Have You Tried a Baby Wipe Underpainting with Pastels? Painting Demo 

This is CRAZY! I can't quite pinpoint the moment when this went from a "hot mess" to a field of flowers... But it did.

You are a terrific art teacher. I’m a very beginner in the late winter of my years but I’m still drawn to learn. Thank you for sharing your tutorial.

Thank you for not using music! Makes it so much easier to hear what you are saying!

What sorcery is this? Girl, you are a magician! Beautiful work!!!

First time I've watched an art video by Karen Margulis. About halfway through I was kind of holding my breath, thinking OMG what a mess, it's not going to work, etc. But with every new addition of colour the painting took shape. Magical. I'm a fan now.

Thank you so much for this tutorial without music so I can hear what you are saying . I have a box of pastels from my grandfather and never have used it. Love and kiss from the Netherlands.

Fantastic! The way you suggest the flowers and grasses, rather than painting them exactly as you see them! For me it's courage! Thanks a lot! I'll probably give it a try...

Great demo in painting loosely and quickly - fresh and not overdone. New idea for underpainting!

Karen, you are my hero! I’ve been feeling a creative pull and I purchased some pastels not knowing where to start. Your videos are so informative and calming. I know I can do this! Thank you, thank you for helping me fill that creative pull❤

I really loved seeing you make this. I am struggling with pastels, esp for one view from my kitchen window, how the old apple tree changes through the year. This has given me some good ideas, especially extending the range of pastels to work with: hard/soft, better colour ranges, and texture. Thank you!

You're the first pastel artist I've ever seen that made me want to learn pastels.

I’ve never heard of an artist that actually said, “Ooops.“ You are brilliant!

This pastel really touches my sense's where many floral works rarely do. You've illustrated very well what I've tried to explain to my artist friends about developing an entire area of a piece as a whole, while working through the values that create really approachable scene's. I could lay in that field all day, admiring the image you've so lovingly constructed. Thank you.

Absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for using the baby wipes! Great idea.

Lovely - it looked so abstract for a long time and then suddenly, looking at the whole, the landscape emerges. Quite magical.

You are an absolute joy to watch. Thank you, Karen, for all I've learned from you.

You perfectly demonstrate how seemingly abstract blocks and daubs of hard colour can be manipulated back and forth until a few finer touches (such as the light on petals and the grass stems) can be made and - suddenly - it's a beautiful piece of work. Thank you.

I am in awe! This is my first time watching pastel artwork. I a believe I may be hooked! Thank you for sharing. You are an excellent teacher.

I was absolutely blown away by the transition from underpainting to your incredible finished piece!! Seriously amazing! 😱😍😍😍

This was an abracadabra. You people are magicians. i try and then i cry.

When you added the dark shapes for the poppies they floated above the painting. That was so cool! Had fun watching this!

Thank you for the inspiration! Im a watercolor artist but with all your talent watching you I just might dig into my pastels❤️❤️❤️❤️

Your creative process is so contagious. Until this video I used to avoid pastel. Now I think I might switch to it completely. Thank you for such inspirational and educational video

Ten minutes in, I was thinking - no way. Then, it was like a lens focusing...it came into view. Beautiful. Bravo.

I am fascinated by the way you work! 😮 I had to take pics of every time there was a major change in the painting just to help wrap my head around how your process worked! I love it ❤. You are extremely talented!

I'm a pastel newbie just dabbling here and there with my new set of pastels and I am totally amazed and mesmerized with what you have painted right before my eyes! The whole process was incredible, but the final product is (IMO), almost miraculous! And this idea of using the wipes on the underpainting is super effective! The underpainting, the texture and colors all bring the whole painting to life! I am truly impressed and encouraged to go ahead and continue playing around with my pastels until I surprise myself one day! Your work is brilliant! Thank you so much for sharing your painting "magic" with us!

Hello from South Africa . I have not been brave enough to use my pastels you have made it look so easy I am going to give it a go. Thank you for sharing your talent.

When you know what you're doing and already know the process and result in you mind... Wonderful

Never thought of using pastels so loosely, I love it. I'm inspired.

Love the way you create depth by putting warmer shades and texture in the foreground-luscious!

Can’t believe how beautiful this turned out!

Thank you Karen - I was watching you painting with pleasure. I started to paint with pastel. Painted a few picture and I enjoyed. This painting is very beautiful. I learned a lot from this.

A friend pointed me to your page to learn about pastels, and I love watching and learning. I am awaiting the arrival of my first set of Nupastels and Senellier soft pastels, and can't wait to start playing around. Thank you for your in depth, educational and approachable videos. Very much appreciated!

Great to see an artist having so much fun.

It is amazing how you make those broad strokes and it looks like flowers and trees.

I love this style so much. Never thought you could work with Pastels like that.

So lovely and lively! I'm getting ready to break out my pastels and this video was the perfect beginning point. Thanks so much and looking forward to seeing more!

This was awesome! I learned so much and had the joy of watching a painting come to life!

Ma'am, I am completely gob-smacked! Had no idea where this was going 😱 . I'm also a complete novice, anyway. But this is SO beautiful! 😍😍 I love Poppies. And you have done them such justice. I thoroughly enjoyed watching you paint. 👏👏👏. Thank you!

Absolutely beautiful, thank you for taking us step by step through your skilful art.

Wow! That's all I can say-WOW!! Thank you so much for sharing this.

Hey everyone The beautiful picture got you here but WOW So much more! The science of the viewers eye! Such a Tip, there so much to understand, Thank You Karen, For making it understandable and evident.

This was an amazing tutorial. I have never used my pastels, but now I will try. Thank you

Love your approach to your work... it's free and loose and exciting. Your energy shines through your finished work.

