A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels Video Art Course (full year)

Simple shapes make for a fun and successful art time! Learn some lighting and shadow techniques.

The very first time Nana taught her grandchildren a pastel lesson was in February 2010. That day, we created one of our favorite subjects: the beach! Funny thing was, she was snowed in at our house. Inches of snow were piled up outside. But inside, we created puffy clouds, an ocean view and a path to that beach…

Emphasis on blending techniques in this lesson plus perspective with the horizon and cloud creation. Other techniques include: underpainting, skumbling, layering colors, blending and smoothing plus tapping grasses.

Even if you aren’t heading to the beach any time soon you can imagine feeling the warm sun on your back with this dreamy chalk pastel lesson. Learn shadowing and use the fisting blending technique.

Learn perspective by beginning your beach scene 3/4 way up on your paper and the use of darker colors further from the viewer. Have fun adding people and beach umbrellas!

Learn how to create an ocean horizon and to make waves with chalk pastels. Blend dark, medium and light chalk colors.

Learn techniques for lighting and evening sky with the beautiful blending of colors and wispy clouds over the evening moon. Add some twinkling stars! Learn more about perspective by drawing a barn in the distance. Bonus: how to handle excess chalk as you create!

What fun to make a night time scene with chalk pastels! Add the moon’s reflection in the water…

Learn how to draw water in motion with this beautiful chalk pastel lesson! Techniques include blending, fisting and reflection. Also an explanation of why we love black construction paper.

Embellish your castle with a story! Also, learn what to do if you don’t have a grey chalk pastel.

You will love how the setting sun is reflected in the water. Enjoy the techniques that give the scene depth, the blending of trees, the tapping in of grasses.

Swirling, blending and fisting techniques for this powerful depiction of weather in action.

At the beach, with the flat, unobstructed horizon, you can view approaching weather amazingly well. Sunrises, sunsets and especially cumulonimbus clouds. Use of the “drawing on the right side of the brain” technique.

Draw a path that leads your eye deep into the woods and make some underbrush with – can you believe it – purple! Plus you will add some shadows on the path to show the afternoon light.

Create a pink dogwood blossom with chalk pastels. Nana shares how to layer colors to create the depth of each petal and explains the painterly effect technique.

A fall favorite and great lesson in perspective.

A short and satisfying art lesson for all ages. First, trace a leaf from your own yard. Then draw one yourself. The first time we enjoyed this tutorial our youngest joined in at age two!

Learn how how to weave the colors just like birds do – making layers with chalk pastels. The results are gorgeous!

Learn how to skumble by turning your chalk pastel stick on its side – and make some fluffy chicks!

Chalk pastel colors are beautiful blended and layered on top of each other. Learn how rich the colors can be! You may want to pull out your favorite bird field guide.

A fun art lesson for Valentine’s Day or to use to decorate a get well card! A sweet, five-step set of directions.

Art and nature for our fellow seashore enthusiasts! After seeing these fast and delightful birds swooping down and racing the waves at the beach one morning, we decided to see if we could sketch one with chalk pastels.

Make petals like a candle flame and shadows for depth. Add seeds and have fun layering colors!

Make this art lesson as easy or as challenging as you’d like. Make the hydrangea realistic and create shadows, dots of the flower, sunshine, summer shadows – lovely!

Learn how the different colors of an underpainting makes the focus of your painting stand out. Learn how to show the ‘light’ in chalk pastel painting. This is a longer tutorial and you could spend up to 30-40 minutes or more if you’d like.

When you go out of the lines, it is perfectly okay!

A delicious art tutorial with some simple shadowing and lighting techniques.

But for this tutorial, you start with the beautiful blue bowl. Pick your prettiest blue chalk pastel – or feel free to make your bowl any color you’d like.

Strawberries and bananas just go together. Well, so do strawberries and whipped cream. Strawberries and pound cake. Well, anyway, you get the idea. This fruit is so much fun to create in chalk pastels!

It is a summer time easy art lesson in 1-2-3 steps! You may decide this could be a follow up lesson to a favorite book.

What says summer better than a luscious watermelon?

A delicious art tutorial of a favorite meal!

Let’s make a delicious chocolate pie with chalk pastels!

This lesson is a simple, yet a lovely one to celebrate the Christmas season. Enjoy painting the bright colors and the velvet blue night sky.

Just six simple steps! Includes instructions for making the five point star at the top of the tree.

Do you see how you can make tree branches like upside Vs? Nana explains this in more detail in the tutorial with a snowman too!

A fun lesson with many shapes and sizes with a bit more difficulty level. Add a favorite pet getting warm on the fireplace hearth or hang your stockings with chalk pastels with care. A warm, winter art lesson!

Stay warm and cozy and enjoy this fun art tutorial!

A fun spring time or any time art lesson.

Add some color beneath your tree – on the ground – here and there. This will show that some of those brilliant, orange leaves have fallen to the ground.