Update: 1.25.12: It was tough to pick just one winner …there were so many great entries. So we decided to select two winners! Crystal Thomas and Karen Karlsson. We’ll contact the winners by email to arrange their prizes. Thank you to everyone who entered. We’ll have more giveaways in the future…

Do you have a  useful tip/working technique that you’ve discovered when using PanPastel Colors? 

Enter our latest giveaway by telling us about it. We will choose our favorite entry and one lucky winner will receive: a palette tray filled with 10 PanPastel colors of their choice, along with a selection of Sofft Tools.

Using the comment form below in this post (click “Read More” ) enter your favorite PanPastel tip or working technique. All entries must be submitted by Saturday January 21st, 11pm EST (New York time).

One entry per person. This giveaway is open to entrants aged 18 and over. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Winners will be announced on this blog and at our Facebook page. Other Giveaway Rules

If you experience any difficulties email us at: info@colorfin.com

Note: In the comment form below enter the name or user name that you would like to appear publicly on the blog. Email addresses are for our contact purposes only and are not visible to the public.

Share/Bookmark

Mindy Lighthipe is a botanical artist based in Florida. She uses PanPastel in combination with watercolor and other media. Her drawings and paintings are in many private, public and corporate collections, including the Florida Museum of Natural History, the Denver Museum of Natural History, and the New York Botanical Garden Gallery in the Bronx. In 2009, she was awarded a silver medal at the London Orchid Show at the Royal Horticultural Society. Mindy wrote and illustrated “Mother Monarch”, a children’s book about the butterfly life cycle.

What are your first memories of creating art?
As long as I can remember I wanted to be an artist. I have a simple collage, crayon drawing that I gave to my grandmother when I was 2 years old. She framed it and now that she is gone I have it. That was 48 years ago.

“Mother Monarch”  PanPastel & Watercolor

When did you become a full-time artist?
I became a full-time artist right out of college.  I studied textile design and was trained as a handweaver. I went to work in New York City as a production handweaver doing freelance wok for a designer. I studied textile design and changed art careers in 1990 when I went back to school to take get a certification in Botanical Art & Illustration from the New York Botanical Gardens.

Describe your artwork.
I currently work as an artist and illustrator depicting the natural world. I specialize in insects and plants but also love to anything that jumps, leaps or flies.

PanPastel with Graphite on Fabriano Artistico Hot Press 140lb

Describe your creative process.
I like to work from life. I often grow the plants I paint, rear and collect the insects and travel to places where I can draw and paint on site. I am not a plein aire painter.  I collect, and research my subjects, take photos and work over a period of time to show the entire life cycle in one painting.

When did you first begin using PanPastel Colors?
In 2010 I published my first children’s book, “Mother Monarch”. I had planned on doing the entire book in watercolor when I discovered that if I layered PanPastels  over the watercolor I could achieve velvety smooth butterfly wings, soft puffy clouds and vibrant colors in a flash.

How do you incorporate PanPastel colors in your work?
I work in watercolor first and let the paper dry. I then add the PanPastel using the Sofft Tools over the watercolor. It is very rewarding and very fast. I have also started to use PanPastel in conjunction with Silverpoint.  I use the small applicators to create feather like strokes and have gotten some nice texture in my owl paintings.

PanPastel with Central Clay Coat Paper and Silver Point

Are you doing things creatively with PanPastel that you were not doing before?
I have always admired pastels, but did not like all the dust. It seemed like there was always more dust on the floor and surrounding area than on the paper. I also did not like the fact the dust went airborne and posses a potential health hazard.  PanPastel Colors have allowed me to experiment with the medium without so much waste or mess.

What do you see as the main benefits of using PanPastel in your work?
I love the COLOR. I also like the fact that they can easily be erased if I change my my mind.

Who / what are your creative inspirations?
Mother Nature – My favorite Artist. Nobody does it better than she does.

What excites you most about your life as an artist?
There is an endless world out there to discover. I love to travel and see things I have never seen before. I love the fact that I get to discover and then paint what I have experienced.

