Lisa Rydin Erickson

Tell us about your background as an artist.
I have very early memories of telling my mom before age 5 that I was going to be an artist; thinking artist meant being a “painter”. She had my picture taken with a special white angora beret she’d bought and that was enough – I was an artist. This is a strong and formidable memory. The fact that I wasn’t questioned but rather given the beret has always been an affirmation for me.

When did you become a full-time artist?
I am a full-time artist in that art does occupy my thoughts full time. In my adult life I draw and paint nearly everyday. As a child though, I didn’t always draw but instead I spent a lot of time outside in the woods or on my bike with vast landscapes in a small country town in Ohio.

PanPastel & sumi ink on rice paper by Lisa Rydin Erickson

Were you formally trained or are you self taught?
I was formally trained at Kansas City Art Institute. I have a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree with a major in Painting and a minor in printmaking. Soon after college I spent a summer at Chautauqua painting with Deborah Rosenthal. I am interested in many different mediums and have found my way into educational experiences with mentors and instructors such as Jean M. Larson, Wang Ping, Roger Pulvers and Phyllis Weiner.

Describe your work.
My art is diverse. It is mostly 2D. Since college I have painted backdrops, murals, hand painted fabric for Kravet for commercial use; also, illustrated books, fine art painting, drawing in different mediums, photograph, bronze medallions, printmaking monotypes and most recently iPad drawings and animations. The medium really depends on what works for the project or what feels like the right look for the project or whatever calls to me at the time.

PanPastel & sumi ink on rice paper by Lisa Rydin Erickson

Describe the space where you normally create.
For the last several years I have worked on the dining room table in our home. It has proved to be the best environment for getting work done. I have two teenagers and can leave my “in process” work without worry. My daughter will often work on the other side of the table or sometimes my son will want to use the space for a project. It is nice to be in close proximity with them as well as to the kitchen and laundry so those kinds of things get a little attention as well. This arrangement is a testimony to my children that art is a lifestyle. Specifically, that art is a part of our lives. When working on larger projects I work on site.

Tell us about your creative process.
My creative process depends on the type of project I am involved with – for example, I have painted backdrops for a dance school for 11 years and I definetely had a strategy. The choreographer would list the songs that would be in the performance with some idea of what she wanted and I came up with a design gathered from many images and drew out a basic plan for the 50′ canvas. The images were for reference and detail. Usually I worked within a color range of 5-15 colors. I have used this technique for other projects like illustrating books (i.e. gathering images and making thumbnails). In other bodies of work the medium acts as the unifying element. It’s nice to explore subject matter and let the medium be the constant. Twyla Tharp wrote a great book about creativity called ‘The Creative Habit’. She talked about having something to start with for the next day. You can make a continuum bridge to the next day by planning the next step or a “to do” list, or starting with what you did the day before. I have worked on larger projects with a friend who has helped learn to make a checklist at the end of the workday of all the details needed to address the next step in the project. It helps you stay focused.

Work in progress – PanPastel on rice paper – Lisa Rydin Erickson

When did you first being using PanPastel colors in your work?
My first experience using PanPastel Colors was to illustrate a book. I had carefully chosen about 5 colors to carry the color themed images throughout the books pages. I really didn’t know much about PanPastel except that Donna Downey was using and promoting them and I thought I would give them a try. It was at that time I learned PanPastel is a great way to add color to my drawings. I was recently gifted an entire set of PanPastel Colors and was both surprised and delighted as I experimented with the colors. It’s great to have all the colors and various sponges which help produce various textures and widths.

What surface(s) do you normally use?
I had been working on rice paper for about a year and love the texture of the PanPastel on it. The pigment grabs the unevenness of the thin paper and acts like a watercolor without wrinkling the paper so terrible. It is a nice contrast of dark ink and soft wash of pastels. The pastels respond to the paper in a delicate way.

PanPastel & sumi ink on rice paper by Lisa Rydin Erickson

Are you doing things creatively with PanPastel that you weren’t doing before?
Yes, they add color to the line work that I make with my sumi like drawings. The color adds both interest and dimension to the work. I can’t really think of another medium yet that can translate the same way the pastels and sponges are able to emit. They have much more varied width than colored pencils, are softer in texture and variation than markers and lay on top of paper and blend easier than paint.

