A Tip for Creating Colorful Lights in Pastel

'Silent Forest'          18x24        pastel         ©Karen Margulis
available $400

I took the pure white pastel out of my box. I rarely use it. When I need it I usually have to hunt for one in the studio. But I do love to paint white things!.......Clouds, snow, queen annes lace, sandy beaches all require white or do they.

I prefer to use what I call Colorful Lights. That is very light value pastels that are almost white but not quite. I keep a pale value pastel of every color on the color wheel. I am ready to paint anything white without using white.

Sometimes though you may not have a colorful light. Your lightest value may not be quite light enough. Then what? Well of course you could start a pastel order but while you are waiting you can use pure white to create your own colorful lights.

• Choose the lightest value of the color you need such as yellow. Lay down a light layer of this pastel.
• Now take your pure white pastel and lightly layer on top of the yellow. You will notice that the white will start to modify the yellow and it will appear lighter. 
• You may need to go back and forth with the yellow and the white until you achieve the value you need.

I made a quick video demo of this tip and you can watch it for no charge over on my Patreon page. Here is the direct link to the video.https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-to-create-15937176