What’s the most valuable lesson you have learned in your journey as an artist?
Being an artist has its ups and downs financially but I have learned to respect the world around me. Experiencing different cultures, different points of view and mostly the awesome power of nature is a path well traveled.

PanPastel on Fabriano Watercolor 300lb Soft Press Paper

What are your artistic goals for the future?
I am interested in exposing my art to the public so that they can experience the same wonder and I awe that I have. Our planet is fragile and I hope to educate people to look into their own back yards and see the tiny world that goes on while they are at work, play or asleep. Hopefully it will enlighten people to be stewards of the planet.

Any upcoming events, workshops, shows, book launches, projects you’d like to tell us about?
I have a PanPastel workshop coming up November 5-6 at the Pastel Society in New York City. (I haven’t updated my website yet but it will be listed at http://www.Studio16online.com under art workshops)

You can see my book and Nature’s Wisdom Oracle Cards at: http://MotherMonarch.blogspot.com

I have a “Bugs, Beasts & Botanicals” Art Tour to Costa Rica- February 1-10, 2012. For details: http://www.studio16online.com/studio16online/Painting-Travel-Art-Tours-Costa_Rica-Itinerary.html

For more information on Mindy Lighthipe visit: http://www.mindylighthipe.com/

Share/Bookmark

At the recent CAA conference in New York city, I met Lisa Pressman, a New Jersey based painter.

Lisa was demonstrating on a neighboring booth – R & F Handmade Paints.  I took these photos of Lisa experimenting with PanPastel Colors, instantly creating some interesting results.

One of her first “on-the-spot” experiments, shown below, involved using a template over clear encaustic medium on Encausticbord. She applied PanPastel Red Iron Oxide with a Sofft Knife over the template to create a pattern on the surface. Then fused the color into the encaustic medium with a heat gun. A simple yet effective technique!

Lisa using a Sofft Knife to apply PanPastel to encaustic medium, over a template

Following that, she used one of the larger Sofft Sponges (Angle Slice) to glaze the surface using Red Iron Oxide tint and Bright Yellow Green tint, adding semi-transparent glazing layers to the piece.

Applying a glaze with PanPastel using the Sofft Angle Slice sponge

PanPastel Colors are so versatile, they can be combined with many different media; and as this shows they work beautifully for encaustic work, either with pigmented encaustic colors, or with clear encaustic medium as Lisa used them.

I’ve been experimenting with encaustics myself, so I really enjoyed chatting with Lisa who gave me some great suggestions. I would love to take one of her workshops once my schedule allows it.  (Workshop info can be found at her website).

To see more of Lisa’s paintings: http://www.lisapressman.net/

Share/Bookmark

Dianne Poinski has launched an exciting new website: Photo Artistry Workshop

Subscribers to the website will have access, during 2011, to her video lessons. She will share her hand-coloring techniques with subscribers and will also provide tutorials on various aspects of photography including working with Photoshop, filters, textures, and papers for digital printing, along with many other hints and tips.

Dianne hand-colors her black and white photographs using PanPastel Colors & Sofft Tools. If you are a mixed media artist, photographer, or anyone interested in exploring new creative horizons with digital photography and hand-coloring, Photo Artistry Workshop is worth checking out.

The following video shows some of Dianne’s artwork.

Share/Bookmark

I am an encaustic painter. I have been painting abstractly in this melted beeswax medium for over seven years now; preceded by abstract mixed media.

“Gears”

Last year I paid a visit to Toronto Canada at the prompting of a student. In her store/studio she had PanPastel Colors. Their delicious packaging hooked me first, followed quickly by the delight of using them first on paper then on my encaustic paintings.

I use PanPastel in many different ways with my encaustic painting. The most deliberate use of them is to ‘blush’ or ‘tint’ the wax as I apply layers of medium (beeswax with damar resin) and color (pigmented medium). This blushing offers a new look to the coloring of the wax in that it is more diffuse and transparent; offering for more layering and depth development than is possible with just the pigmented wax colors.