Do you have any tips / techniques to share with other artists that are using PanPastel?
Layer your drawings between extra sheets of rice paper. I use a pad of sumi paper rather than a roll of paper. The roll of course has a tendency to either crease or roll up and smear the delicate pastels. I think that the less that you handle the paper the safer your drawings will be. I have sprayed a heavier paper with spray adhesive and laid down a sheet of rice paper so that you can have a sturdier surface which makes it easier to photograph and frame and won’t wrinkle. It is also traditional to work on a felt pad which works great blotting ink and has a little give as you draw. It is still a mystery to me how sumi painted panels and wall hangings are created. There is a lot more investigation into mounting rice paper that can still happen on my part. Rice paper though is a beautiful surface. Lucky for me sumi ink, rice paper and PanPastel Colors work well together.

Who and what are your creative inspirations?
I like art. I like looking at art. I like the colors and candor of Camilla Engman, structure and compositions of Diego Rivera, Minnesota artists like Jennifer Davis and Landland, James Waryge and Kimberly Christensen of Elva Pottery in Saint Paul. There is a lot of good silk screen art right now. Early on I really liked Chagall, Matisse, Kandinsky, Russian Constructivist posters, Bauhaus, Sonia Delauney and Giotto. I will always love Braques, East Indian miniatures and Etruscan encaustics, beautiful sumi painting (unfortunately I don’t know specific names) and Japanese etegami. I like the ease of what Flora Bowley is doing and mariaurora’s fabric collages and I love German artist Beerlala’s new paintings. Mary Livoni makes beautiful dreamlike charcoal drawings of Chicago. I love anything that Nicola Moss makes, medallions and prints. I like Ashley Goldberg and Mulysa Melso. I better stop……

What excites you most about your life as an artist?
All the elements that make up 2D work, line, composition, proportion. I love making, looking at and thinking about art. I like having that visual language to view the world.

What’s the most valuable lesson you have learnt on your journey as an artist?
I think is is a combination of advice from two people. First, I was standing at the New French with Kevin Kling and he told me a story about a man that he met down by the sea. It is really a distinct memory so it must have been an embellished story. In my memory it was night down by the sea in a different country and the waves were washing up on the sand and the moon was out, there is a rocky cliff to the left and just this old man and Kevin standing there. The old man told Kevin “make something every day, it doesn’t matter what you make just make something every day” and then Kevin told me that he believed the guy and that’s what he tried to do. The other story is from a friend that I admire and has just started painting. She said that she was easy on herself and just enjoyed painting for the day and didn’t bash the poor little painting. She just painted another one the next day and enjoyed the process. I think that is really great advice. The best thing I express to my kids is the thought of life as a river and to just jump in and it will carry you.

PanPastel & sumi ink on rice paper by Lisa Rydin Erickson

What are your artistic, and other goals, for the future?
I think it always goes back to painting. Painting is my compass. As I move through different projects, I re-center and ask myself what do I really want to do and assess what makes me the most fulfilled, I usually think of painting. I think the word ‘painting’ goes back to the word that was in my head when I was so young. To me that meant “hurry up mom and get me to Sunday school where there were two easels and you could stand in front of one of them and ‘paint’”. My goal is to keep ‘painting’ keep making art. Whatever medium that will keep the inspiration open. PanPastel has been a great way to keep that inspiration alive. It’s immediate and vibrant. I have another story that I will be working on in the next year. Again I will use the rice paper sumi ink and PanPastel combination for the illustrations. It’s a good fit to create numerous images that have a storybook feel. Again I can use the pastels to delicately add color and texture to fill in the sumi drawn figures.

When you are not working on your artwork what other interests do you have?
I like camping, walking, reading, gardening and spending time with my family. I am married and have two kids and also work as a dental hygienist.

Are there any current projects that you are working on?
Recently I created 17 animations on my iPad for a short movie that was presented at the “Nature Heals” event for the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. My daughter (age 13) and I are working on some large paintings that will be used at the Saint Paul Flint Hills Childrens’ Festival in early summer 2013 and later in the summer I will have a couple of art shows one of which is at Clear Lake Art Center in Iowa.

