Paramount Center for the Arts

Experience Level: Beginner, no prior experience needed

Saturday March 21, 9am-3:30pm (1 session)

Ages 18+ (Please contact us at dsegerstrom@paramountarts.org if you have a younger student interested in participating)

Flowers in Soft Pastel! Explore the lush qualities and endless possibilities of soft pastel in this one-day floral workshop. Suzann will walk you through a step-by-step process starting with a sketch and building up to a luminous finish. You will explore light effect, color temperature and development, value and edges, as well as learn pastel best practices. Suzann will also demonstrate how to use an alcohol wash to add yet another amazing technique to your pastel work. The first segment features a short lecture and demonstration with hands-on student work from photo reference for the remainder of the workshop

Please bring the following materials to class:

Notebook and pen/pencil for taking notes.

A sheet of tinted, fine-grit sanded pastel paper in light or medium gray or other muted color (400 to 800 grit), brands I recommend are Sennelier La Carte, Claire fontaine Pastelmat, Art Spectrum Colourfix Coated Pastel Paper, Pastelbord or other pastel paper you’re comfortable with. 11 x 14 or 12 x16 is a good size to give you plenty of margins for your work.

Some pastel papers come mounted to a rigid backing that give your piece better support for framing.

If you’d like to experiment with the alcohol wash, UArt 800 grit sanded paper in white is a great paper to work with.

Masking tape or clips to secure your paper.

A small drawing board and table top easel. A dust tray made of stiff paper or split paper towel cores to put under drawing board and paper towels.

A Pastel Pencil in a wine or magenta color.

An assortment of soft, semi-soft pastels in the NuPastels brand—the dry “chalk” kind (oil pastels are not appropriate for this technique). For this class I prefer square semi-soft pastels. Square pastels have nice edges for more precise work. A 30- or 36-piece half-stick set would be a good starter set. Look for pastel sets that have a good assortment of lights and darks in each color. Also look for pastels that have nuanced subtle colors as well as intense.

A small tray to hold pastels that are in use.

Feel free to bring your own floral photo reference to work from. The instructor will also provide photos to work from. The following are optional, but nice to have:

If you would like to use gloves to protect your hands from pastel dust, I recommend gardening gloves with breathable mesh backs and a rubber coating on the bottom of the fingers and palm (avoid the nitrile! they’re too stiff!).

Pastel pencils can be helpful for sharp detail. Pan pastels, if you have them, can be convenient for block-ins. A very soft brush if you’d like to soften edges.

Alcohol and a brush if you’d like to experiment with pastel washes.

A piece of glassine or wax paper to protect your drawing on the way home.