I have been playing with pastels for the last year or so, and really enjoy getting messy. This tutorial helped me to understand when to blend and when not to, and more importantly how to layer just like we do with acrylics.
First published May 25 2024: Valerie McKeehan‘s pastel tutorial is my first lesson in the Workshop Week 2024 hosted by Happy Ever Crafter. I signed up for the Workshop Week, which is free and starts in early June. But for $49 I was able to get early and forever access to the vault of 49 courses. So I will be choosing artists from this package for the next few sessions.
I love pastels. I love getting messy and making marks with just my fingers. But there is definitely a nuance to the technique and Valerie has it down. She put together a lovely scene of a field of poppies in about 40 minutes. The main thing I picked up from her instruction was the fact that you can make a bottom layer of pastels to define shapes and values, just like in an acrylic painting.
Since my backyard is a lovely overgrown field, I have chosen to use that field, which doesn’t have poppies, but has a variety of native-to-Michigan plants that I tried to incorporate. Here is my finished piece:
As you can see, I have a lot to learn yet, but this was just an indication of how much more I need to practice. I think I will try a different paper next time, since I think the texture of the gessoed paper didn’t allow me to get the clarity I was looking for.
Valerie’s lesson was well thought out and presented. Hope you will check her out…
Happy Arting…