Lisa’s book “Strong in the Rain” can be viewed at http://www.blurb.com/books/3034250-strong-in-the-rain

To see more of Lisa’s work visit her website lisarydinerickson.com and blog apapersnowflake.blogspot.com

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I recently met Krista Svalbonas at a conference in New York City. Krista uses PanPastel in many of her installations. She is using the colors in a unique and exciting way – in combination with encaustics – where the color extends beyond the panels onto the wall itself. I wanted to find out more about her work and process so I invited her to take part in our artist Q&A series. 

Tell us about your background as an artist.
From a very young age, I was always experimenting with some kind of art media. My parents encouraged and supported my curiosity with the arts, allowing me to try my hand at sculpting, painting, drawing and photography.  I grew up with art all over the house. If it wasn’t my mothers drawings I was looking at it was was step fathers paintings and pottery. I had, and still have, a thirst to learn and try new things. All through my education I was an alchemist, combining media and devising experiments. I received a BFA in Photography and Design and an MFA in a hybrid program of Photography, Video and Design. When I left my Masters program I was an installation artist working in all sorts of media: resin, dirt, sound, video, rubber and  photography. Recently, I’ve been working with encaustic and pastel.

Describe your work.

I am an abstract geometric artist working with encaustic and installation. My work explores the urban landscape. I have been creating site specific installations, taking into account the physical architecture of the gallery/site and incorporating it into the dialogue of environment and space. The installations incorporate panel paintings made of wax and pastel with large scale pastel wall drawings.

“Penumbra installation” Gravy Gallery and Studio (Philadelphia, PA) – Krista Svalbonas

Describe the space/studio where you normally create and tell us about your creative process.
At this moment, my workspace is the living room of my apartment. I have a wooden table with drawers that I use as my main painting table. Another fold out table that houses paintings in progress and a rotating easel that also holds in progress work.

I work on as little as three pieces at a time and as many as six at a time ( depending on size). My creative process begins with documentation. I travel in both Jersey City and New York documenting the urban architecture with a Fuji Polaroid camera. I then take these images to the studio and start sketching. A friend of mine gave me a graph paper sketchbook that I use obsessively now. It’s fabulous! I then translate certain sketches to the panel surface with wax and pastel. From there finished paintings are photographed and then used in digital renderings for the wall drawings. Each space is site specific so it’s often necessary for me to visit the space before hand or at least have some kind of photo documentation of the site.

“Towards a Phenomenology of Space” AFA Gallery (Scranton, PA) - Krista Svalbonas

How do you incorporate PanPastel colors in your work?
I am using PanPastel both in my wax paintings as well as the wall drawings. Much of the tints and colors in my panel pieces come from PanPastel.

When did you first begin using PanPastel Colors?
I started using PanPastel not long after I picked up encaustic.

Are you doing things creatively with PanPastel that you were not doing before?
I tried several mediums on the wall with my installations including other pastels but nothing else really gave me the surface I was looking for. I’m definitely using PanPastel in an unconventional way but the journey has been very exciting.

“Towards a Phenomenology of Space” AFA Gallery - Krista Svalbonas

Are you combining PanPastel with other media?
Currently with encaustic. PanPastel allows me to create subtle washes of color when using it with encaustic. What I like most about the combining each media is the ability to inhibit and allow surface striations in color.  I can create very flat surfaces and at the same time create surfaces with texture and depth.

What surface(s) do you normally use with PanPastel?
Other then the varied wall surfaces I have been working on, my main surface is encaustic.

What do you see as the main benefits of using PanPastel in your work?
Working with PanPastel both on and off the panel has had a variety of benefits for me. First using it with encaustic allows me to create subtle washes of color on a surface and incorporate hints of texture and line within the paintings. On the wall, PanPastel allows me to create transitions between the paintings and the wall surface in a very gentle way.

“Towards a Phenomenology of Space” AFA Gallery - Krista Svalbonas

Do you have any tips/techniques to share with other artists who are using PanPastel?
Don’t be afraid to experiment! You’ll be surprised with what you can do.  If you are using PanPastel Colors with encaustic be sure to very lightly fuse after applying and to make sure to cover each pastel layer with encaustic medium. Watch that the medium isn’t too hot as it will shift the pastel when you apply it.

Who / what are your creative inspirations?
My work is a study of the urban landscape. An inquiry into the phenomenology of space. A reaction to and a discourse of the modern urban landscape, it’s psychology and physical presence. The installations I have been creating are site specific, they are meant to discuss the relationship of inside and outside space. I take into account the physical architecture of the gallery and incorporate it into the dialogue of environment and space.

