DEGAS AND THE BATHERS: PAINTING WITH PASTELS

DEGAS AND THE BATHERS: PAINTING WITH PASTELS

This class is part of our IMPRESSIONIST SUMMER SEASON! To see our other sessions dedicated to Monet, Odilon Redon, and an amazing cohort of FEMALE impressionists, click here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/odilon-redon-the-first-surrealist-tickets-349528046797

"my women are simple, honest creatures who are concerned with nothing beyond their physical occupations... it is as if you were looking through a keyhole"

At the final Impressionist Exhibition held in 1886, Edgar Degas exhibited a suite of pastels that caused uproar. The suite of pastels, all featuring nude women "bathing, washing, drying, wiping themselves, combing their hair or having it combed", came under instant, vicious criticism due to the perceived ‘ugliness and vulgarity’ of the women depicted. These drawings have since become some of the most famous drawings in Art History, praised for their undoing of the idea of the classical ‘nude’, their candor, beauty and vulnerability.

The session dedicated to this incredible suite of works, will kick off with a short talk led by Art History tutor and Artist Luisa-Maria MacCormack (@luisamariamfineart) exploring the radical modernism of Degas’ bathers, before diving into some drawing with pastels!

Pastels are a notoriously tricky medium to work with, but never fear! They can also be an incredible mid-point between painting and drawing, allowing you to create beautiful works in colour without the hassle of oil paints or acrylic. This session will offer some insights into the basic approaches and applications of pastel, working from some of Degas’ own bathers!

Expect fun exercises, fascinating histories and new techniques for you to try at home!

YOU WILL NEED:

PASTELS - Preferably a basic set and a Flesh Tone or Portrait set! There are so many different kinds of pastels out there, we’ve included some links below to different brands we love at different price points that you might want to buy and try out at home!

PASTEL PENCILS - really useful things to have around when creating pastel works, as they allow for much more precision and are less dusty!

FIXATIVE - We like to use an organic fixative similar to the recipe that Degas himself used! It is fairly expensive but if you’d like to try it out, its called SPECTRAFIX, and is non toxic, and the most buildable (and least smelly) fixative we’ve ever used!

https://www.spectrafix.com/product/spectrafix-degas-spray-fixative/#tab-description

If you can’t find/afford this, don’t worry, you can use a normal fixative or even a good old fashioned hairspray to hold your pastels down

COLOURED PASTEL PAPER (you can also use white if you don’t have this available)

PASTEL BRANDS

Our personal faves (unfortunately also the most expensive)! Unison Pastels https://www.unisoncolour.com/

Great for Beginners: Faber Castell Creative Studio Soft Pastel Crayons

Best Value: Talens Rembrandt Soft Pastels

PASTEL PENCILS

Carbothello Pastel Pencils

Pitt Pastels

FAQ’S - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE BOOKING

This class is suitable for ALL LEVELS

Your ticket includes access to the live class and 7 days access to the recording.

Everyone is welcome to join this Pay-What-You-Can class. We suggest a donation of £20. However, we understand that may not be possible for everybody. Please be honest and pay what you can afford so that we may continue to offer our sessions on a donation basis.

SIGNING IN

Once you have booked your place, you will be able to access information on how to join the event via your eventbrite "Online Event Page". You can access this by signing into eventbrite using the email that you booked with.

RECORDING

The recording will be sent out after the event finishes, within 2 hours of the end of the class. Please add londondrawinggroup@gmail.com to your email contacts to ensure you receive the recording as expected.

(Please note that the recording can be viewed once within 7 days)

ARE YOU TRYING TO BOOK VIA THE EVENTBRITE PHONE APP?!

We have been in touch with Eventbrite, and they have informed us that currently you cannot book tickets to paid events in their app. It's very frustrating and we have been assured they are working on a solution. In the meantime, we recommend that you book tickets to our events outside of the iOS app - either via a web browser or a desktop

IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS THEN PLEASE EMAIL : londondrawinggroup@gmail.com

And that's it!

We're really looking forward to you joining us.

Love,

LDG