8 Steps to Your First Rose PaintingArtists who want to grow their flower-painting skills can learn a lot from painting what Katie G. Whipple calls “floral portraits” — studies of single blooms, painted from life, petal by petal.With this approach, you slow down! You observe the beautiful nuances of a particular flower, truly seeing it as an individual work of nature.

Artists have to develop an approach to painting that reflects their unique psyche. The methods of one artist may not fit another. I’m fond of telling aspiring artists that you don’t need psychological therapy if you paint every day. You confront your internal fears and strengths every time you stand in front of the painting.

In the June 2015 issue of Pastel Journal, we asked five renowned landscape artists—Lorenzo Chavez, Liz Haywood-Sullivan, Barbara Jaenicke, Kim Lordier and Richard McKinley—about the most important ingredient to making a plein air outing a success? Here’s a sampling of the responses—and a gallery with some of their plein air work:Kim Lordier: Just taking the time to slow it all down.

Touchable Textures in Colored Pencilby Gary GreeneApply solvent to your initial light-hued layers of colored pencil to render realistic textures. Subscribe to Magazine, here!In colored pencil, underpainting involves first tinting the paper surface with the subject’s light, underlying color.

Oil Painting Methods You’ll Love from Julie HeffernanI know I’ve talked about Julie Heffernan’s out-of-the-box conceptual acuity and dynamic oil painting methods in another post, but I just cannot stop there. Here are a few more ways of working that I’ve gleaned from studying her oil paintings.Still LifeA piece of fruit, a flower, decorative plates, climbing ropes — Heffernan has a unique use for them all.

Before starting a painting, most artists do a series of composition sketches to evaluate design elements. Referring back to them as the painting progresses keeps the painting on track, often producing a more solid outcome.While it’s always useful to have the initial composition sketches at hand for reference while painting, there is another tool that can provide another visual means to painting evaluation—a piece of clear picture framing glass and dry markers.