“Towards a Phenomenology of Space” AFA Gallery - Krista Svalbonas

What excites you most about your life as an artist?
I have two things that excite me equally as much. One, is the ability to make an emotional connection with my audience.  Having someone feel a kinship to my work is a very exciting reward. Second, is to see my installations at their final stage. There are many layers to creating my installations and the process is often long and tiring. When the work is at last complete and I am able to step back and view the it as a whole, that moment, is a very exciting thing.

What’s the most valuable lesson you have learnt on your journey as an artist?
Take risks and be generous. Don’t be afraid to push your work and yourself to new unexpected places. Be generous and share your work, your journey and creativity with others. Building an artist community has many rewards.

What are your artistic (and other) goals for the future?
Right now, I’m looking for residencies abroad as well as grant funding. I’d like to be able to tackle some ambitious projects in the near future and have the opportunity to broaden my work and my audience internationally.

When you are not working on your artwork, what other interests do you have?
When not in the studio I am usually teaching. I’ve taught at a number of colleges on the east coast. Teaching has its own sense of community and demands. I do enjoy it very much and have had some really wonderful students, some of whom have become steadfast friends and amazingly talented individuals. Seeing my students succeed has been a wonderful gift and has brought me the greatest sense of joy. I have had some very influential teachers in my day, that I believe have taken a great sense of pride in my successes, I certainly hope that I am returning that care and inspiration to my students.

“Substance and Shadow” Monterey Peninsula Gallery – Krista Svalbonas

Any upcoming events, shows, or projects you’d like to tell us about?
I have a solo show scheduled for September at the Dairy Center for the Arts in Colorado and I was recently awarded a New Arts Program residency and solo exhibition that is scheduled for January 2014.

Note: Krista’s work can currently be seen in “Mapping Time: A Collaborative Installation by Lisa Pressman and Krista Svalbonas” at The Firehouse Gallery in Orange, NJ until April 28th.

To see more of Krista’s work visit: www.kristasvalbonas.net
Krista’s blog: www.kristastudios.posterous.com

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Here’s a handy tip: we always keep a PanPastel lid handy to remove colors from the palette trays or to place the colors in the palette. As the tray cavity holds the colors securely, threading a lid on the pan of color makes it easier to grip it, and helps prevent your fingers from touching the other color surfaces.

So although the palette tray’s cover does the job of covering the colors once you have finished painting, try to keep at least one lid available for an easy way to remove and replace the colors in the palettes. (Each PanPastel set comes with at least one lid, and of course the individual colors are sold with a lid.) More info on the palette trays can be found here (including an intro. video): http://www.panpastel.com/

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Joanne is based in Australia and works in a variety of media including colored pencil, charcoal, ink, acrylics, watercolor and of course plenty of PanPastel! Her recent work focuses mainly on animal and people portraits. The pieces shown here are approx. 80% PanPastel.

She uses Epson Archival Matt Paper for her drawings (like the up-close portrait of the owl), she also uses Art Spectrum paper for example the Aboriginal boy is completed on this. She works mostly in A3 size (11.7 x 16.5″) or larger.

In describing her technique Joanne says: “For the hair and eyes of my subjects I usually use a base of watercolor paint, this allows me to give a bit of depth and it allows the PanPastel and pencil to go over it easily.  I always use PanPastel for the skin, feathers and most backgrounds.  I then use Prismacolor pencils or pastel pencils for any of the finer details around the eyes and lips etc, then I blend it all together with the Sofft Tools.”

She builds up layers of color with either a fixative spray or matt spray, then uses Sofft Tools to paint details over the top, Joanne also uses a Sofft Shaper (silicone tipped) to get harder lines through the PanPastel for details like wrinkles and feathers.

To see more of Joanne’s work visit the following sites:
Website: http://www.joannebarby.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jo.Barby
Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/people/JoanneBarby

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PanPastel colors work well with many acrylic mediums, so I wanted to share images of some simple experiments showing how each medium affects the final result you can get when used with PanPastel.

CRACKLE PASTE 
You can achieve interesting textures and patterns with Crackle Paste. It’s a thick, opaque material which develops deep cracks as it cures. Once the paste was fully dry and the cracks had formed (about 24 hours) I experimented by applying, blending, and removing PanPastel.