Using PanPastel to blush/tint the wax for “Ansley”

I also love to use stencils and mask off areas, build the wax with these different resists, then tint the different depths of wax created in this method of application with the PanPastel.

Tinting textured and masked off areas using the Sofft sponges

They also work beautifully on the foundation board before wax has been applied. This is a great way to blush an under-painting onto the substrate thereby starting with a tinted foundation, rather than the plain white or wood-tone board.

Applying PanPastel to substrate prior to adding wax

I am doing things very differently now that I’ve had the opportunity to fall in love with PanPastel! I have not worked in such transparent, tinted layers before and PanPastel offers a new option in this technique. I also adore the consistency of the pastels because they allow me fluid, soft blending on the cool encaustic layers that other pastels do not support.

“Rachel”

To other artists – absolutely give yourself over to this product! It goes above and beyond the range of traditional pastels to offer a whole new realm of use either in and of themselves, or in conjunction with other mediums; as is the case for me with my encaustics.

I teach extensively throughout the US and Canada and I am confident in inspiring the students to the beauty and compatibility of PanPastel with Encaustic and enlivening them to the depth and breadth of new possibilities in the marriage of the two mediums.

“Bubbles”

I have just created a new business, “EncaustiKits”, in order to not only expound on the marriage of mixed media mediums with encaustic but to open the eyes of artists and craftspersons worldwide to the ease and organic beauty of encaustic in an accessible and easily understood way www.encaustikits.com

And in my passionate desire to inspire others to try this wonderful medium, I developed “EncaustiCamp”, with its premier opening July 2011 near the Oregon Coast: July 13-17, 2011 www.encausticamp.blogspot.com – an opportunity to indulge in all things encaustic for the experienced as well as new encaustic aficionado.

My first book “Encaustic Workshop” is on bookshelves everywhere. A second book, “Encaustic Extravaganza”, will be available in August 2011.

About Patricia

Patricia is self taught; and has been painting in mixed media and encaustic for nine years.  Her work has appeared in several gallery shows around central Michigan; her home from 1999-2004, and in Washington, where she now resides.

Having the good fortune of working from her own studio on site at her home, Patricia is able to play daily with new ideas that incorporate a variety of mediums into her work.  One can find watercolor under encaustic; acrylic as a basis for oil; pastel worked into a watercolor collage.  The nature of her work allows for experimentation and interplay of materials without getting caught up in any limitations of medium, style or discipline.

While keeping her own work in progress, Patricia also teaches workshops and classes nationally, including at Sitka Center for the Arts in Oregon, ArtFest Port Townsend in Washington, Mendocino Art Center in California as well as through her Encausticamp. She rounds out her life with the raising of her four boys.

For more information on Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch:
http://www.pbsartist.com
http://www.gingerfetish.blogspot.com/

Share/Bookmark

I just received a copy of Pam Carriker’s new book “Art at the Speed of Life”. And I have to say, it certainly lives up to its subtitle: “Motivation and Inspiration for Making Mixed-Media Art Every Day”.

This book is not only packed with great mixed media projects, it also includes inspirational advice on how to fit art into a busy schedule on a daily basis, including suggestions on setting up a workspace along with managing multiple art projects.

Pam shows among other things how to create a handmade art journal and how to use a multitude of art materials to create a variety of mixed media projects, including a PanPastel project.

Also included are several essays from other well-known mixed media artists including Nancy Lefko, Suzy Blu, Paulette Insall and Seth Apter.

Definitely worth checking out if you are looking for some creative inspiration and motivation!
http://pamcarriker.com/my-book/

Share/Bookmark

We are often asked by artists using PanPastel for the first time, what papers they should use. This is a difficult question for us to answer as PanPastel works on almost any surface, from low tooth surfaces such as vellum and ink-jet / digital (matt) papers to the very toothy pastel surfaces. So it really depends on the artist’s preference, and the results they are trying to achieve.

On our website we feature a page called “Substrates” that shows a PanPastel mark on a variety of different surfaces – those are just a few of the potential surfaces that can be used; also our gallery shows various surfaces that artists are using in combination with PanPastel Colors.

