Join me as we work with soft pastel and mixed media acrylic painting in this four-day workshop.   I have many new techniques and ideas to share with you.    This workshop will be especially beneficial for those artists wanting to transition from pastel to acrylic painting.  Pastel and acrylic complement each other very well. 

​

Day one and two will focus on abstractions in pastel.  Learn to use a mixed media approach in developing your abstractions to a new level.  Explore new ideas for compositions; develop more impact in your work and individual style. 

​

Day three and four will focus on developing paintings in mixed media acrylic.  Take what you learned from the first two days and transition into acrylic painting.  Get out some big brushes and paint on paper and/or canvas.   You will find that it is easier to incorporate your pastel ideas into paint. 

Here are just a few of the techniques you will learn:

1. New techniques for developing abstract compositions
2. Intuitive mark making and non-objective abstractions
3. Use of black gesso to add value and impact
4. Incorporating mixed media and various drawing materials
5. Collage, stencils, underpainting, grounds, etc.
6. Color theory and acrylic painting – Zorn and limited palette
7. Expressive mark making with brushes and other painting tools
8. Layering during the painting process
9. Use of drawing media in painting
10. Creating multiples and diptychs
11. Assessing your work

These are just some of the ideas we will explore in this four day workshop.  It will be fun, fast paced and packed with information!  You will come away with new ideas to explore!

Debora Stewart’s acrylics and soft pastel paintings are intuitive, expressive and gestural. Mark making is strong on paper and canvas. Inspiration comes from time spent walking and experiencing nature. A remembered experience of place and time comes through her work.

Debora often draws from gardens and uses the lines and colors in her pastels and paintings. 

She creates multi-layered works on paper and canvas and begins by laying in an underlying structure with paint and gesso. Intuitive brush strokes and mark making spring quickly from remembered drawings of nature. Works range from subtle to bold in execution.

Debora L. Stewart is a Signature Member and Master Pastelist of the Pastel Society of America and a member of the Master’s Circle of the International Association of Pastel Societies. Her pastels have won awards from Pastel Journal Magazine, International Artist Magazine and the Pastel Society of America. Her work has been included in many national and international juried exhibitions. She exhibited in the pastel invitational exhibit Pastel en Perigord, St. Aulaye, France July of 2016. She has also been a featured artist in the French magazine Pratique des Artes July 2018. Her work was also included in the Third Biennial China Pastel Exhibit at the Ming Gallery of Art in Suzhou, China. 

Debora works in both soft pastel and acrylic mixed media on canvas. Debora has taught abstract workshops extensively throughout the U.S. She is a sought after instructor by pastel societies, art guilds and schools. She is the author of Abstract Art Painting: Expressions in Mixed Media published by Northlight Books in 2015 in addition to a series of teaching videos. She has served as a judge for artist competitions in Pastel Journal Magazine and pastel societies in the U.S