Is a work in pastels a drawing or a painting? I have come across this debate many times. It depends and I tend to leave it at that. Are you doing a line drawing or are you applying layers of color? The latter would be a painting as far as I’m concerned. In a recent work it struck me that the techniques I was using reminded me of painting. Except I was using a dry pigment instead of wet. Aside from that difference I was going about it in the same way as a painting.
In this article and video I am going to demonstrate how you can paint a beach scene using a few pastel techniques. 
Color mixing remains a constant challenge for artists. Most of the questions that I get from students is how to mix certain colors. Of these many relate to mixing flesh colors. This is understandable when you consider the colors used by masters like Rembrandt. Look at the portrait of Rembrandt above. The variety of colors used are astonishing. A magnificent achievement. How can our paltry color mixes come close to this?
In this article I will give you the exact process that you can follow to get better at mixing flesh tones.  The Painterly Workshop is an extensive online learning experience for artists. It is also the foundation of my art coaching program that has been running for three years now. Due to the growth of the coaching program and requests for alternative access to the learning materials I have created two further options for artists.
Do you have painting goals? For some artists simply getting a chance to paint among many other demands is a miracle in itself. For others painting is a compulsion that consumes their free time. A need to create increasingly better paintings is standard procedure for these enthusiasts. If you are constantly searching for that new approach, technique or color mix then you may find this article useful. This article is about the beauty of a creative process that delivers results. Not a magic wand. Rather a process that will reward the enthusiastic painter.  What does a fox, an author and spooky stories have in common? Find out in this first Q&A article where I interview an emerging author about his inspiration for writing. Every artist struggles with inspiration at times. Procrastination more often I would think. Even when inspired there are distractions, fears and chores that beckon. To my mind authors must have the worst of this. Writing is fearfully solitary and minimalist. At least a painter has tubes of paint, brushes and many colorful things to entice and lure one to the canvas. An author has a keyboard or typewriter (there are a few left). The most hardcore only have a few pencils and writing pads. How about an author that is writing one short story a day for three hundred and sixty five days? That must take commitment and discipline. Let’s meet this young author and find out more. 
This may well be the cure to artist’s procrastination. Waiting for inspiration is an excuse often used to disguise the pressure many artists feel when faced with a new project. We know that making a start is necessary, but taking the first step is risky. I am willing to bet that keeping a journal will make it easier to get started. Here is a fun method for making amazing journals.
 Now a wider selection of courses are available to artists on my revamped painting school. Suitable for beginners to intermediate artists. Take a look at the new courses added this month.  Do you want to spend your life doing what you love? Of course, who does not want a life like this? Most sane people would love to spend their time doing work they enjoy. But it is safe to say that we associate enjoyable work with work that does not pay the bills. Why is this? Because most people hate their work, but are more afraid of not paying the bills. It is as desperate as that. Now there are many ways to live and make money … and have fun doing it. What about being an artist? In this article you will learn about three essential qualities that, if followed, may change your life as an artist. 
Loose painting. What is this all about? Is it abstract or is it careless painting? Kind of sloppy? Well none of these actually. Ask any artist painting in a loose style and they will have a different definition of their work. This is a good thing in my book. It means each artist develops their own style and there is room to express yourself as an individual. It is also a question I get most often from beginners. That is: “My paintings look so tight. How can I loosen up my painting“
If you are one of those artists trying to break the tight, overworked painting style then read on. Plus enjoy a free thirty minute video demonstration of a painting completed using this approach. 
One of the questions from my Artist’s and Collectors Circle recently was about painting shadows. It just so happened that I am preparing lessons on this topic for my Art Coaching class. This also touches on previous color mixing lessons I have covered on this blog. So why not prepare something showing the overlap between color mixing, color temperature and painting shadows?
Sounds good so here it is. There is also a video to show you these ideas in practice. |
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AuthorMalcolm Dewey: Artist. Country: South Africa 
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