One of the pastel surfaces that we really like is Pastelmat from  Clairefontaine in France. What do we like about it? Well, it is a premium card surface (360gsm/170lb) that has a unique coating of cellulose fibers, giving it excellent “grab” so it can hold many layers of PanPastel and pastel stick color, however at the same time its surface feels deceptively velvety and therefore it’s not abrasive. The best of both worlds for pastelists! Not only is Pastelmat popular for all types of dry media (pastel, colored pencil etc) you can also use it with wet media such as gouache, acrylics, watercolors etc.

The following video is a landscape painting demonstration by Deborah Secor. In this video Deborah takes you through the process of painting a full landscape from start to finish using only PanPastel colors & Pastelmat.

Here is a list of the colors used in this demo: Materials used

On Deborah’s Gouache painting blog she has also posted a step-by-step gouache painting demo on Pastelmat: gouache.blogspot.com

Deborah Secor writes regularly for The Pastel Journal, and her work has been featured in several books including “Pure Color: The Best of Pastel” and “Painting With Pastels” by Maggie Price.

UPDATE NOV. 6th, 2010:

The winner of the Pastelmat giveaway is Carol Davis.

Giveaway: This week one lucky winner is going to receive a free Pastelmat pad, along with a choice of any 5 PanPastel Colors! All you have to do is answer the question “how many colors are available in the Pastelmat range” (the answer can be found at Pastelmat.com) and complete the following form by midnight (EST) on Monday Oct. 25th. Click “read more” to access the form.

Note: This giveaway is open to US residents only, aged 18 and over. One entry per person please (duplicates will be removed). No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Randomly selected winners will be announced on this blog.

General Competition Rules

Share/Bookmark

Leonard Jagoda lives in Georgia. His paintings can be found in private collections from Washington State & Texas to Saudi Arabia. His work hangs in some of the most prestigious stud farms in Kentucky.

He has received several prestigious awards for his work, and has been included in many juried shows, including the American Academy of Equine Art’s 2009 Fall International Open Exhibition. His portrait of Big Brown was juried into the 2010 International Exhibit of Animals in Art at LSU. Recently, he has been selected to create the official artwork for the 2011 Aiken Steeplechase. Since 2008, Leonard has been using PanPastel Colors in his paintings.

“Big Brown Formal Portrait”  16 x 14″

Note: For the paintings shown Leonard used PanPastel Colors, pastel sticks & pastel pencils. He paints on a variety of surfaces including Stonehenge paper & Canson Mi-Teintes. Click on any image to see it in more detail in a larger format.

Tell us about your background as an artist

Probably like most artists, I loved to draw at a very early age. My involvement with art was mostly an “on and off” thing in my youth.  Sports, dating, and various activities were a constant distraction, especially to an undisciplined person that did not have an art structure to work within. Interesting, while in grade school (maybe the 4^th or 5^th grade, I did a small sculpture of a man’s head (in retrospect it looked a little Cro-Magnon) but the teacher went wild over it. I will never forget that. Beyond an art class in high school, I did little more than occasional drawings and some painting and received the Art Award in high school.

I received a scholarship to the Cleveland Instituted of Art in 1966 but Uncle Sam came calling and I ended up in the Army. While in Basic Training and AIT, I earned beer money drawing portraits of soldier’s girl friends from wallet sized photos, but that stopped when I went to Vietnam. When I finally got out of the Army I returned to school on the GI Bill but majored in business (moving “eating” higher on my priority list); but, while in college, I did some pen & ink drawings and two of them ended up on the cover of the Chronicle of the Horse. That however, stopped abruptly when I got what some like to call “a real job”.

Business consumed most of my time, but I made time for horses and was heavily involved with them from the time that I got out of the army. Those experiences became valuable to me later when I returned to art.

I began my full time art career in 2007.  (I won’t reveal my age so you’ll have to do the math.) I am self taught, but by this time much more disciplined. My first year back, I limited my work to sculpture and drawing concentrating on form and values – the basics. I found that working in three dimensions really helped my drawing and believe that drawing is essential to other art mediums/methods.  I have moved on to pastels and hope to start oil painting as soon as I can take a workshop or class in the fundamentals.

