Pure Pigment at your Fingertips: Painting with Pastel
Registration
Sharon Fox Cranston
Tuesdays, February 23 – March 30, 2021
6:30pm – 9:00pm
This class celebrates the pastel medium in its application and approaches. Traditional techniques will be the foundation of instruction, colour and light the focus. Discover how to solve problems of composition and colour, create the illusion of depth, and master lost and found edges. Under-painting with acrylic and/or watercolour is explored.
Artist quality pastels produce intense colour with an immediacy that most other mediums can’t match. Demonstrations are designed to give students the tools to develop an understanding of this medium.
Please Note: No class will be held on Tuesday, March 16 (March Break).
Materials: Included in the registration fee is a high quality box of 30 Unison half-stick pastels for each student ($125.95 value) as well as Clairfontaine Pastelmat white and coloured sanded pastel papers to be used during the workshop.
Students should bring:
- Neutral coloured (not green or blue) masking tape or bull clips to attach paper to your support board.
- Drawing pencil, sketchbook/notebook,
- Old bristle brush (½” approx.)
- A small tray to hold your pastels while you work, (old tin lid, ice cream bucket lid, etc),
- small watercolour set, gouache or liquid acrylic for under-painting
- 1” brush – an old acrylic brush works well – the sanded surface of the paper will destroy regular watercolour brushes!
- A soft scrap of material for wiping pastels
- Water container and small palette for using with watercolour/acrylic (these are available at the School).
- Bring vinyl gloves if you don’t want to get pastel on your hands.
Bookings
Registrations for this workshop are now closed.
Sharon Fox Cranston
Sharon Fox Cranston’s art captures more than landscapes—it tells a story shaped by her journey from the UK to Nova Scotia.
Her early professional years in graphic design gave way to her true calling as a full-time artist over the past eighteen years. Sharon’s work spans acrylics, oils, pastels, and gouache, with a focus on light, shadow, and mood in landscapes.
An award winning artist, Sharon’s is a member of the Society of Canadian Artists, Pastel Artists Canada and the Pastel Society of America. She also mentors artists online as a Master Artist with Mastrius.
Sharon’s creative process is both meticulous and intuitive, beginning with thumbnails and evolving through colour stories and layers—indicative of her commitment to exploring the interplay of light and shadow, texture, and emotion in her compositions. Her distinctive brushstrokes and mark-making instills her paintings with her signature style.
Sharon’s work resonates with collectors and audiences alike. Beyond painting, she enjoys videography, and writing, embracing storytelling across media. For Sharon Fox Cranston, art is an ongoing exploration—a means to interpret the world, foster community, and inspire connection.
Bookings
Registrations for this workshop are now closed.