Pastels are one of the most vibrant, expressive, and versatile mediums available to an artist. They often divide opinion—people tend to either love them or hate them—but few truly understand the full depth of what they can do. This course is designed to unlock that potential for you.

📅 Course Overview

• Course Title: Introduction to Pastel Painting
• Start Date: 21^st September 2026 (Please note commencement is subject to reaching the required number of enrolments)
• Day & Time: Every Monday evening, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Duration: 8 weeks
• Tuition Fee: £90.00 (includes expert tutor guidance, studio access, and weekly demonstrations)

🎨 What You Will Learn

This comprehensive 8-week course provides a supportive environment for beginners and improvers to explore pastel painting. Through structured weekly projects, live tutor demonstrations, and personalised feedback, you will build your skills from the ground up.

Over the 8 weeks, we will explore:

• The Four Core Mediums: Hands-on experience with soft pastels, hard pastels, oil pastels, and pastel pencils.
• Surface Selection: Understanding how different papers, textures, and weights dramatically alter your final piece.
• Technical Fundamentals: Mastering blending, layering, scumbling, and feathering.
• Artistic Core Principles: Practical lessons in colour theory, building contrast, composition, and perspective.
• Developing Your Style: Finding your unique artistic voice, whether you prefer sharp realism or loose, expressive impressionism.

👥 Who Is This Course For?

• Absolute Beginners: Individuals who have never picked up a pastel before and want a gentle, step-by-step introduction.
• Improvers: Artists who may already own some pastels but feel unsure of how to use them effectively or want to refine their current techniques.
• No prior drawing or painting experience is required.

📦 What to Bring on Week One

The first evening will be an introductory session focused on understanding your materials. We will thoroughly discuss the different types of pastels and papers, so you know exactly what to look for.

• If you already own art supplies: Please feel free to bring along any pastels, sketchbooks, or watercolour papers you have at home so the tutor can review them with you.
• If you do not own any supplies: Do not buy anything before the first class! Simply bring yourself, and we will guide you on the best budget-friendly starter materials during our first session.

No previous experience is required for this course. We welcome complete beginners or improvers who have pastels but were never sure how to use them. On the first evening we will discuss different types of pastels and paper. You may already have some pastels, watercolour paper or a sketch book which can be used.