“Big Brown Goes Courting”  16 x 14″

Tell us about your artwork

I concentrate on works depicting dogs or horses because I am intimately familiar with both animals and I love them both. I enjoy doing their portraits because they all have personalities and I try to capture that personality in a pose or what I call a “look” that reflects their character. They don’t “all look alike” and in addition, they each have their own character so I endeavor to capture both traits accurately. With works that show the entire subject (or three-fourths) I work to capture the excitement or sentiment of the moment and get the anatomy correct.

“How About a Hug – Dodger”   17 x 15″

When I work in pastels (which has become 99% of my artwork of late) I layout the work in pencil first.  If it is a portrait, I try to position the eye first then sketch out the rest of the head. If it is a racing scene or field scene then it I start with the composition. For example, I am doing a large racing scene at this time. I took about 150 reference photos at an event knowing the direction that I wanted the subjects moving in the piece. I was careful to have the light source consistent in the reference photos so I positioned myself at certain locations and just kept shooting once the horses came into the view.  I selected three photos for the equine subjects and two for the background, then positioned the horses – modifying their size to give them location and depth in the painting and to create what I hoped to be an exciting scene.

Once the piece was laid out I took on each horse individually to get the anatomy in a little more detail, establishing what I call reference points to keep the horse and rider in perspective with each other and with the rest of the layout. Then it is a combination of pastels, sticks, pastel pencils and of course PanPastels. When and how I use each one depends on what I am trying to accomplish – but you should know that I work tight with a lot of detail.

When did you first begin using PanPastel Colors?
I did four pastel paintings before I tried PanPastels.  I did a commission piece – a portrait of a rescued dog named “Dodger” and used them on it to do the background, which was messed up in a couple of places. Trying PanPastels was a move of desperation, and I am so glad that I tried them.  That was in August of 2008.

How do you incorporate PanPastel colors in your work?
Since then (August 2008) I used them sparingly at first but soon realized that there were effects that I could only achieve with PanPastels that I could not do with any other form of pastel.  If you look at “Sabaskanova”, you will see one application right off:

“Sabaskanova”   13 x 16″

In “Stretch Run” (a racing scene) they were handy for large areas, underpainting and even “overpainting” to get a consistent tone over a lot of detail.

“Stretch Run”  (Work in Progress 1)

“Stretch Run”  (Work in Progress 2)

“Stretch Run”  (Work in Progress 3)

“Stretch Run”  (Work in Progress 4)

“Stretch Run” (Finished)     20 x 28″

“Bluegrass Cat” is a good example of what I call overpainting. The horse turned his neck and there is a considerable amount of detail needed to show the muscles and creases in the skin/coat along with a strong blue shadow formed by his head blocking the light that would otherwise have made it to his neck. I worked a lot of detail into the neck then came on top, “painting” a pattern of extra dark red oxide with Pans.

“Bluegrass Cat” Work in progress

“Bluegrass Cat” Finished   16 x 18″

The detail and the blue came through the layer of Pans but the Pans brought the tone. It took a couple of days, maybe three or four to get all the detail in the neck. It took five minutes to do the overpainting with the Pans.

On my “Bullmastiff, (Butler)” I achieved a wonderful effect using Pans on his left shoulder that captured the reflective color and light. Very subtle and extremely effective. I am sure that area on this piece was a strong contributor to it receiving an award.

“Bullmastif – Portrait of Butler”   12 x 12″

Are you doing things creatively with PanPastel that you were not doing before?
Absolutely. I discover new methods of using them all the time.  Sometimes I am thinking about a problem or an effect that I want to achieve and in the beginning I didn’t think of using Pan’s right away; now, I find myself thinking very early on, can I use PanPastel here?

What do you see as the benefits of using PanPastel in your work?
I already mentioned some of the things with PanPastels that you just cannot do with other forms of pastel. One benefit is being able to cover a large area with a consistent layer of color (or with broad strokes) very much like painting.  I find new benefits with almost every piece that I create.

