Students are introduced to pastel as a valuable medium for realist artists and become familiar and confident in full-color painting with hard pastel.

There seems to be a preconception of pastel painting. When many artists think of pastel they visualize little girls sniffing flowers or blazing sunsets. The fact is that in the hands of the serious artist pastel is as valid a medium as oil paint. One of the differences is how color is achieved. In pastel, it involves visually mixing color by layering one on top of another until the desired color is found. In oil painting there is more mixing color directly on the canvas or on the palette by merging one pigment into another. Switching back and forth between the two makes both the oil painting and pastel painting more dynamic.

In the first few classes, the work will be done using sticks limited to three colors. This enables students to become comfortable working with line in a painterly manner. After these first two or three evenings, students move into a wider range of colors culminating in full unlimited color.

The concepts covered are dimensional planes, value relationships, color relationships and drawing skills.

Drawing skill is required