The 5th Annual Pastel Live came to an end recently, wrapping up with some of today’s best pastel artists sharing all of their secrets, explaining their materials, and methods.
We watched and interacted with acrylic teachers such as Vera Kavura, Laurie Basham, William Schneider, and many more, hosted by Publisher Eric Rhoads, PleinAir Magazine and American Watercolor Weekly Editor-in-Chief Kelly Kane, and Kari Stober.
The next event is Plein Air Live, taking place online November 6-8, 2025 (with an Essential Techniques Day on November 5). Join us then to be with fellow painters online for days of demonstrations, Q&A with your favorite artists, and mingling during the breakout rooms and cocktail hours.
Pastel Live 2025 Realism Highlights
In her portrait demo, Susan Kuznitsky demonstrated gridding and drawing the composition, followed by the underpainting and consequent layers with hard pastels, soft pastels, and pastel pencils.
Using a photo reference of the “queen” of her local Renaissance Festival, Rita Kirkman explained her techniques (including mark-making, working small, and mixing colors by glazing) for creating a portrait in bright sunlight, which need certain colors and values to achieve “that warm glow.”
Ukrainian artist Vera Kavura gave a demonstration on painting an impressionist still life of a wildflower bouquet. Vera says, “a single photo cannot reflect the shine of a flower’s petals; by painting a bouquet with pastel, I’m able to catch changes in the light and shadows, and even the movement of the petals.”
Joining us from England, Michele Ashby’s session was all about how to use pastel pencils to create a dynamic portrait in black and white, with techniques she uses on a regular basis. She said she kept the process simple by using the strong composition of her reference image, which she then translated into a realistic portrait.
“What would possess an artist to leave the comfort of their studio to go outdoors and deal with changing light and movement?” Truman Hosner posed – and answered – this question in his plein air demonstration of using intuition as a painting evolves.
We want to thank all of our faculty, attendees, and our incredible supporters! In addition to bonus pastel painting demonstrations and Q&As, they provided giveaways throughout the event, along with exclusive discounts for attendees.
- Blick Art Materials (Platinum Sponsor)
- PanPastels by Golden Artist Colors (Gold Sponsor)
- PaintTube.TV (Gold Sponsor)
Of course, we ended each evening with the popular Cocktail Hour and Paint Along to socialize and continue to grow together. Join us for Pastel Live 2027 – visit PastelLive.com now and be a part of the moment-to-moment learning!