Thank you.....what a wonderful demonstration using pastels. It really has depth too!

this baby wipe idea is really good! I always use my finger to smudge the pastel but this is easier and because it is wet the color is brighter too

thank you. Never did anything with pastels, but this tutorial is inspiring me to try it.

Wow! I was pleasantly surprised as in the beginning I wasn’t sure where this was going. Excited to try pastels. Thank you for your wonderful tutorial.

I love your enthusiam and your willingness to experiment and improvise. You take the fear out of creativity for your fans.

Beautiful! Your hands Strokes are so effortless.

Wonderful! I am heading off to a pastel class and I am going to keep in mind all of your techniques. THANKS!

Beautiful painting ! You are an amazing artist and teacher . Thank you for sharing .

Another great video, Karen. I can feel the passion you have for your art. Thank you.

Thank you so much for your explanation as you create. I would love to be this loose with pastels!

Wow, I am always amazed at how these turn out. Those reds are something I need more of in my collection. So gorgeous! Thanks for all that you share. I always learn so much from your videos!

Great teacher. I learned so much. Thank you! And I agree with the commenter who thanks you for not adding music to your tutorial

You are such a great teacher!

I found this absolutely fascinating! Love the painting

YOU ARE A VERY GOOD PASTEL ARTIST. LEARNED SO MUCH FROM YOUR DEMO. THANKS A LOT, FROM PHILIPPINES

Great video, good for beginners and old pros as a reminder about the basics. Nice job Karen!

Ohhhh so amazing!!! Love love love your artwork, the techniques, the super descriptions step by step.....thank you!!!

wow. that is what I love about pastel, it is so magical and even with mess, you can still create a piece of art.

I love this painting! The different shades in the beautiful poppies, very effective thank you.

Thank you! Such an easy demo for me to follow and learn...keep up the good work!👌

One of the best videos I ve seen. Good instruction, color combinations, just loved it and would love to have a class with you!!!!

Oh I love your painting. I think I will watch many times to absorb everything you have taught me. Thank you so much. God bless❤🌹🙏

Love your freestyle! I'm going to pick up my pastel painting again and give watercolors a break

Thank You! I got great pleasure and relaxation! Very nice to get a picture with the poppies!

Thanks for a very good tutorial on pastels. ❤️👩🏻‍🎨

This is a wonderful demo.

Turned out very nice. Looks like a fun loose way to paint with pastels. I enjoyed watching you and learned a lot I can do differently with all the stuff i already have. Thank you for sharing. I was a little concerned at first but glad I watched to the end.😄

I love art, I love pastels, I love flowers..I saw "underpainting" and I was intrigued..never heard of it before but Id heard of baby wipes..... so there you go, it is quite odd what gets your attention!

Amazing! I was spellbound. Artists make it look so easy!

Wonderful instruction. I'm knew to chalk pastels, but paint water colors. I believe you are using a 'lifting' technique when your baby-wipe ball pulls off a little bit of the pastel when you pounce on the underpainting, giving nice irregularities. And I think the stamping or stomping technique you are using with the wipes to create foliage is also akin to 'ghost stamping' term. The later spray fixative stage where you protect your darks and then this allows you create the illusion of texture reminds me of the "dry brush" technique used with water color painting. Your tutorial is very inspiring. thank you so much.

Watching this process is absolutely awesome, love love love you work

Quite a trick! Concise, simple and to the point! Thank you !

I was like initially wow this is a mess. Then i went to the bathroom, came back and then my jaw dropped. This is awesome 😄😄😄👍I wish i can paint like this.

Absolutely stunning... thank you for this amazing tutorial... love it..

I have never seen anything like this!! But now, I want to do it!!! Wonderful art!!!!!

Karen, thanks for sharing all the things I have been doing wrong with Pastels. Your tutorial is most informative with technique and balance.

Watching your video on the 5th or april 2020, i was looking for something new to learn during the covid-19 lockdown and am glad i found your video. Really well explained . I have soft and hard pastels lying arouns for almost 10 years🙈 but now am excited to use it. Thank you .😀

Beautiful. This inspired me to try out pastel ❤ thank you!

Thank you for the video. Pastels seem tricky to me but all things are until we give them a try. It was very interesting to see the initial underpainting and wondering how it goes from the rough lay in to the finale.

Really enjoyed the demo Karen.

thank you for showing us your palate at the end. the painting is really beautiful, it's not my favourite subject matter but it's truly fantastic. you're a cut above the typical youtube artist.

Great teacher! Thank you!

Amazing, you've gained yourself a new subscriber

Hi I found this so inspiring and so beautiful, but also so informative! Loved it and the result is lovely. Thanks

Thank you for sharing :) it was fun to paint along.

You did a great job with transforming a poppies' picture in nature to a magnificent interesting painting. Thank you for sharing.

I’ve never used pastels before other than using them in my clays. And I’ve just started really painting in the last year or so now. I’ve been looking at some other mediums and I really think I’d like to try these! I really enjoyed your video!! Beautiful work❤️

The transformation is amazing since the baby wipes phase. It looked as if a baby painted it then the mom fixed everything and made it into perfect art 😄

I really liked the initial composition lines. Very loose and quite interesting.

Amazing technique, outstanding artist! A pleasure to watch Mrs. Margulis at work!!!

I usually do watercolour but I love pastels and yours are just so beautiful! Thank you. Hélène

Fabulous demo, thank you. It came together like magic.

Thank you for the tutorial, I will certainly give this a try !

Awesome tutorial as always!

I can't believe I'm just finding your page! You're amazing!!

This was an amazing video - so glad I found you - so inspired to try pastels. I usually prefer oil pastel because i love the smoothness when creating. I hope I can master this technique. This turned out so beautiful thank you for sharing. I look forward to seeing more videos from you.