A recap from Day 2 of the Pastel Live virtual art conference, taking place now through tonight, Friday, September 20, 2024.
On the second official day of Pastel Live this year, we saw lessons from Daud Akhriev, Karen Margulis, Collette Odya Smith, Pamela Hamilton, Jeri Greenberg, Lyn Diefenbach, and more – what a full day of learning!
The Pastel Live faculty auction is still going strong, and is open to the public. It’s your chance to own original pastel paintings from today’s masters. It ends Saturday, so click here to see the available paintings – don’t wait because they’re selling as we speak.
And in addition to the pastel painting demonstrations, we heard a major announcement about the next epic Streamline-sponsored online art event: Realism Live, taking place November 13-15, 2024 (with an Essentials Techniques day on November 12). You don’t want to miss it.
Highlights From Day 2 of Pastel Live 2024
In “Composing from Imagination” Daud Akhriev showed us how he imagines a multi-figure composition. By beginning loose and exploring the emotion of color and movement, he worked towards a study that he’ll later reference for a finished piece.
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We headed into a peaceful meadow with Karen Margulis during her pastel landscape demo. She shared her techniques, tips, and secrets for painting natural and expressive grasses and wildflowers, which she began with a simple no-fail approach with the “three S’s” of planning.
Her pro tip: “Make a plan, then plan to let go.”
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Does the camera lie? Yes, said Colette Odya Smith, who explained important things to know about using photo references and taking better photos.
“The first thing to remember is that the camera is a tool,” she said. “It creates an image that not only serves to help you remember your experience … it helps you focus on what you’re really attracted to.”
In her demo, Colette explained what kind of photographs to take, how to analyze and work with them, and how to see them as a resource without copying them with “complete fidelity.”
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Instead of beginning with an underpainting, Pamela Hamilton started her still life with a light drawing on a black surface. Her demonstration featured two apples, a draped cloth, and a reflective, silver vessel.
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Jeri Greenberg demonstrated with a scene from one of her favorite restaurants in Wilmington, North Carolina. When painting a busy scene, she advises, “Don’t be nervous. Don’t get overwhelmed. Just use a lot of shapes and it’ll all work out fine.”
Jeri says she loves painting restaurants because “they tell stories of the clientele as well as the hustle and bustle of the waitstaff, and I enjoy getting that action and momentum in these little ‘clips’ of the day. In this one, I loved the juxtaposition of the diners at the counter and the kitchen doing the prep.”
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The pursuit of masterly quality and technique is a high priority for Lyn Diefenbach, who joined us from Queensland, Australia to teach us how to create the illusion of form, use edges and values to build reality, how to create patterns, and more.
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We want to thank today’s sponsors for supporting Pastel Live: Blick Art Materials; Sennelier Fabriano & Cretacolor; and PanPastels.
Join us for the 5th Annual Pastel Live – register early at PastelLive.com now!
