmistra'
thirty-five-videos, box-set total running time 2days 23hours
The purpose of this box-set of videos is to share with you the traditional oil painting techniques and processes that Paul exploited to produce this unique Masterworks oil painting ‘Starway to Shimmistra’, created specifically for the wraparound jacket for his illustrated book, ‘Webstrand, the Tooth Gatherer’ from ‘Paul Taggart’s Elphen Chronicles’. So do please join us on this journey that takes Paul from the first drawing out of this oil painting, to the final brush-stroke; all of which was filmed in real-time and most of which is shared in this box-set.
‘Starway to Shimmistra’ is one of the twenty Masterworks oil paintings that chronicle the Elphen Folklore of ‘Webstrand, the Tooth Gatherer’, a collection that took over five years to complete.
[Series 4] Learn to Enjoy Painting in Pastels
ten videos, box-set total running time over 10hours
For the composition we are working with a three-stage system to create physical texture. Physical texture may seem a little strange for pastels, which are generally simply applied to pastel paper or to a surface that has a ‘tooth’. Imagine, if you could create and therefore control, the texture over which the pastel is laid. This would also allow you the opportunity to create a stronger base, one that would enable you to apply more layers of pastel – which, in turn, gives you the opportunity to exploit the richness of these pigments, much as you would when working in layers with the traditional technique of working from the darkest accents through to the super-highlights. Furthermore, this controlled application would result in ‘structural’ texture, as opposed to merely ‘visual’ texture. For which I am using texture paste.
I take you step-by-step from the first strokes of texture paste right through to the finishing highlights on this composition. Everything you need to work-along with me and, as with all of my tutorials, each lesson is filmed in real-time and nothing is held back. There is no editing-out, no speed-painting, no skipping stages.
[Series 1] Learn to Enjoy Colour Mixing : Purples
eight-videos, box-set total running time 7hours 28minutes
Box-Set No. 6 [Series 1] – helps you learn how to make PURPLE Work for You - how to control your colour mixes, rather than let those pesky mixes control you. No need for all those tubes of different purples – instead, here’s how to mix an infinite variety of purples for yourself. In this box-set Paul shows the basics of mixing a range of purples, how to identify the colour in your subject, how to adjust colours, how to correct colours and finally two detailed step-by-step studies for you to work-along with, in which purple is the colour bias of the subject.
A box-set of detailed demonstrations showing how, with only six colours, you can achieve most of the PURPLE colour mixes that will serve you well in any composition.
Practice the basics learnt in each tutorial and you will find that you are prepared for the next stage.
Out and About with Paul in Oils : making GREEN work for you
four-videos, box-set total running time 4hours 46minutes
In this Alla Prima oil painting workshop Paul focusses on ‘Making GREEN Work for You’ in a landscape. On our first visit to this location we realised that it would make the perfect subject for a start-to-finish oil painting workshop, in which Paul could help make greens work for you in a landscape; which can prove challenging to some artists, both in terms of identifying them and in creating the many varied colour mixes.
Painting out-and-about brings many benefits. It teaches you to study the subject, to look for the variety of colours in every element and, it helps you understand the changing nature of light, as it moves across the landscape. To create light in the landscape you need to work out the hue of any particular colour and how to achieve the colour mix to match that hue, both in sunlight and in shadow - which is what this workshop is all about; guiding you through the process from beginning to end.
Line, Tone & Glaze Workshop in Oils
four-videos, box-set total running time 4hours 22minutes
Featuring Paul’s unique Line, Tone & Glaze method, developed for his Elphen Chronicles illustrations.
Although this particular workshop centres on one of the artworks produced for Paul’s unique collection of Oil Painting Vignettes produced for one of the books in his Elphen Chronicles, the method can be applied to any subject – landscapes, figurative studies, portraits, still-life, botanical artworks – there is no limit.
The process takes as its inspiration the rich, traditional technique of glazing in oils and as with all of our work-along tutorials; this is filmed in real-time, accompanied by my detailed running commentary throughout. You get to see every brush-stroke, every colour and glaze mix in this step-by-step, start-to-finish work-along workshop.
This method would suit anyone wishing to produce oil painting sketches, or more detailed paintings and is one that would also help anyone wishing to make the transition from acrylics to oils.
Workshop in Pastels : Wet to Dry (suitable for opaque media)
eleven-videos, box-set total running time 11hours 27minutes
Paul guides you step-by-step, from the first steps of reference gathering on the spot, thumbnails, drawing out in pastel, then blocking-in with a limited palette. We then do something a little different - we transform the previously applied pastel into a ‘wet’ layer through the use of an acrylic medium. The method of working in layers from dark-to-light, used for this composition, is adapted from the traditional painting techniques that I exploit for my own work. I refer to working with pastels as pastel painting, because you can exploit a stick of pastel in much the same way as you can exploit a brush – the process of applying directional strokes of colour being crucial in creating form and movement. Just as dry and wet blending is manipulated when working with paint to create volume and depth, so too, we have paper wipers and blenders in pastel painting to do the job.
As can be seen in this workshop, there is no limit to the subjects that can be tackled with pastels, even the smallest of details are achievable, if only you are shown how.