Do you have any tips to give other artists thinking about using PanPastel?
PanPastel can broaden your “technique portfolio”.  They can also be very helpful to artists who tend to use hard edges and need to learn to soften edges effectively. Pan’s can make that happen and show you that the hard edge is not necessary – hard edges can be a bad thing. Having said that, I have created hard edges with PanPastel’s by using Colour Shapers and/or Clay Shapers. They are silicone tipped tools that look like pens or brushes with different shaped tips and you can use them to push the pastel or blend it using varying pressure.  A neat tool to have handy when you are working with Pan’s or even pastel sticks.  Especially useful for minute details.

Who / what are your creative inspirations?
I don’t believe in waiting to be inspired. I take on projects for a purpose or a commission and when I am not doing something that calls for a commitment from me, I do what I feel like doing at the time.  There are certain horses whose portraits I just want to do. At the moment my short list includes: Zenyatta, Exchange Rate, Curlin, Yes It’s True and Tiznow. I also want to do a foal kicking up its heels (which should be more marketable then any of the portraits) and I have a sort of family painting that is on the agenda (we had a horse that used to drink cokes out of the can).

What has been your most exciting moment so far, as an artist?
Not sure about this question.  Rather than “one specific moment” I would like to say, as it pertains to PanPastel, that when I turn to them (as long as I think through whether using them is a good choice for the task) they seem to give me better than expected results.

What is the most valuable lesson you have learned in your journey as an artist?
Never give up. The piece that may be just a mess could be one of your greatest learning experiences if you don’t give up on it. I think that when something like this (what you think is a total disaster at one point) happens and you find a way to resurrect it, it becomes one of your best works.

What are your artistic goals for the future?
Get at least one more piece accepted into an American Academy of Equine Art Exhibit and then apply for and be accepted to Associate Membership status with them.

More of Leonard’s work can be found at: http://www.backstretchstudio.com

Share/Bookmark

I have been travelling quite a lot recently, so I haven’t had time to write here; however today I managed to write a little and catch up with the contents of my mailbox (well most of it!).

I was delighted to receive the latest copy of The Pastel Journal. Always a great read! I was particularly looking forward to this issue as I knew that our friend, master pastelist Sydney McGinley, was going to be featured in an article about portrait and figurative painters. Her painting “Footbath No.1″ is also featured on the front cover.

Sydney’s work is featured in “Portraits from the heart” in the Pastel Journal.

Sydney lives near us in Pennsylvania and was one of the first artists to begin using PanPastel. And she uses them beautifully, in combination with pastel sticks & a Conté pencil on Wallis sanded paper.

I love her use of color! I know that mark-making is very important to her, and in the Pastel Journal article she talks about how she also likes to include drawing as a strong element within her paintings. She has told me in the past that she likes that PanPastel can also be applied in semi-transparent layers, allowing the pencil marks to show through if she desires.

More of Sydney’s paintings can be found at the PanPastel webgallery page and at her website: SydneyMcGinley.com

I’ll be writing more about Sydney soon, as she has kindly agreed to do an interview for PaintDrawBlend.com

Share/Bookmark

Thank you to everyone who entered our Labor Day giveaway. Using Random.org we have drawn the winners:

1. Mindy
2. Yvette Plouffe
3. LaurieH.
4. Bree
5. Nancy Campbell

Congratulations to the winners!

Share/Bookmark

For a few years we’ve known and worked with Scottish artist Celia Buchanan. Celia is based in Florida, and has been working & teaching in the art supplies industry for a number of years.

“Orbs”  - gold leaf, PanPastel, encaustic

Recently, Celia has been experimenting with different mixed media techniques for her demos & workshops; incorporating a number of the products that she represents in her role as an independent sales representative. She’s been combining PanPastel with a number of materials including: oil pastels, antique beeswax, Jacquard’s Piñata color, Jacquard encaustic wax, along with layers of decorative papers & gold leaf.  She recently sent these images showing the results of her first experiments. Pretty cool!

