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*Please note that as of April 7th, all scholarships have been allocated for this course. If additional scholarships become available we will reopen the scholarship form!
In this one-day course, Caroline will begin by demonstrating how to source, choose and prepare raw pigments, powders and clays to make pastels, including a brief look at washing and sieving. We will look at a variety of traditional lump pigments that can already be used like pastels. The morning will cover how to make simple ‘Conte’ type pastels. This will include blending, tinting, and toning the wet materials to create a beautiful balanced range of pastels, ideal for tonal drawings.
The afternoon will cover a slightly more involved traditional soft pastel making technique. We will also look at use, labelling and simple ways to make ecologically sound and waste-material storage for our finished pastels. We will make two spray fixatives for works on paper for use by blow-diffuser or pump spray bottle, one is egg-based, one vegan. We will finish with ample time for questions. An information sheet tailored to what was covered in the course, plus any suppliers, artists and information that was mentioned in the session will be provided to all participants for their own personal use the following week by email.
Max Participants: 12
Minimum: 6
Cost: $145 ($50 nonrefundable deposit to hold your spot)
Duration: 1 Day
Wednesday, May 1st, 2024 – 9AM start time, lunch, 5 PM Course ends
*There is a tuition discount if you register for both May 2024 courses, Fur Tanning and Pastel Making. Please register for them both separately, and your discount will be applied to your balance, to be billed in April.
About Caroline Ross
I live and work in Bournemouth, Dorset, UK, making drawings and paintings from wild and ancient materials, from small illustrations to large murals. I have taught life drawing as well as painting and I currently teach people how to make the materials I use from my studio, online and as a guest at centres across Europe and UK [and more recently the USA on Turtle Island]. I teach at Dartington both on my own unique course ‘Found and Ground art materials’, and with the Dark Mountain Project, online and in person at Schumacher College. Having spent decades indoors in art and recording studios, I now spend my life outdoors as much as possible, sourcing my materials, making my work, immersing myself in nature.
I write about Tao, the embodied life and art where earth matters every Monday morning at my Substack, Uncivil Savant.
Caroline Ross
Faculty Photo: Teaching ink making in Totnes at The Albatross, August 2022.
