Pastel on Canvas Demonstration

This past weekend I demonstrated pastel on canvas, as part of the demonstration programme with the Master Pastellist Exhibition 2017.

I hope that the many people who watched through the two days, are delighted to know that pastel can be used either as paint on canvas, or for drawing on canvas.

I began with a canvas that I was reusing, so it already had texture on it, and I had placed a light acrylic wash on it in preparation. I also worked on a small canvas (when waiting for layers to dry on the larger canvas) on which I had placed a collage.

Here below is  the canvas with an acrylic wash, ready for the pastel

Beginning to apply the pastel – the photographs I took of a family of swans in North Lakes are taped to the side for easy reference.

Here is the painting well under way on the second day of the demonstration:

“Tending” : a final acrylic drybrushed layer of turquoise was applied to bring the work to completion.