“Orbs 2″ –  PanPastel, Piñata color, encaustic, with leaf skeleton

Celia told me about a number of Jacquard product demos she’ll be doing in the next few weeks, during which she’ll be including PanPastel techniques, similar to those shown above; including at the Sam Flax store in San Francisco on Wed August, 25th (1-4pm) and at the Art Supply Warehouse store in Orange County, CA on Sat Aug 28th (10-1pm).

To find out more about other dates on Celia’s demo & workshop schedule visit: http://www.jacquardproducts.com/events.php

Share/Bookmark

Dianne Poinski is a professional photographer who hand-colors her black and white photographs with PanPastel with beautiful results. Dianne lives and works in Sacramento, California.

“Roses” by Dianne Poinski

Tell us about your background as an artist.
When I was younger, I loved to sew, do crafts and play my guitar. My brother was the “artist” in the family, so I didn’t even think that I was doing “art” during that time.

My interest in photography began when my children were young and I wanted to learn how to take better pictures of them. At the same time I was in school trying to finish up and get my business degree in accounting so I could become a CPA. Taking a photography course helped satisfy the art requirement, but I was not prepared for the passion I would feel for that medium. I never finished school…. and never became a CPA.

I have taken a few classes here and there, but for the most part I am self taught.

I became a full time artist around 1995. I started out taking pictures of my friend’s kids and hand-coloring them. Then friends of friends started asking me to do the same for them. Those were my first paying jobs. Eventually I stopped taking portraits and began showing my other work at art festivals and my studio.

In 2008 I incorporated teaching hand-coloring workshops as part of my business.

Describe your artwork.
I take photographs of flowers, landscapes and architecture, print them as black and white prints and then hand-color them with PanPastels.

“Illuminated”  by Dianne Poinski

Describe your creative process.
I print my black and white images on 100% cotton rag paper then use Sofft tools and brushes to apply the PanPastels directly to the surface of the print.

When did you first begin using PanPastel Colors?
I first began using PanPastels shortly after I started shooting with a digital camera.  I think early 2009. I fought going digital because the biggest challenge was going to be – figuring out a way to still hand-color and produce “originals”. For years I printed fiber based prints in the darkroom and used photo oil paints on these prints.  Since I was now printing pigment prints on cotton rag paper, using oil paints was no longer an option. Other methods I had seen of coloring digital prints with pastels did not have the same translucent quality that the oil paints possessed.  It was this quality that I was not willing to give up and PanPastels was the answer.

“Soft Tulips” by Dianne Poinski

What do you see as the benefits of using PanPastel in your work?
It’s clean, simple and the colors are beautiful.

Who / what are your creative inspirations?
I am always inspired by nature as well as the work of classic painters and photographers.

What has been your most exciting moment so far, as an artist?
I have had many exciting moments including the moment I realized that I was still going to be able to hand-color prints even though I was no longer shooting film and printing in the darkroom. Seeing my work published and sold as prints and posters in Cost Plus and Linens & Things, was pretty exciting too.

“Pond Reflections” by Dianne Poinski

What is the most valuable lesson you have learnt in your journey as an artist?
That nothing stays the same…in photography the technology is always changing and you have to learn to adapt to it.  Having to learn to hand-color using completely different tools, materials and medium is a great example.

What are your artistic goals for the future?
I want to continue learning as much as I can about digital photography and printing. I would also like to study more color theory to become more confident about my use of color with PanPastels.

Any upcoming events / launches you’d like to mention?
I am self publishing a book of floral images all hand-colored with PanPastels later this year. I also plan to release an e-book and eventually also self publish a book on the technique of hand-coloring with PanPastels.

I will have new workshop dates on my website soon.

For more information on Dianne and her artwork :
Dianne Poinski’s Blog: Hand Colored Photography Studio Journal
Dianne’s Website: DPoinski.com
Read Dianne’s article on hand-coloring: “Why I hand-color”

_________________________________________________________________________

Next artist interview: Leonard Jagoda – a painter specializing in equine art

Share/Bookmark