Pastel Painter Jeanne Rosier Smith: Pastel Lessons Tips and Techniques Menu
Jeanne Rosier Smith
A Pastel Painter’s Playbook
Most people come to pastel from another medium, and fall in love with pastel painting’s tactile qualities and banquet of color. That’s what happened to me over twenty years ago, and I’ve never looked back. I love their velvety texture and vivid colors, and I find the medium flexible, forgiving and exciting to work with. There is always more to learn.
How should I use this site?
Here’s a list of what you’ll find, and where to go next.
Upcoming live events
Two hour demos occur every 6-8 weeks, extended deep dives into subject matter, with live Q&A for registered participants. Please consider joining me for the next one; it’s a great chance for real-time questions and interaction appropriate for all experience levels. Archived live demos become part of our permanent Epiphany library, you’ll find a great selection of them here. Silver Subscription Videos contain one permanent core workshop: Pastel Fundamentals, as well as all videos released in the past three months. I recommend you start with the Pastel Fundamentals workshop if you are new to pastel or need a refresher. Tricks of the Trade contains most-asked questions from workshops: on making pastels, cleaning pastels, mounting paper, spraying your work, signing your work, and framing.
Pastel Painting Workshops
My full pastel painting Workshops are next (e.g. Color Confidence, Composition and Design, Underpainting, Loosening Up) The ideas and exercises in these workshops form the foundation of my approach to painting with pastels and I strongly recommend following through each entire workshop for an experience like an in-person workshop with demos, lessons, tips and exercises. While they are accessible to beginners they are also useful to experienced painters. Their exercises and lessons continue to teach me every time I revisit them. Color Confidence refines and elevates color sense and can be repeated over time. Loosening Up shares the core of my pastel painting philosophy, breaking down a strategy of painterly realism. Underpainting gives a strong understanding of the options for beginning a painting, and Composition and Design is a boot camp for improving design sense.
Pastel Painting Subject Series
Pursue individual interests and deepen your craft with the pastel painting Subject Series (e.g. Seascape, Skies, Winter Landscape, Water in the Landscape, Landscape Elements, Drawing Challenges).
The collection grows monthly, as I record new tips lessons and demos. See the sidebar at right for a list of what’s to come, and a link to send us feedback. I welcome your requests and suggestions.
Pastel Painter’s Materials List
On the right you’ll see a link to my materials list. In it you’ll find Terry Ludwig, Diane Townsend, Girault, and all the materials I generally use.
Happy painting, and Welcome!
SPECIAL EVENTS:
JEANNE ROSIER SMITH - PASTEL
July 16, 6:00-8:00 Eastern
2 hour live demo:
How Do You Dune?
Dunes and their grasses pose special challenges, both in composition and palette choices. Jeanne will share her approaches to creating compelling dune paintings, convincing grasses and sand you want to step in.
Date: July 16, 6:00-8:00pm eastern
Access: Three months access to archived video after the event
Indefinite access to archived video for subscribers with a currently active account
VIEW THE DEMO:
A link to the live demo will be posted at the top of this page, at the top of the Epiphany Fine Art home page, and at the top of the members video page on the day of the demo
A recording of the demo will be available for three months to non subscribers and indefinitely for members with a currently active subscription.
VIEW THE RECORDING: the archived demo video will be located in the Archived Demos section of Jeanne's page on Epiphany Fine Art
September 11, 6:00-8:00 Eastern
Trees
To paint trees convincingly we need lots of great strategies. In this live demo Jeanne covers several different approaches to enlivening your trees, giving them movement, air, space, and shape without over describing every leaf.
Date: September 11, 6:00-8:00pm eastern
Access: Three months access to archived video after the event
Indefinite access to archived video for subscribers with a currently active account
VIEW THE DEMO: A link to the live demo will be posted at the top of this page, at the top of the Epiphany Fine Art home page, and at the top of the members video page on the day of the demo
A recording of the demo will be available for three months to non subscribers and indefinitely for members with a currently active subscription.
VIEW THE RECORDING: the archived demo video will be located in the Archived Demos section of Jeanne's page on Epiphany Fine Art
JEANNE ROSIER SMITH - PASTEL
November 13, 6:00-8:00 Eastern
The City Nocturne
City lights provide the magic and along with a darkening sky make everything evocative. Join Jeanne to learn how to create the glow when the sky goes dark and the lighting gets dramatic.
