How To Paint a Red Tree

Artist and author Karen Margulis offers tips for painting brilliant Fall foliage and avoiding dull and washed out colors.  Karen is a pastel artist but these color tips apply to all mediums.

Paint Lake with Distant Cliffs

"Quiet Morning: Ramah Lake" by M.C.Johnson

In this step-by-step tutorial, pastel artist Michael Chesley Johnson describes his methods for painting with a local color underpainting.  Johnson says:  "I want a quiet, very harmonious finished piece, so I try three values of a cool, purple-violet for the underpainting and layer cool "local" colors on top of this, saving my warm touches for the red cliffs."   Johnson gives us valuable advice about using a limited palette and sticking with a value plan.  He says:  "I mark my lightest and darkest areas. This shows me at a glance the range of values I must stick with in the painting. No color will be lighter or darker than these."

The Art of Ann Templeton: A Step Beyond
by Michael Chesley Johnson and Ann Templeton
The Art of Ann Templeton explores the world and work of Ann Templeton. With over 120 full-color plates, the book illustrates her use of materials and techniques, her travels, and her approach to workshops, as well as her take on what it is to live the life of an artist. Primarily a plein air painter, Ann Templeton has developed techniques over 30 years of painting to capture the landscape quickly and to interpret it with her unique vision of color and design.

Pastel Landscape Tutorial

Early Morning in the Smokies by Larry Blovits

Larry Blovits demonstrates this landscape painting, step by step, using NuPastels and the very soft Schmincke pastels,.  First he prepares a sketch from a reference photo and then takes you through the underpainting process and color block-in.   He recommends establishing  "your primary color value a little darker than it actually is. This approach will produce a richer contrast basis for lighter revisions."   He then works from background to foreground to establish details.

Try Your Hand at Sun, Sea and Sand

Former SAA (Society for All Artists) president Jeremy Ford demonstrates the steps taken to create a stunning sunset in pastel.   He is  using Pastelmat white paper for this demonstration.  Jeremy says:  "Pastelmat is an excellent robust acid-free pastel

Underpainting Sunlight and Shadow by Maggie Price

"San Simeon Bluff"  pastel by Maggie Price

"As a general rule, on a sunny day, colors in sunlight are lighter in value than colors in shadow. The darkest color in fall sunlight will appear lighter in value than the lightest color in full shadow. This simple method helps you analyze areas of sunlight and shadow, and keep your values (light and dark) and temperature (warm and cool) clear throughout the painting."   This tutorial-demonstration is from the book,"Painting with Pastels" by Maggie Price.

How to Draw a Cat Portrait with Pastels

Pastel Pencil Demo

Colin Bradley shares this 10 step tutorial on how to draw a tabby cat using pastel pencils.  The artist's bio says "Pastel pencils... proved to be an ideal medium for producing the realism Colin sought... Colin concentrated on learning as much as he could about the pencils, creating his own techniques that were to be the foundation of the medium as it is known today."

"Billie the Kid" by Roby Baer

Pastel demonstration of baby goat by Roberta "Roby" Baer PSA. Baer writes: "Who can resist a cute baby goat? Doing these paintings have taken me back to when I was a kid... schlepping around in the barnyard and hanging out with the different animals. In this original pastel painting I wanted to capture the mischievous personality that every goat "kid" playfully displays."

Palomino Gypsy by Roby Baer

Pastel demonstration of Palomino horse by Roberta "Roby" Baer PSA from her Gypsy Vanner series. Baer writes: "This is the first time I have painted a Palomino and it was a lot of fun. I especially liked the challenge of applying the multiple layers to achieve the hair and the softness in the eyes."

"Gypsy Vanner" by Roby Baer

Pastel demonstration of horse's eye by Roberta "Roby" Baer PSA from her Gypsy Vanner series. Baer writes: "In this painting, I wanted to show that when the sun hits just right, you can look into the eye and see the rich, rusty color while at the same time you are able to see the spherical shape from the contour of the highlights."

Foothills Snow, Pastel by Maggie Price

Step by step demo by pastel artist and author Maggie Price. Maggie writes: "The subject of this painting is in the foothills of the Sandias, across the valley and up a winding road from where we live. I like the interplay of the high desert foliage against the snow, and in this scene I particularly liked the arroyo, where the snow had already melted and the darker value of the dirt provided a nice warm contrast to the light snow colors. Most of all, my eye was caught by the shadow, which is a major focal point for the painting."

Still Life in Soft Pastel, L.Diane Johnson

Carolina's Pride

Follow along as L. Diane Johnson demonstrates this pastel painting of a simple piece of lace and dogwood blossom against a neutral fabric background.