November 2 - 4, 2022
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Nancie King Mertz, a master pastelist, conducted our workshop from Nov. 2-4.  Twelve participants were mostly from the Tucson area, but a few came from New Mexico and Delaware.  Nancie has awards, honors, and recognition all over the United States as well as Europe, and we were honored to have her share some of her expertise with us.  Each day she completed a demonstration painting in under three hours that was radiantly gorgeous. 
 
Urban settings are her specialty, and she shared tips on how to paint city scenes, buildings, and steps.  She talked about sight line and how that makes a scene readable using vanishing points.  She used Richeson pastels and mounted UArt paper.   Her underpainting consisted of dark values, and she set those values with denatured alcohol and a fan brush using vertical strokes.  Next, she painted lights over darks and did not fuss over any details.  Also, she used the side of her pastel stick like a brush.  When she neared the completion of a painting, then the details were made with hard pastels.
 
A big thank you goes to Donna Lynch for bringing us this fascinating and gifted artist from Chicago.  Many beautiful paintings were produced by all.

                                                                                    by Ellen Cholski 

Mar 1-3, 2022

Thank you Phil for a wonderful, fun, and informative workshop.  We have a much better understanding of composition and how to build a painting with thumbnails and color sketches based on values.  We also explored using temperature to achieve the light and shadows.  And so much more..... 

March 14-16, 2019
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Hola Aline, 

What a great workshop!!!  I learned so much….have a hero; work top to bottom; hold the pastel with three fingers; simplify…simplify; use charcoal for first stage, block in colors, then refine; suggest forms; eliminate clutter….and much more.  You are such an accomplished artist and excellent teacher.  Thank you for coming all the way out to Tucson…perhaps San Miguel next??? 
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Lorie Topinka (Attendee and member from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico)

Mar 8-10, 2018
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Mountains and Skies was a fabulous three-day workshop with an outstanding instructor.  The first day, we used photographic images of skies to create a pastel/alcohol underpainting by ‘seeing’ what the photograph hides. On day two, we ventured to Rio Vista Park on Tucson Ave. for a plein air event where Liz taught us to use a viewfinder to choose a scene to paint.  We created a thumbnail sketch of the scene and then did a value drawing of the scene on our paper using charcoal.  In the afternoon, we added pastel to our charcoal image and the results were amazing.  Since the values were already determined it was great fun to just add color.  On the third day, we worked with photographic images of mountains and skies, using all of the techniques we learned in the first two days.  With endless energy and enthusiasm, Liz shared her process for creating art.  She is truly a remarkable instructor and a wonderful person.  Thank you so much, Liz!

Jan 8 - 12, 2018

Pastel Innovations:  was an intense, fast paced and fun workshop that will changed the way we think about layering imagery, creating backgrounds, drawing, and incorporation non-traditional tools and techniques into our pastel painting.  Dawn had many guided exercises and mini demos will provided us with maximum time to work, share information, and inspire each other.  Dawns new book, "Pastel Innovations, " was  the text book for the class.  Great inspiration!

The first day was spent at beautiful Tohono Chul Park learning how to simplify the landscape by focusing on the light and shadow patterns and gathering reference material.  Then we spent the next two days painting in our building from field sketches and photos.  We discussed how to edit and modify reference material.  We worked on identifying the color and quality of light and may other aspects of working from field studies.

​Thank you so much, Christine, for a wonderful workshop.

March 10 - 12, 2016

March 24-26, 2016

This 3 day workshop opened up a whole new world for us and introduced us to new ways of thinking about our subjects. Dawn is a great teacher with lots of charisma and lot of of patience. She did a few demonstrations, helped each student one on one, showed us some new tools and we all left with a lot of new ideas on how to approach art.
 
The first day we practiced how to balance composition with a focus on the basic elements of design including: line, shape, value, edges, texture, space & color. We did a cubist drawing, then by modifying one element, it threw off the principles of design including: balance, unity, variety, contrast, emphasis, rhythm, movement (or direction), pattern, proportion (scale), which then had be readjusted. It was a great lesson on design because all of the elements affect each other and need to be carefully balanced..
 
The second day we were introduced to monoprints and created some of our own. Some were introduced to the basic vocabulary, techniques and materials used to create monoprints, while others already familiar with monoprints came to see it in a new light, using it as a pastel under-painting. The monoprint drawings were all in black and white but they gave us a wonderful value map and a lot of added texture that enhanced our pastel paintings.

The third day Dawn did a few demos, she approaches her paintings with an energy that is full of life and movement. She gave individual attention to each student and we were inspired to play. We left invigorated and now have a new way to approach making art!

​dawnemerson.com
 
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