South Arkansas Arts Center announces it will host Arkansas artist Virmarie Depoyster, as she returns for a Pastel Workshop on September 9-10 at SAAC.
DePoyster, co-president of the Arkansas Pastel Society, will teach the two-day pastel workshop. Students will explore the pastel medium, drawing techniques, under-painting techniques using alcohol, value studies, color, surface applications, and effective and creative ways of using photo references. Beginning drawing and beginning pastel is STRONGLY recommended.
The emphasis will be on developing effective compositional design, facilitating a dynamic and sensitive approach to color and discussing and creating a painting surface.
DePoyster said about her art, “When I paint with pastel, I am reminded that even though life is fragile, it’s lovely! It is in the dance, between my hand, paper and pigment, where I find my heart. Long conversations transpire at the easel, about love, death, life and how they all begin in chaos. As I create something from nothing, I strive to show the viewer, how nothing plus someone equals something.
“As an emerging pastel artist, I often struggle with my style and my love for brilliant colors. Vibrancy is often missing from pieces created with pastel medium. I often fear that my direction with the pastels is a little unique to the use of the medium. But the vibrant colors I achieve in my pieces calm my fears and I am encouraged by the outcome, to follow my instincts – even if I break a few ‘rules’.
“Like many 19th Century Impressionists, I attempt to create a mood by the use of color. Ordinary natural settings draw viewers into a deeper feeling of “having been there”. But even further, I want my work to evoke emotions. Color does that most effectively. Atmosphere. Mood. Place. These three words sum up what I want viewers to experience, not just see. I translate those things to the paper with color. The subject matter become more irrelevant against the palette I employ. When I hear people whisper, ‘That’s a pastel?’ I know I took the right road.”
Cost for the two day class is $120 for SAAC members with an additional $25 cost for non -members.
For more information, please call the SAAC office at 870-862-5474 or visit the website at www.saac-arts.org. SAAC is located at 110 East Fifth Street, El Dorado, Arkansas.