A - applied Permanent Red Extra Dark (340.1) with Sofft sponge, pushing the color into the cracks.
B - removed most of ”surface” layer of red using a vinyl eraser, exposing just the color in the cracks.
C - applied Diarylide Yellow Shade (250.3) over the red, and blended lightly.
D - removed most of the red from the surface layer, leaving red in the cracks, then applied yellow to the surface for a two-tone effect.

MICACEOUS IRON OXIDE
Micaceous Iron Oxide is a deep black color, and has a gritty surface when dry. The mica gives the surface a really beautiful sparkle. Whenever we show samples of our color on this ground we get a great reaction, unfortunately it is hard to capture the effect of this medium in a photo, so the images here don’t do it justice – just imagine a more intense version of what you are looking at.

The image above shows how the dark surface really shows up the intensity of the Violet (470.5) and Magenta (430.5).

This image shows Phthalo Green (620.5) and a little Phthalo Green Tint (620.8) blended on the surface. Then I erased the color using a vinyl eraser. The color erased easily, so you really can’t make a mistake….NOTE: as with most other surfaces if you don’t like the results you are getting then you can easily remove PanPastel with any eraser at any time, prior to fixing.

I used a template as an easy way to see how it looks when more of the black surface is exposed. Here I used Red Iron Oxide (380.5) and Red Iron Oxide Tint (380.8).

FIBER PASTE
This paste has the appearance of rough handmade paper when dry. I applied it with a palette knife to Bristol Paper (100lb / 260gsm). When it is dry it has an off-white color and is very absorbent.

Once the Fiber Paste was fully dry I applied Red Iron Oxide Shade (380.3) using a Sofft Angle Slice Flat sponge. Manipulating the Sofft sponge so that the color hit the “peaks” of the surface in some areas and was pushed into the lower parts of the surface in other areas. I then applied Yellow Ochre (270.5) over some of the red, allowing the colors to blend in some areas and by dabbing or bouncing the sponge over other areas leaving the yellow to hit those peaks without blending into the red. It created a really interesting effect.

ACRYLIC GROUND FOR PASTELS
Acrylic Ground for Pastels is an acrylic ground which can be used to prepare canvas and other supports for pastels. It gives the surface tooth, allowing more layers of pastel to be built up.

I applied a quick dry wash of Phthalo Greens (mass tone, shade & tint – 620.5, 620.3, 620.8) to tint the surface and create a gradated background. The colors blended nicely, the surface allowed me to achieve what I wanted so that the colors merged into one another seamlessly.

Then in the lower left corner I applied Phthalo Green Extra Dark (620.1) followed by a stroke of Phthalo Green Tint (620.8) to see if this surface would allow the colors to be applied without disturbing or blending into the layers of color underneath. The pastel ground’s tooth held the layers underneath perfectly – note: sometimes fixative can be used as a way to isolate the previous layers of color when using pastels on less toothy surfaces.

I used masking tape to mask off an area so I could create the blue/violet block. The masking tape hardly disturbed the layer underneath, and allowed me to create the lines quickly and easily. I blended Ultramarine Blue Tint (520.8) and Violet Tint (470.8) over the green background. The green stayed in place and allowed me to get the effect I was looking for.

As I expected the PanPastel color erased cleanly on this ground. (You can see some of the eraser “dust” left behind.)

I really enjoyed experimenting with these mediums. Are you using PanPastel in combination with acrylic products? If so, why not share images of your work at our Facebook page? https://www.facebook.com/PanPastelColors

These are the products I used for these experiments. Many other manufacturers offer similar mediums in their acrylic ranges so check out the options available at your local art store.

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    “Howling at the Moon” by Dawn Emerson (mixed media with PanPastel)

Growing up in New England, where schools abound, I never considered taking an art workshop. Moving westward from New England to the high desert in 1987 opened up new learning opportunities, employment, and subject matter. I supported myself by teaching art, but didn’t consider myself to be a practicing “fine artist.” Ten years later I took a workshop with Harley Brown and was immediately smitten with pastel.  So began my journey with pastel, the drawing tool that can be used to paint and draw with.

The western landscape offered a whole new perspective on subject matter, color, space, and texture. I looked to drawing the people around me, the animals and the landscape to understand the new culture around me. I wanted to paint the spirit of the place, the feeling of the running horse, and the toughness I saw in the faces of the people I met.

