Exploring Texture: Soft Chalk and Oil Pastels – High Museum

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Pastel Painting Course

The High Museum in Atlanta is hosting an introductory-level studio class focused on pastel painting. This course is designed to accommodate all skill levels, making it suitable for those new to pastels as well as individuals seeking to expand their artistic practice.

Participants will explore both soft and oil pastels to harness rich colors, layered textures, and painterly mark-making. The course emphasizes learning through observation and photographic references, fostering confidence through essential techniques while developing an understanding of how pastels can effectively capture form, light, atmosphere, and surface texture.

Course Structure:

Week 1: Familiarization with soft pastel materials, papers, and essential techniques including mark-making exercises and observational studies. Participants will explore linear and side strokes, layering, blending, and value to understand this velvety medium.
Week 2: Building upon foundational techniques by exploring color relationships, optical mixing, and expressive mark-making. Participants will create studies from observation while experimenting with feathering, crosshatching, and scumbling.
Week 3: Transitioning to oil pastels to discover their rich, painterly qualities. The week will include learning techniques unique to oil pastels, such as layering, blending, sgraffito, and solvent blending, while comparing the differences with soft pastels.
Week 4: Focusing on greater control of oil pastels, participants will create studies that emphasize color, value, texture, and dimensional form. A variety of applications will also be explored to create expressive surfaces, strengthening observational drawing skills in the process.
Week 5: Participants will choose either soft or oil pastels to begin a finished composition that integrates techniques explored throughout the course. The focus will be on refining composition, color, texture, and expressive mark-making.
Week 6: Completion of a finished pastel artwork that reflects individual style and technical growth. The course will conclude with guidance on presentation and preservation alongside a supportive group critique to celebrate artistic development.