PET PORTRAITS IN PASTELS WITH DESLEY STEWART WRAP UP

Everyone enjoyed a wonderful day at Desley Stewart’s pastel workshop,producing some truly impressive results.  Desley began by demonstrating the importance of achieving an accurate drawing before applying any pastel, emphasising that a strong foundation is essential when aiming for a good likeness, particularly in pet portraits.

She clearly explained her grid method for mapping out the proportions and features of an animal’s face, giving participants a practical approach to achieving accuracy and confidence in their drawings.

Once everyone had completed their initial sketches, Desley demonstrated her pastel technique. Using the side of a pastel stick, she applied broad strokes while carefully observing subtle changes in colour, tone and value.  She then used a flat watercolour brush with isopropyl alcohol to gently blend these areas together, creating a beautifully soft and unified base layer.  This provided the perfect foundation for adding finer details with both soft pastels and pastel pencils.

Following a delicious morning tea, kindly organised by Judy Salleh,participants continued developing their paintings by gradually layering and blending colours to create depth and realism. Desley explained the importance of working from the darkest tones through to the lightest, patiently building up the artwork with successive layers and increasingly refined detail.

 Throughout the day, Desley generously shared her knowledge, offering individual guidance and encouragement to every participant. Her thoughtful suggestions and hands-on assistance helped each artist strengthen their work and gain confidence with the medium.

 The outstanding quality of the finished artworks was a testament to both Desley’s excellent teaching and the enthusiasm of everyone who attended.  It was an inspiring and thoroughly enjoyable workshop, and all participants were extremely grateful to Desley for sharing her expertise and making it such a memorable day.

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