We’re delighted to introduce a series of four pastel workshops with John Threlfall on Wednesday evenings.

Inspired by the great outdoors and by nature you will have time to fully explore soft pastels  with John in four sessions. 

John will give intensive tuition on how to use the exciting colours of pastel effectively.  The course is about finding colour, layers, light and mark-making – it’s about becoming more confident with your use of pastel and how to love it.  You will learn about using the contrasts of light and the rhythm of movement.  

Pastel is an exciting, rich and impactful medium.  During the course you will be encouraged to master textures and details from seas to skies, from fur to feathers.  You will explore colour and light, depth, tone and shadow.  Pastel is an excellent dynamic, spontaneous mark making medium which is conducive to you producing energy filled images bursting with character and life.  You will learn about mixing colours (on the paper), how to shade gradually, layering and mixing as you go.

John Threlfall is an expert in pastel, and has a wide range of work using pastels as his primary medium, including many produced from Art Safari tours and workshops.

We encourage you to snap up a place now.

The workshop will also be recorded so you will be able to watch the video online afterwards (for two months).  John will work at a pace so that he can impart heaps of information in each class – you can work alongside him or watch, ready to work up the exercises yourself during the week from the videos and course notes.

Week 1 (11 January or on recording):  The Joy of Pastels – A look at pastels, surfaces and other equipment for use indoors and out. Practical deliberations. Initial mark making and colour considerations. All combined with examples, demos and exercises.

Week 2  (18 January or on recording): The Power of Colour – Understanding colour through pastel. The strength and the subtleties of colour combinations. Creating mood through colour. We explore underpainting, which is the foundation of your picture making process. All combined with examples, demos and exercises.

Week 3  (25 January or on recording): A Richness of Texture – A further exploration of mark making to create a diversity of textures which add variety and visual interest to our paintings. Using a range of subject matter that will include habitat and landscape, wildlife and still life with examples, demos and exercises.

Week 4  (1 February or on recording): Exploring the Potential – Exciting combinations of techniques, ideas and possibilities to enhance and progress your painting process. A closer look at composition in order to strengthen your work including the handling of edges. All combined with examples, demos and exercises.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• A laptop, Macbook, PC, iPad or tablet
• Internet connection

John will mostly be working in soft pastels, but you may also use hard. Both cheap and expensive pastels will do fine, but bear in mind that the cheaper they are the more dust they tend to produce! John uses Unison, but he recommends Inscribe pastels to his students to practice technique with. Any colours you have will be fine, just make sure to have some primary colours.

• Pastels
• Pastel paper – This usually has a texture to it, and it’s good to have a few different colours to work on
• An old oil painting brush – John uses this to rub away excess pastel
• Soft Rubber
• Fixative – This is personal preference, some people swear by it and others hate it. It’s your choice!