The 5th Annual Pastel Live came to an end Friday, September 19, wrapping up with some of today’s best pastel artists sharing all of their secrets, explaining their materials, methods, and more. This year, the event was hosted by CEO and Publisher Eric Rhoads, PleinAir Magazine Editor-in-Chief Kelly Kane, and Kari Stober.
The next event is Plein Air Live, taking place online November 6-8, 2025 (with an Essential Techniques Day on November 5). Join us then to be with fellow painters online for days of demonstrations, Q&A with your favorite artists, and mingling during the breakout rooms and cocktail hours.
Pastel Live 2025 Highlights
Susan Nicholas Gephart works in multiple mediums, and pastel is one of her favorites. In her session, she taught us how to capture the light behind trees within a forest.
Because she has so much experience with the pastel medium, Carol Strock Wasson is always experimenting and trying new things. In her lesson, she used clear gesso with ground, using brayers, squeegees, and other various tools that she has collected over the years.
“Composition is a vital element that helps us plan and design our paintings to help us create a First Place, or a Best in Show,” said Terrilynn Dubreuil. Her pastel demo included tools and tips for creating a strong landscape painting.
Joining us from his studio in Livingston, Montana, plein air painter Aaron Schuerr used a variety of photo references from La Jolla (pronounced “Lahoya”) on the California Coast.
Nancy Nowak led a demo on how to add small figures to a pastel landscape in a way that “adds scale, life, and storytelling without getting lost in tiny details.” She explained how to suggest the human form with just the right shapes and proportions to make them feel natural.
Linda Mutti shared her process for creating luminous works that capture the spirit of the western landscape. She began with a watercolor underpainting and layer by layer, and applied pastel to refine the color and details, fine-tuning the composition until it reached a natural stopping point.
“Get out there and paint with passion and purpose,” Eve Miller encouraged after her demo on how she starts – and finishes – a landscape painting in pastel.
Full disclosure: Lon Brauer is an oil painter through and through. He picked up pastels, however, a year ago. “I love it,” he said. “It’s fresh. It’s immediate. It’s relatively easy. Other than the dust it’s not really messy, and there are just some fun things you can do with it.”
We want to thank all of our faculty, attendees, and our incredible supporters! In addition to bonus pastel painting demonstrations and Q&As, they provided giveaways throughout the event, along with exclusive discounts for attendees.
- Blick Art Materials (Platinum Sponsor)
- PanPastels by Golden Artist Colors (Gold Sponsor)
- PaintTube.TV (Gold Sponsor)
Of course, we ended each evening with the popular Cocktail Hour and Paint Along to socialize and continue to grow together. Join us for Pastel Live 2027 – visit PastelLive.com now and be a part of the moment-to-moment learning!