Date: November 13, 6:00-8:00pm eastern
Access: Three months access to archived video after the event
Indefinite access to archived video for subscribers with a currently active account
VIEW THE DEMO:
A link to the live demo will be posted at the top of this page, at the top of the Epiphany Fine Art home page, and at the top of the members video page on the day of the demo
A recording of the demo will be available for three months to non subscribers and indefinitely for members with a currently active subscription.
VIEW THE RECORDING: the archived demo video will be located in the Archived Demos section of Jeanne's page on Epiphany Fine Art
Free Videos
Silver Subscription Videos
Videos Added in the Past Three Months
Silver Subscription: Permanent Core Videos:
This first set of core videos and the pastel fundamentals workshop are always available for all silver subscribers. The following additional set of videos are available for three months after publication. A gold membership has access to all of Jeanne’s videos indefinitely for as long as the membership is active.
WORKSHOP: Pastel Fundamentals
If you're new to pastels, start here. This workshop is an onramp to get you started with pastel painting and leave you feeling confident to explore and tackle everything on this site. You'll learn about materials, mark-making, thumbnail sketches for value and composition, underpainting and layering, skills which you will use over and over as you continue painting.
Additional Silver Subscription Videos:
Recently Added Videos
Videos Added in the Past Three Months
Archived Live Demos
Begin Here
WORKSHOP: Pastel Fundamentals
If you're new to pastels, start here. This workshop is an onramp to get you started with pastel painting and leave you feeling confident to explore and tackle everything on this site. You'll learn about materials, mark-making, thumbnail sketches for value and composition, underpainting and layering, skills which you will use over and over as you continue painting.
If you’re new to pastels, start here. I’ll take you through a complete beginner workshop that will get you started with the basics of pastel painting and leave you feeling confident to explore and tackle everything on this site. Have a question that’s not answered here? Send it to me and we’ll try to cover it
Tricks of the Trade
Here you’ll find answers to the burning questions that always come up at demos and workshops: How and why I use fixative, framing tips and practices, mounting paper, what kinds of pastels and papers to use. Have a question that’s not answered here? Send it to me and we’ll try to cover it
Plein Air Painting
Plein Air Painting
In this section Jeanne delves into what you need to make the most of your plein air adventures, starting with what to take and how to pack for plein air and tips and tricks she has learned for painting on the beach.
WORKSHOP: Color Confidence
An essential guide to color mixing for pastelists. Painters speak in the language of color. Whether you are a native speaker or need a guidebook, these video lessons are designed to up your fluency and confidence, with a mix of structure and play
WORKSHOP: Composition and Design
A workshop that will strengthen and refine your composition skills by focusing on the abstract elements underlying every good design. Special focus on the landscape and trees
WORKSHOP: Underpainting
Discover the why’s and how’s of underpainting and sharpen your skills and strategies
WORKSHOP: Loosen Up!
Loosen Up: Pastel lessons tips and techniques
Do you long to loosen up? Bold, graceful strokes looks easy, but anyone who’s aspired to them knows otherwise. There are significant steps we can take to make our paintings bolder, looser, and more assured. This self-directed video workshop will help you shake off that tendency to meticulously describe, tightly render, or overwork your paintings, and learn to paint boldly, loosely and with more assurance. Enjoy, play, practice, and paint more boldly and confidently with these exercises and demos. I have arranged them in order for you to follow as a workshop.
WORKSHOP: Making Waves
These three demos are Jeanne’s foundational seascape lessons, beginning with a single wave, moving to the full coastline and adding the coastal landscape. These are the backbone of her approach to seascape
Seascape Elements Series
Once you’ve gotten the basics handled, dive into these special topics in seascape to refine your practice: the behavior of water, changing light effects, and subtle foam textures all get attention in these demos
Landscape Elements Series
Skyscape Series
Brush up your sky skills and build your cloud confidence with these exercises and lessons. Maximize the expressive potential of your skies
Water in the Landscape Series
Pond Reflections Demo Series
This four part series highlights special techniques for underpainting, getting depth and texture in your trees, and creating rippling translucent water
Water in the Landscape
Water is challenging to paint convincingly; these demos are full of tips and tricks for creating more compelling water in your landscapes
Special Drawing Challenges
Special Drawing Challenges
These demos offer practical, approachable methods for adding challenging subject matter to your work
Figures add life and action to any scene. Use these lessons to practice creating more believable figures for your landscapes
Winter Landscape Series
Winter Landscape
Snow changes the landscape completely and offers new painting challenges. These lessons offer approaches to all sorts of winter landscape challenges, from sunny riverbanks to blizzards, so you are ready to tackle winter
