First Soft Pastel Class 2018

What an exciting day! My new Pastel And Drawing Skills weekly class in Marchwood started.   I love teaching, I used to be a teacher in a special needs school and a private tutor.  For me, there is little that is more satisfying than helping people learn a new skill.

I really wanted my class to go home with something to show everyone from their first class so we needed something small, quick and impressive.  I also wanted them to learn something very important about pastel.  That paper is as important (if not more important) than the pastels you use.

We used 4 papers to show what the difference is; how the paper feels and how it reacts to holding the pastel and the effect it creates.

4 small studies of a seascape, copying me from my step by step demo.  Each week I will be doing a demonstration at the beginning of the class, showing a different technique. 

Blending the pastel to make a smooth transtion of colour from horizon to sky can be tricky to start with, learning to overlap colours is key.

Some people chose 4 papers to work on first and some 2, they took the other paper with them to have a go at home.

We used mostly student quality soft pastels to start with and pastel pencils for the details.  As they grow in experience they will learn to use the edge of a pastel stick to get sharp thin edges.

Here are a selection of the finished seascapes,  aren’t they beautiful!  All different colours were used as some had their own pastel sets already.  This is the wonderful thing about art; everybody is right, there is no wrong and the most important thing is that you are happy with what you have done.  Everybody was and i think they surprised themselves at how well they did in their first lesson.  I’m looking forward to next week when I share my top tips about drawing.

You can see my demonstration on the board at the front.  It’s a bit small.  I do my demo’s larger now and I have chairs at the front so people can see better.  I also where a headset to project my voice and I wear a hearing aid microphone for one lady so she can hear properly.  If you’d like to join my pastel and drawing skills classes you can email me here or phone 07740 282399 / 02380 660639. Classes are on a Wednesday afternoon 11.55am to 1.55pm and 2pm – 4pm

GDPR: All images used with permission