The International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS) Convention that happens every two years in Albuquerque is a bit of heaven for a pastel artist. There are workshops and demos to attend, the temptations of the ‘candy store’ to succumb to, new pastellists to meet, and old friends to reconnect with. And I personally love demoing in the ‘candy store’! (You can read about this year’s demos here.) We also had our first official HowToPastel meetup this year!! One of my favourite parts of going to the Convention is to make short, one-question videos with various pastellists. In this post, I’ve collected all 12 artist interviews with examples of their work.
I wasn’t sure how to order these videos. In the end, I decided to arrange them alphabetically by
I hope you enjoy this resource!!!
Anne Strutz on what inspires her
Brenda Boylan on taking a workshop at any stage of your career
Debora Stewart on why she paints abstractly
Desmond O’Hagan on how he chooses a scene to paint
Jude Tolar on painting flowers en plein air
Julie Freeman and Michael Freeman discuss what it’s like to work in the same studio
JZ Xu speaks about how to stay loose in your painting
Kathy Hildebrandt shares how she sets up her complex still life
Lana Ballot explains how she chooses a subject
Liz Haywood-Sullivan offers tips for painting skies
Lorenzo Chavez shares how he chooses a scene to paint
Stephanie Birdsall talks about considerations when setting up a still life
WOW!! I mean really WOW!!! I love hearing what these artists have to say about their painting lives. I do hope that these artist interviews form IAPS 2019 are helpful.
Okay, it’s your turn. Leave a comment and tell me something that made an impact on you after listening to these videos. I can’t wait to read your response!
Until next time,
Gail
26 thoughts on “Artist Interviews From The 2019 IAPS Convention”
AMAZING! What an awesome treat to hear these artists talk about how they approach their work and share their insights. Thank you Gail for doing the interviews and posting them. It’s just fabulous.
I debated about attending IAPS this year, but felt like I wasn’t good enough to go yet, that everything would be over my head. These videos make the legends of the medium seem so approachable and open, they have inspired me to set attending IAPS in 2021 as a personal goal. Your posts always make me stretch myself. Thank you so much for being such a pastel evangelist!! Hugs to you!
Connie, thank you for your warm and enthusiastic comment!!
I’m glad that these videos have convinced you to put IAPS 2021 on your goals list. It’s a magical time. And don’t worry about where you are in your art journey – there’s something for everyone at this event. And you’ll learn plenty just by talking to people (who all want to talk about pastels!).
Hugs back 🙂
How nice. Listening to these fine artists discuss their mindsets while staring at examples of their art is pretty fascinating. I was very interested in Liz Hayworth’s discussion of skies. I don’t believe that I’ve heard most of those tidbits. Thanks so much, Gail.
So glad you enjoyed them Andrea. And I’m glad the inclusion of their work made the artists’ words that much richer!
I also loved Liz’s tips!!
Oh Gail, these brief interviews are wonderful ! Thank you for doing them, and sharing them withus.
Yay!!! So good to hear Lauren. It was my pleasure to do them!!
I was going to just choose one or two, but several affected me. I was reminded that the whole paper does not need to be covered, a tool to judge sky colors, putting backlight on flowers, a reminder of the importance of pre sketches, and most importantly for me, do something I love. Thank you for all this!
Whoo hoo Diana!! I LOVED your list. Thanks so much for sharing your big takeaways!
I enjoyed these; thank you!
So good to hear Jane!!
Fantastic interviews, Gail! Thanks for taking the time and trouble to bring these artists’ views to us. Plus it was lovely to learn how to pronounce some of the names. (wink emoji here!)
I loved making them and bringing these artists to you Wendy. And hah hah, yes, I was very careful to make sure I got each artist’s name correctly pronounced!!
Thank you for sharing these insightful little snippets, Gail. I loved them all!
I did a week long workshop with Liz Haywood-Sullivan in Australia last year – what an inspirational teacher she is! Being reminded again to compare your photograph with the sky that’s above you is invaluable. I too love skies and clouds and want to keep improving, I’ll remember and, more importantly, use this tip!
Brenda’s reminder of the importance of thumbnails was great too. I do them, but need to spend a bit more time getting them right – I’m too impatient to start when I’m time-poor.
So glad you enjoyed them all Cathy!
How lucky for you to have spent a week learning from Liz. And thank you for sharing how her tips on video have reminded you of what you learnt from her in Australia. We always need these nudging reminders don’t we?
I loved that Brenda really absorbed the wisdom of doing thumbnails in the workshop she took and was unafraid to share that ‘golden nugget’ with us. She reminds us that there’s always learning to be done!
Wow! Amazing advice and examples, Gail. Thank you so much for sharing all of these videos. It certainly gave me much to think about and much to apply to my own work, not only in my pastels, but also in my watercolours and acrylics. Most appreciated.
You are so welcome Bev! I love that you have taken everything shared into other media beyond pastels. It just shows how much is applicable across all art-making.
I loved the first tip from Liz Haywood-Sullivan about comparing clouds with the naked eye and a photo taken in real time of the same clouds to see the difference. We’ve been told photo references are different, but this is an easy, practical way to prove it.
Also, I liked the confirmation to me personally from Anne Strutz as to why I choose a certain subject matter. It’s because of the personal and emotional connection.
Judy thanks so much for sharing the two things that resonated most with you.
I too loved Liz’s reminder about checking the actual sky against the photo because more often than not, it will look different!
And yes, Anne’s words about choosing her subject matter make us look more deeply at our own choices.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this wonderful information from so many inspiring artists.
So glad you enjoyed the videos Teri! I loved being able to make them and was delighted when I could nab some of my favourite artists to interview!
So many great tips from amazing artists! It’s an honor to be included here. Thank you, Gail!
Lana, so glad we could find the time to make a video. You know I’m a great admirer of your work so it was my honour to include you!
What great artists you chose. Thanks for this, I’m really looking forward to hearing what they say.
Fantastic Kyle! I’ll look forward to hearing what you think once you’ve heard them!
Finally got a little chunk of time to watch all these little videos. The short timing of them makes them so easy to watch. The two most effective talks for me was from Brenda Boylan about making thumbnails. My realization of their importance has really grown over the last few months, and I’m in the middle of doing a few for my latest painting. Each thumbnail I do increases my confidence as I work out all the issues. Secondly, Liz Sullivan gave a wonderful tip to find the values in the sky. I will use that in my future sky paintings. Thank you so much Gail! Really enjoyed hearing from the artists!
Ruth so glad you found the time to watch and enjoy these short videos. I purposely keep them limited to under five minutes so viewers can get bite-sized info!
Thanks for sharing the ideas that resonated with you most. And YES! Thumbnails!! You must be sick of hearing me talk about them. They really do help to strengthen your work as you are finding out for yourself. Yay for you!! And I too loved the tips from Liz!