Painting Workshops & Retreats

2025

Upcoming Events:

Gail Sibley, "Glads at Rio Chirripo Lodge," Unison Colour pastels on UART 400, 6¾ x 4 ½ in. Available $150

SANTA FE, New Mexico

4-7 June 2025

This four-day workshop will be studio based. We’re getting the details sorted. In the meantime, check out the Bluebird Studio and let Beth know you’re interested!!

Gail Sibley, There's One in Every Crowd, Unison Colour pastels on recycled UART 500 paper, 5 x 6 in. Sold

CORFU, Greece

5-12 October 2025

It’s happening! Sooooo excited to see you on this retreat. And hey, we already have two people signed up!! 🎉

Gail Sibley, “Prepping dinner at the Rio Chirripo Lodge, Costa Rica,” Unison Colour on UART320, 8 x 8 in. Available $425

COSTA RICA

4-13 December 2025

Art Retreat with Martine, the fab organizer of Rainforest Escape. Last time, it was pretty darn incredible!!

2024

Upcoming Events:

Paint Anything With This Set of Soft Pastels:Gail Sibley, "Tuscany Vista," Unison Colour pastels on UART 500, 4 x 5 in

TUSCANY Oct/Nov 2024

18 Oct – 5 Nov 2024

SOLD OUT

Rather than a regular plein air workshop where we do most of the pastel painting on site, I wanted to try something different. Instead, we’ll make sketches and thumbnails and take those back to the villa. Then along with the photos we’ve taken, we’ll use this reference material to build a painting in the studio.

Past Events:

Tweaking my plein air painting in the studio: Gail Sibley, "Shepherd Hills Hideaway," Great American pastels on Wallis Belgian Mist mounted paper, 9 x 12 in. Available.

ICAN

30th, May 2023

The workshops will include a variety of breathtaking locations chosen to inspire your creative work. Subjects will include architecture, perspective, landscape, and most articularly texture, tone, and colour, working with the clarity of light that is so much a part of Tuscany’s natural beauty.

Remarkable Pastels: Sarah Bee, "Beyond the Red Cliff, North Cornwall," pastel, 29 1/2 x 29 1/2 in (75 x 75 cm)

Cornwall Festival

20th, August 2023

Gail balances her art practice with creating content for her well-respected blog ‘HowToPastel’ and her online art membership IGNITE! She loves to travel and combines that with her love of teaching, offering workshops worldwide. Her pastels and accompanying instruction are featured in the book ‘Artist’s Drawing Techniques.’

2022

Gail Sibley - Pastel Live

Pastel Live Online

August 18th-20th, 2022

The workshops will include a variety of breathtaking locations chosen to inspire your creative work. Subjects will include architecture, perspective, landscape, and most articularly texture, tone, and colour, working with the clarity of light that is so much a part of Tuscany’s natural beauty.

Paint Anything With This Set of Soft Pastels:Gail Sibley, "Tuscany Vista," Unison Colour pastels on UART 500, 4 x 5 in

TUSCANY JUNE 2019

June 18th-20th, 2022

During this 10-day workshop, our focus will be working from life. Much of our time together will be spent painting outdoors on location but since we are lucky enough to have a studio on site, we’ll also spend some time there too.

We’ll go through the process of creating a painting en plein air step-by-step, from choosing what you’re going to paint, to simplifying the scene, to drawing up a thumbnail (a getting-to-know-you tool which also shapes a value pattern for your painting as well as a good composition), to blocking in the big shapes as an

2022 IAPS Convention - Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico

June 18th-20th, 2022

Gail balances her art practice with creating content for her well-respected blog ‘HowToPastel’ and her online art membership IGNITE! She loves to travel and combines that with her love of teaching, offering workshops worldwide. Her pastels and accompanying instruction are featured in the book ‘Artist’s Drawing Techniques.’

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Latest Edition

Susan Ellis, Green Sled, 2023, soft pastels on Pastelmat, 16 x 22 in. Sold - feature image

Susan Ellis – The Art of Clamming

Artist Susan Ellis paints the clammers of coastal Massachusetts. She shares her process and her love of painting these figures working in the mud.

Recent Guest Artists

Julie Grieg - The Feeling Of Being There - feature image

Julie Greig – The Feeling Of Being There

New Zealand artist Julie Greig shares her pastel landscapes along with her process. She also takes us through her journey to becoming the artist she is today.

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Headshot of Gail Sibley

Gail Sibley

Artist. Blogger. Teacher.

My love of pastel and the enjoyment I receive from teaching about pastel inspired the creation of this blog. It has tips, reviews, some opinions:), and all manner of information regarding their use through the years – old and new. Please enjoy!

Join the mailing list today to receive exclusive tips, tools, and resources directly from Gail:

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