The Soft Pastel Awakening

 Back to Haliburton School of Art in the summer of 2017. This time I took a week-long class with Margaret Ferraro and fell in love with soft pastel. Another new media; another learning curve!

Each media has advantages, and then the stuff that’s not so great. I love the immediacy of soft pastel and the layering of colour. 

The final assignment to be completed that week with Margaret, was to choose an image from one of her many pastel magazines and copy that artist’s rendering. This is a tried and true way of learning in many deferent media, because you are learning from the artist’s technique. Here is the result:

14 x 12”, soft pastel on Mi-Teintes paper

During Covid, I took an online pastel class with Margaret Ferraro, through The McMichael Gallery.

This delicate tulip image was composed from a much busier image

and completed during that course.

6 x 7”, soft pastel on Mi-Teintes paper

Also completed during that online course:

8 x 8”, soft pastel on Mi-tenets paper