2017 Mark Norseth Workshop Highlights

Mark Norseth

Mark Norseth & Students

Our annual pastel workshop with Mark Norseth was an interesting way of looking at the artist’s world. Mark’s artist view is one where slow deliberation in executing your thumbnails, composition and actual painting trumps (sorry) quick plein air painting. Mark spent three days in two hour intervals painting a picture. The quick sketch is just that. Keep coming back to your plein air painting site and really get to know your subject. 

Over the days we spent time doing exercises. Kind of fun, going through our pastels and finding different pastel sticks with the same value. Look at Mark’s painting and see how many different colors he used in the foliage using the same value. Exercises are good learning tools. But the real deal is using that info in your paintings to make them more interesting. We also worked with touch in the sense of pressure used with pastel sticks. Mark stressed the importance of drawing and having a sketchbook on hand at all times. He brought a few copies of drawings by Rembrandt. Just good to see how a master used line and composition in simple landscape drawings.

This is the painting that Mark did over three days of the workshop:

©Mark Norseth