Event Link: https://www.dlccc.org/artcellar/
FEE: Ages 12 and up

Adult Price- $45

School age (12-18)- $40

Oil Pastels Workshop with Stephen Henning

Sat Mar 1st 10:00am - 1:00pm

pastelsoilpastelsartclassworkshopdrawingclass

Historic Holmes Theatre, 806 Summit Ave, Detroit Lakes, MN 56501, USA  

Discover the vibrant world of oil pastels in this hands-on workshop designed for beginners and art enthusiasts alike. Learn essential techniques, including blending and layering to create rich, luminous works of art. Explore the unique qualities of oil pastels as a medium, from their versatility to their vibrant color payoff, while learning a little bit of art history, too. Guided by an experienced artist, you’ll gain confidence in your creativity and leave with a completed project and the skills to continue exploring this expressive medium. No prior experience is necessary—just bring your enthusiasm and imagination! Reference photos are optional. Students are to bring their own materials. Any brand of oil pastel will work, please ensure they are OIL pastels!! Stephen Henning will have some paper materials to purchase at the class if you are interested, or students are welcome to bring their own paper too!

Register Here

Things to bring to the workshop:

Oil Pastels
Make sure to doublecheck package labels, because oil pastels are very different from soft pastels. If the package label simply says “Pastels” you are probably looking at soft pastels, a dry chalk-like stick of powdered pigment.

As a general rule, the basic kind I recommend for adult students is Cray-pas Expressionist oil pastels, manufactured by Sakura Corporation. I suggest getting a 50 stick set; this is reasonably priced and you can purchase individual sticks if you use up certain colors faster than others. Another good brand is Sennelier; they have many more colors, but they tend to be more expensive and much softer, too. One more alternative is a 50-color set of Pentel Oil Pastels; a small size stick but significantly less expensive.

Are “cheap” oil pastels okay? ABSOLUTELY! My general rule when it comes to oil pastels is “you can never have too many color choices” – and sometimes you can come across a set of small sticks with a lot of colors, for just a few dollars. One of the best deals I found was 80 colors for less than $8! I have acquired other brands when traveling that are inexpensive and work well, but the thing you will quickly discover is that having more color options makes a big difference!

Other Tools (not required, all optional)
Paper and pencil (to do a quick value sketch, pencil can also be used to scratch away oil pastel)
Scratching tools – wood or metal
Masking tape
Stiff (old) scrub brush

A Word About Paper
I plan on doing a couple simple practice exercises using two very different types of paper, and then move to working on suede matte board for the rest of the workshop.

For an additional material fee of $10, I will have (2) 10” x 15” pieces of matte board - or a single 15” x 20” piece - plus a small odd-sized piece of your choosing, plus plenty of little practice pieces (to test colors or technique). Or you may scrounge up and bring your own suede matte board pieces to work on. When you see how well it works, I am quite confident you will choose it for a working surface. If you prefer to work on paper, I suggest using pastel paper that can be found at most art supply stores.

Reference Images
There should be time to complete one small painting, and possibly get a start on a second – or maybe even finish it – during this workshop. Bring at least a couple reference images; or several and I will look at them with you. Photographs or even images taken from magazines will work. I suggest you pick relatively simple images that don’t have a lot of little details in them.

If you have any questions, you may email me at stephen@stephenhenningfineart.com.