Christmas Gifts and Hints

Thursday 11th and 18th December
10.00am to 3.30pm

For those of you who have been hoping for workshops, pastels or paintings from your partner or friend this Christmas, you may wish to mention that my studio is open Thursday 11th and 18th December!

The ideal opportunity for them to view my work and my husband Nick Pearce's ceramics, sign up for workshops, discuss a commission for the New Year, or top up your pastel supplies. All perfect Christmas presents, or if you prefer not to be too direct with your hints, I also have gift vouchers available.

An extra incentive for them to visit is the café, where they can enjoy a cup of coffee, pot of tea, a slice of delicious cake or a tasty lunch.

Elm Studio at Mind Tree Café Furlong Close Rowde SN10 2TQ near Devizes Wiltshire.

Pastel Society Exhibition

Excited as ever to share with you that two of my paintings, Apples on the Path and Before the Next Shower, have been selected for the Pastel Society 127th Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries 21st January until 7th February 2026.

You can see the paintings on my Current Curated page. If you want to know more, or to view the paintings in person before they goto the Mall Galleries, please call me on 07731 476760.

Pastel Demonstration

Experimental, Pastels into Paint

This was one of the demonstrations at my recent exhibition. A fun session illustrating the versatility of pastel as a medium, using it with alcohol to form paint, for a way of creating expressive and lively paintings.

The demonstration was loose and expressive and completely unlike pastel work, so quite interesting for people to watch, whilst showing people a start to finish piece of work.

Sue Owen kindly took photos of the demonstration, which accurately show the stages of the painting.

1. Having put pastel on the paper I then brushed alcohol all over it to make the paper quite wet and then manipulated the paper, moving it around to get the drips happening in different directions.

2. When that was dry, I started putting dry pastel over the top and building the layers of pastel colours.

3. When I had completed the dry pastel stage, the final stage was where I crumbled some pastels into a little container, which I then mixed with isopropyl alcohol. This turned into an opaque paint, which I then used quite wet, just dripping and splashing more colour onto the painting.

4. The finished "splashy" piece.

5. A pencil and a colour sketch and my test piece in preparation for the demonstration, with the piece on the easel I actually did during the demonstration.

These demonstrations were so well received, I plan to do more on Thursday mornings in the New Year. No need to book, just turn up, grab a coffee and a cake in the café if you like and come along. Best way to find out when they are on is to sign up to my newsletter.

The Artist Magazine Article

In January 2025 one of my paintings, Bright and Early, was accepted for the Pastel Society 125th Annual Exhibition at Mall Galleries.

I was delighted to to be given the 2025 Artist Magazine Award and then for my painting to be sold!

My prize was an In Conversation feature in the Artist Magazine, which was published in August and I was absolutely delighted with the opportunity and the result.

I talked to Caroline Saunders about my fascination for saturated and vibrating colour. I also discussed my most loved Unison Colour pastels so an interesting section about which colours I use and why, my techniques, how I work and a little history of my art background.

The article is still available to purchase online on the Painters Online website.

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