Learn to paint dry and wet pastel techniques with artist Avon Water, an award winning pastel artist that competes in national and international competitions. His work is exhibited across the nation in museums and galleries. Specializing in wet pastel techniques, Avon openly shares what he has learned from workshops, his own experimentation with wet pastel mediums, and pays it forward. Wet pastel isn't just for the start of a painting.... Expect to learn how his advanced wet pastel painting techniques create textures that aid in laying pastels in creative ways to create interest in every square inch of the painted surface. This channel offers free paint along events too, where you can join in and paint with him, then share your work with those you met during the live events. Avon's workshops online and across the nation help artists grow and learn the subtle changes necessary to take their work to the next level.
Oh, thanks. Sometimes I get a substrate that is just cursed!! After 3 attempts sometimes I realize this idea just isn’t going to work, so it still isn’t all roses, lol
Thanks for this wonderful tutorial. I can't believe what I'm seeing. I did a digital freehand drawing, of a bridge for fun. It looks almost exactly the same and even the layout of the trees and the camera angle. Except, in my drawing the river bank was more muddy due to the season. 💯🎨
I happy I could contribute something to your artistic growth. If you love digital drawing, and don’t struggle with technology, use it to draw your scenes and change the elements or values or even remove and add trees until you have something to paint from. You will be surprised how your memory will fill in the details not in the drawings.
Thank you for this video. You have taken my ideas of using Notans to another level. I do use thumb nails and I do use pictures at times. You have given me a better idea as to how to put the two together. I also believe I do not need a picture. Doing plein air studies with my view finder will work just as well.
So glad I contributed something to your artist’s life. A lot of times when artists use the word “notan” it has also become common for them to mean value sketch, design or thumbnail, and not just the black and white design elements.
Ah, I remembered... There's a Derwent Charcoal XL line that's also watercolourable, basically a water-soluble dry pastel. It only has a few colours that are more grey and brown, maybe an alternative.
These pastels are unique, in fact I don't know of any other brand that has this water-soluble material. Maybe just coloured pencils, but it's not the same. Here in my region it's hard to find at the moment.
The principles, if I understand your statement, are the same but for small areas a the tools must be modified to use smaller strikes or even pencils might be required if a lot of detail is your aim. At such small sizes, strokes side by side with no bleeding would still result in a gray
Yes, me too, but occasionally my set just doesn’t have the gray that is best for the situation. And Im trying to help people just starting who have yet to acquire as many pastels as those of us who have been at it a while
I'm really enjoying your series on pastels, I'm learning a lot from each video. Could you do a video on the myths of pastel toxicity (use of mask, gloves) ? Greetings from Brazil.
Excellent topic suggestion!!! i will add that to the list. In the winter we are neighbors…I spend time in Colombia in North America winters, your summer.
Tell me more, maybe you are referring to a combination of marks that visually our minds mix but up close they are just individual color? Like the principles of pointalism but with traditional mark making??
@@PastelWithAvon Thank you for your reply. Yes! You are correct. Many years ago I went to The Barnes Collection, when it was still in the suburbs. It was not my first visit so I was more focused. In a corner, at knee height. Was a Degas pastel painting of legs, only. It was so many colors! I’ve never forgotten it. Small contouring strokes of so many colors. The Collection was moved, in tact, to a permanent home on the Ben Franklin Parkway. We’re talking Philadelphia here. The paintings and other artifacts are exhibited in exactly the same way they were at the original location. Not so easy to see but with much better lighting. I wish I could revisit The Barnes in its better location. Alas, no longer possible for me. A special memory.
A lot of artists use cardboard. At least one version of the Scream by Evard Munch is on cardboard. We should all use the best materials we can for works but for studies and such, or if you can't afford great materials, you use what you can afford, especially for studies and experimenting.
@@PastelWithAvonyeah I think cardboard is good for experimenting on, I can't remember which Wyeth it was that used cardboard, it just came from cardboard boxes I wonder how long the painting will last. I guess like he said it'll give a job to a conservationist😊
Its not even archival if you do both sides. Thats why I mention that if it were ever to become collectable….it would give a museum curator work. Only the gesso is archival, therefore the surface you paint on is archival. The backing will eventually fall apart but long after we are dead. A bit of artist humor???
