The pastel workshop run by Graham Oliver was excellent.

Graham first told us about pastels and papers before taking us through the different stages in painting a scene based on the Solent coast.

After drawing a basic composition and choosing our colours we laid the pastel on thickly, resisting the need to rub the pastel into the paper until the whole picture was covered. After the colours were blended we added final details such as rocks in the foreground and yachts in the distance.

The afternoon session was spent putting what we had learnt in the morning into practice on a still life painting set up by Graham.

The afternoon closed with a very constructive critique of our work by Graham.

Graham is an excellent teacher and we all left feeling we had learnt much and

had an inspiring day.