Framing Pastel Artwork
A dilemma facing pastellists is the framing of their pastel artwork. One of the many attractions of soft pastels as a medium is that they age very well. They don't crack or fade, so when treated well, they can look just as vibrant after decades or even centuries as...
How to Draw With Pastels
One of the attractions of working with pastels is that there’s nothing stopping you from just diving in. If you have paper and some pastel sticks, you can get started immediately without needing to learn any ‘correct’ way of doing things. However, once you’ve gotten...
How to Paint Using Oil Pastels
You might have heard of artists using oil pastels. They’re the younger, cooler kid brother to regular soft pastels, and they differ from soft pastels in that they use an oil and wax binder instead of a gum one. The pigments they contain are the same though, so...
Pastel Painting Techniques
You can use several pastel painting techniques to get the most out of your pastels. Once you master them, you can work the medium with perfect confidence and very good results. Below are some pastel painting techniques that seasoned artists use in their interesting...
Materials Needed For Pastel Painting
Pastels are a great medium for an artist who loves to mainly use stroke work to create a masterpiece. If you are a beginner in this style of painting, you must have a good idea of what you will need for pastel painting. Pastels are an excellent medium for an artist...
How to Layer Pastels
I was asked a question the other day about how to layer pastels and what exactly it means. Simply put - Layering is putting one layer of pastel on top of another. I see a lot of artists who are new to pastels only ever putting on one or two layers of pastel....
Portrait Painting Demo – Video
There are many different techniques to pastels, and in this portrait demo, we see the beautiful use of gentle colours. The artist is Graciela Bombalova, and you can see more of her pastel paintings HERE If you're wanting step by step lessons, head over to the Shop and...
Pastel Painting Tips
Nothing beats some good pastel painting tips. So here are three I believe are worthy of telling you. These tips are the first of a series of pastel painting tips that I will add to as this website grows. Tip #1 Train Yourself. Some days it's just not convenient to be...
Different Types of Pastels
Even though there are many different types of pastels they are essentially small-sized sticks that are obtainable in several shades. Using pastels you are able to bring forth diverse moods in any painting. Painting with pastels gives a flexible medium that provides...
Get Started with Pastels
There's not much you need to know about pastels to get started. However, these few points may help. Pastels don’t have the glamour of oil paints, and they’re a lot messier than pencils. But pastels have some unique advantages. Unlike paint, colours are mixed on the...