Thanks for this how-to. Paper, especially high quality paper or special purpose paper, like everything else, is really expensive, so any way we can save some money on it and have it perform like we need it to... is certainly worth a shot. And we know, we're not necessarily working on masterpieces every time we make art. So like you say, with paper that doesn't cost an arm & a leg, maybe we'll feel more relaxed and create more. 👍 p.s. When I have leftover and still fresh paint, (whether oil or acrylic & maybe even gouache )I try to take that paint and use it to paint a first background layer (or maybe even a little more) on one of my empty canvases. Maybe I'll eventually paint over it, but when I'm trying to decide what to paint or I need a little jumpstart, that canvas that I began painting on, can help me get going. Plus, I just hate to throw away good paint!
Oh I used to do the same thing with my left over paints. You can also use them to tint pastel papers but if the paint is oil it will never wash out should you one day want to wash off a pastel and reuse the paper
Really enjoyed this video. This method wouldn't work for me as i have very limited space. Instead I bought some clear acrylic stacking trays (usually used for makeup or jewelry). They come in several sizes, from 6 inch square to 12" x 6". You can stack them as high as you want and you can see thru to the colors inside. They're awesome, I have 2 stacks right by my easel and just love them.
One size doesn’t fit us all, limited space is a problem definitely. I could see myself still sorting pastels by values for trays then just painting from 1-2 trays leaving the other values stacked and stored. That is just me. Thanks for watching too.
What if you painted with the brush in one direction let it dry and then do the other direction after it's dried to fill in the 1st cracks going in the 1st direction would that make it smooth after 2nd dry??
It probably would make it smoother than my doing it both ways while wet a light sanding before the second coat would also help get a smoother surface. You likily wont ever get a super smooth finish hime made such as a commercial 800 grit might be. But you will have plenty of work surfaces for studies and other uses that a more expensive product just doesn’t make sense using. Let me know how it works.
No problem….there are many ways: and even shapes, one person I saw in. Mag does it in a circle. I can only share how I do it for painting in tonality. Thanks
I have several hundred pastels organixed by color and have not been happy with that, this has given me a new method to try, thank you for explaining it so clearly
Thank you for sharing this video with your techniques! Excellent surfaces for soft pastels! I have had my best success with watercolor papers or even good printmaking paper for etching or even silk screening. I found pumice on Amazon for quite a reasonable price! If you add your own you can save a lot of money on your Gesso and give yourself an even greater savings!
Where I live gesso is expensive, so I make my own clear gesso. Definitely not archival but it works for me. Mix one part corn starch with one part water to a fine slurry. Distilled water is recommended (I use tap water because it is deep artesian and OK). Add two and a half parts of any white glue - I use PVA. Apparently you can also use Elmer's glue. I'm just throwing it out there in case anyone wants to know - I use it to give a surface for pencil on slick paper. 🙂
No… sanded papers are pretty resilient. If it were watercolor paper or if it were a larger piece …..but those I tend to mount on some sort of board if it is paper im using. Mounting papers on board will be a future video or two…..tons of different mounting processes That people use v
Interesting ! Why use dry pastell with water instead of watercolour ? I never heard of this before ! Your paintings are very beautiful ! How do you seal the surface when the painting is finished ?
Some pastelist use watercolor as underpainting…with pastel I don’t have to get another medium out, i just use one medium. Other vids discuss using wet pastelwith alcohol, gesso, and other mediums for different effects in the middle of the process that watercolor isn’t going to create. A lot of pastelist-me included- no longer use fixation, we just mount under museum glass with spacers or a mat.
I have a video coming in a few weeks on how to make your own pastel paper. Short of that, go to the hardware and buy 8x10 ish sand paper 400 to 800 grit range are good to train on.
Thanks!!! So much!!! I've never heard it spoken aloud before. I have a video launching in a couple weeks that again mis-pronounces it as "Cran- de Arch" so don't be alarmed but now I know for future vids. thank you thank you thank you.
I’m way too organized to do that. Crap I don’t like my drawings all muddy up like that……. too hard to rework the papers already saturated not for me but thanks. I know you’re probably a great teacher. It just doesn’t work for me.!
I appreciate very much that you address more interesting, lesser known, but consequential pastel painting topics than I've encountered here on RU-vid. These demos usually refer to areas where I've encountered problems in my own work.
Thanks so much for the comments. I am always experimenting so hopefully your comment will stay true as I work through the material topics. I will be focusing on wet techniques and color theory most of this year.
Thanks Avon. As someone completely new to soft pastels, these videos are invaluable. I particularly enjoy your clear and concise explanations. Working my way through all your videos in the coming days.
Thanks for such kind words….I am happy you and others are getting something out of these. I make them for my students so they can get a different perspective than what I might say in my workshops.
