Six Easy Steps to a Mini Pastel Painting

'Morning on the Marsh'             2.5 x 3.5           pastel              ©Karen Margulis
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Have I convinced you yet? Have you tried painting a mini? Mini Week continues with a look at a simple way to paint small. There are so many ways to paint with pastels. There are hard pastels, soft pastels, Pan pastels, pastel pencils.....anything goes. It can be overwhelming. Sometimes I just want a simple method. This is a quick look at my favorite method ....6 Steps to a Mini. 

1. Quick light drawing of the big shapes with pencil.

2. Block in the dark shapes.

3. Block in the light shapes.

4. Block in the most intense color

5. Fill in the rest of the paper in a middle value color.

6. Continue developing the painting and clarifying the focal area.

This is a quick look at this technique. It is a helpful way to simplify a busy reference photo and it works for any subject. I painted a snowman for my class showing them how this method still works!  If you would like to see it in more detail you might like to explore my pdf demo available on Etsy.