Karen margulis pastel

Creating pastel lessons, videos, demos, paint-alongs, hand outs

'Into the Tall Grass' 11x14 pastel ©Karen Margulis sold "To interpret what we see before us, to distill its es...

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'Discovery' 9x12 pastel over oil stain ©Karen Margulis available $165 It is so easy to paint stiff gra...

'Island Oasis' 9x18 pastel ©Karen Margulis available $165 It is so tempting but I have to resist. I have to remind myself that when painting a landscape my goal is to paint my impression of the scene and not to make a photographic copy. I don't have to paint every leaf on the tree for the viewer to know it is a tree. It isn't always easy though. Once the pastel is in my hand and I start painting the tree or shrub it is hard to know when to stop. How many leaves are really necessary and how…

'Autumn Warm Up' 8x10 pastel ©Karen Margulis sold Which comes first, the sky or the land? Do I choose the sky color and key the land to fit? Do I paint the land and then choose a sky color to work with the land? When working from photos I have the freedom to interpret the landscape however I see fit. I could make it sunny or perhaps I want a moody feeling. This is why I like bad reference photos. Bad reference photos give me permission to make changes. A bad reference photo often has problem…

'On a Winter's Day' 8x10 pastel ©Karen Margulis $145 Etsy shop painted with the Richard McKinley Great American ...

'Save the Bees' 8x10 pastel ©Karen Margulis sold Never has watching paint dry been more fun. There is nothing wishy washy about it. It's bold. It's rich. It is usually quite magical to watch. When I want to start a painting with a bang this is the underpainitng technique I turn to.....Oil Stain Underpaintings! It is simple to do. All you need is a few tubes of oil paints, stiff cheap brush and some odorless mineral spirits (OMS). You also need to use a surface that can get wet. I used Uart…

'Jewels in the Wheat' 11x14 pastel ©Karen Margulis available $165 It was never my favorite technique. I admired the wonderful watercolor underpaintings by Richard McKinley. And even though I bought good watercolors and practiced...they still left something to be desired. I just couldn't seem to consistently get the intensity and punch I wanted. I know that practice has a lot to do with success. Honestly I never spent much time improving my underpaintings. It may be part practice but the…

'Pawley's Pleasure' 12x18 pastel ©Karen Margulis sold Water and Grass....two things that can be a landscape challenge. In my classes this week we have been working on water. Specifically water that winds through a marsh. You know...those creeks that run through the marshes, some deep and some shallow but all interesting and challenging! But I realized that we can't do a good job with the water without dealing with the surrounding grasses! How much grass should we paint? How many blades of…