The past 20 years I have explored the outer world around me, honing my craft of using pastel. Color and movement were the elements I became known for with my imagery. For the past four years I’ve been exploring printmaking–specifically monotypes using soy based inks. This led to drawing into the monotypes with pastels, pencil, gouache, and gesso. (See details of materials used in the artwork shown, below).

I’m amazed by the many ways one can manipulate the visual texture, space, and color, and PanPastel Colors have had a lot to do with it. By applying the pastel with the large wedge applicator, I can make images appear to emerge out of abstract textures. Because of their fine composition, the colors can be applied very thinly to create an almost translucent layer over the surface. I can change a totally flat color to a graduated wash. Making parts of images transparent and other parts opaque is a matter of how thickly or thinly the PanPastel is applied. I’ve played with scratching down through the PanPastel to reveal other colors, and erasing through them with or without stencils.

Using the applicator with stencils is another approach I am now exploring, and it makes the pastel process like watercolor or silk screening, again dependent on the opacity. In short, PanPastel Colors have allowed me to explore this mixed media approach in ways that regular soft pastels can’t, and I am very grateful. There is so much more to the colors than using them for underpaintings!

                     “Flamenco Style” by Dawn Emerson (mixed media with PanPastel)

My goal is to continue to evolve to become the best artist and teacher I can be. I want to explore the pastel medium in combination with mixed media to create work that is meaningful, poetic, and contemporary in use of space, imagery, and movement.

Note: the images shown (except Scizzors) are mixed media pieces which were created using a combination of charcoal, PanPastel, soft pastel, and gouache applied on top of a background that is a monotype. The monotype was created using a plexiglas plate, onto which Dawn brayered Akua intaglio inks. The plate was run through a press, sometimes several times to achieve the desired background abstract image. “Scizzors” was created using sumi ink, gouache, PanPastel, colored pencils, and soft pastels. Rives BFK was the ground used for all of the pieces shown.

Dawn Emerson is based in Central Oregon (USA). To see more of Dawn’s work and find out about the popular workshops she teaches visit her website: www.dawnemerson.com

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“PanPastel Colors are ideal for landscapes and impressionist pastel paintings; however, that is not what I do. I do portrait work, mostly dogs and horses and in fact in a rather “tight” realistic style. One might then ask, why am I such a believer in PanPastel and how do I use them?

First the “how”. I have used PanPastel Colors in underpainting, glazing, for special effects on the background and for background landscape (most likely a more common application).  I apply them with the tools that go with the medium; but I also often “push them around” to create hard edges and/or transitions by using Color Shapers. It is amazing how one can drag a  Color Shaper through an area of PanPastel and create a fine whisker on a dog’s muzzle.

“Mr Jeffy” by Len Jagoda - Pastel on Stonehenge Paper  12 x 20″

I turn to them often and cannot remember a single pastel piece that I have completed since first trying them, in which I have not used this form of the pastel medium.

Now the “why”. PanPastel Colors come in a very unique form.  Because of that special characteristic an artist can get an effect that is different from what can be achieved from any other form of the medium. While my use of PanPastel has been selective, I am confident that because I have used them, they have raised the level of my work more than just one notch. Perhaps the best example of how much they have meant to my work can be seen in a vignette portrait of the fabulous Thoroughbred race horse and sire, Tiznow.  I used PanPastel to under paint and to glaze on his portrait and the piece received the Best Head Study award from the prestigious American Academy of Equine Art and a Best in Show at another event.  With that kind of success, what artist would not search for every opportunity to use their PanPastel. To me it is not how much I use them; it is where and how I use them. To me they are indispensible.”

“Tiznow” by Len Jagoda - Pastel on panel 19 x 17″

We always love to get thoughtful feedback from artists, it is really important for us to understand why individual artists are using PanPastel. As we were developing PanPastel we knew the unique characteristics that the material would offer, however when an artist picks up a color, uses it and decides why and how the colors work for them, that’s all that really matters. Thank you Len for taking the time to send us your thoughts on this. For more information on Len and his work, visit http://backstretchstudio.com/

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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.

“Mother Monarch”  PanPastel & Watercolor

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.

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/

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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/

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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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nugtk_Z34ic

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“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/

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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/

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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

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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

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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

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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

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“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”

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

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