MARCH 2026 - Expressive Pastels at Higham Hall

Thu, 05 March, 2026 — Sun, 08 March, 2026

Higham Hall, Cumbria

Limited places remaining!

Contact Higham Hall directly to book your place. 2 PLACES LEFT ONLY!

This exciting 4 day pastel course Higham Hall is ideal for artists who want to take the next step along their creative journey and discover the true versatility of soft pastels and use them in a really expressive way.

For experienced artists wanting to become more expressive and also semi abstract when using soft and hard pastels (with fixative) on different surfaces. The emphasis on this course is studio based experimentation with soft pastel.

It is essential you bring YOUR OWN landscape subjects to create expressive pastel paintings with a semi abstract direction.

Many of the techniques demonstrated and taught on this workshop are not for complete art beginners but for artists with a good level of previous experience with other media (not necessarily with soft pastel) who draw and paint regularly or who have plenty of experience in art practice who will gain the best from this art course.

Pastels of any description are amongst my favorite to work with as an artist. Soft pastels in particular are an incredibly versatile media and create all sorts of wonderful expressive effects in very exciting ways. I'm looking forward to sharing with you and teaching you many ways of using them on this art course.

I have won some distinctive awards with soft pastels to include pastel paintings being accepted at 'The Pastel Society’ (Federation of British Artists at Mall Galleries London) and with the SGFA (Society of Graphic Fine Arts in London) in annual exhibitions over a number of years.

Working with both soft and hard pastels on different pastel and paper supports of your choice (to bring with you), this exciting course will teach you how to become more responsive to landscape subjects (your own to bring with you to work from) in new and rewarding ways.

Although the short art break is aimed at artists with some previous painting experience (not the humble beginner), being a ’newbie’ to pastels is OK - in fact, it’s a very good thing as I don’t have to unravel all the bad habits you may have picked up with all those ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ along the way!

Complete with an on-site well equipped studio, Higham Hall offers the perfect get away from it all painting retreat in a stunning setting in the heart of The Lake District within its own natural garden landscape and great views.

Please note: Pastel paper or watercolour papers are not included on this course, nor are pastels. Students are advised to bring their own. A good set of dark pastels and a bright white and tinted colours are a MUST!

Equipment highly recommended for you to bring

Soft pastels (artists quality such as unison Colour) and Rembrandt and highly recommended.
Invest in some dark pastels (essential) such as Unison Colour Dark 24 to bring with you.
Unison Colour ‘Midnight Set’ and ‘Moorland Colours Set’ highly recommended.
NOTE: Buy a few artist quality pastels rather than a big box of cheap dusty ones! The pigmentation in the pro brands never disappoint.

Fixative is essential (not Hairspray).

Papers suggested to bring Clairefontaine Pastelmat, Sandfix, Sennelier 'La Carte', ‘Sait’ P500, Fisher 500, Canson Mi-Tientes 'Touch' 350gms. Watercolour papers - any weight, surface texture or brand. Each have their own unique effect for pastel painting.

Blending sponges (‘Sofft’ Pan Pastel blending tools) and other tortillons of your choice - should you so wish. I will be demonstrating with them.

A variety of Graphite pencils and sticks.

A hard and soft eraser.

Your own favourite landscape views for studio painting.
PLAN AHEAD! think about what you want to paint but don’t be over ambitious.
I maty well be using an iPad mounted on a ‘gooseneck’ attached to the desk to visually display my reference photographs.
Other reference I will be using will be print outs on gloss A4 photo printing paper. These I stick to a rigid piece of card and clamp next to me on my easel board to work from.
Two options for you to think about and plan ahead for - downloading images of choice to the iPad (or similar) and printing out on gloss photo paper before you attend the course. Ordinary copy prints dont create such sharp bright images to work from like the gloss paper does.

Masking tape.

Bulldog clips or similar.

Scrap A4 photo copier paper or similar for masking techniques

Please note
Higham Hall will provide you with my full detailed lesson plan to include everything that I recommend you bring with you for maximum creative benefit you will get from the art course once you have booked. It is listed above though.