Clarence Porter

PAC, MPAC, PSA

My job as an artist is to see and translate my visual and emotional moments into pieces that allow the viewer to see, feel and be in my moments giving the viewer pause to reflect on moments in time that I cherished, frozen in pigments.

Clarence worked in the Toronto advertising world as a graphic designer/art director until leaving to become a freelance commercial illustrator: a career move that spanned 30 plus years of creating illustrations for everything from packaging and logo designs to children’s books and magazine editorials, while working in a wide range of mediums. After relocating to Hamilton, he started working with pastels for his own pleasure and in 2006 Clarence was juried into the Pastel Artists Canada’s Purely Pastels Exhibition at the Art Gallery of Hamilton where he received an Honorable Mention. That was the impetus needed to continue working with pastels and he hasn’t looked back.

Clarence is represented by Earls Court Gallery in Hamilton and his work has been collected locally and internationally. He received his Master Pastel Artist of Canada (MPAC) signature designation from Pastel Artists Canada in 2014 and was elected a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America (PSA) in 2016. He is also a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and the International Association of Pastel Societies.

Clarence is an instructor at the Dundas Valley School of Art as well as an occasional instructor at the Aurora Cultural Centre. Ongoing sources of inspiration for Clarence are the live and Zoom pastel demonstrations and private mentoring sessions he has instructed all over Canada and North America. Clarence enjoys interaction with creative minds of all ages. He finds collaboration with other artists using different media rewarding and enriching too.

Website and Social Media

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Upcoming Workshops

imPASTELo

ICAN – Studio A (West)
Sunday, June 4, 2023
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Full-Day Workshop

This hands-on workshop is an introduction to adding impasto to pastel painting. Impasto is the process of laying paint or pigments thickly on a surface. I call combining this process with pastels imPASTELo.

The workshop begins with introductions and a short PowerPoint presentation showing sample pieces created using the imPASTELo technique. A video showing the beginning preparatory steps will follow. In my live demonstration, I will finish artwork that has the under-painting completed. That will allow more time for the class to do the practice activities. Bring a reference image of your choosing, or I will provide reference images. For this workshop, the simpler the reference image, the better if you bring your own.

Applying everything you have learned, you will leave with an impasto and pastel piece of your own. Voila, imPASTELo! By the way, we will have fun!

Pre-order your supplies from Studio Six or Wyndham Art Supplies at a discounted rate* and have them delivered to the conference! See Studio Six offer details. See Wyndham Art Supplies offer details.

Material List

Participants are asked to bring easels if at all possible. All participants are required to bring drop cloths. Participants will need to bring a selection of semi-hard and soft pastels. I recommend a set of Mungyo Gallery Artists’ Pastels. They are inexpensive and will work fine for our purposes. Any good, small set of soft pastels – Diane Townsend, Sennelier, Unison – will also work fine.

You will also need:

  • a regular pencil
  • a small set of inexpensive acrylic paints
  • a small jar of modelling paste (Liquitex® or Golden®)
  • a small bottle of Gesso
  • a piece of illustration board in whatever size you would like to work
  • a couple of inexpensive brushes
  • a palette knife and palette paper

Schedule

9:00 a.m. – 9:20 a.m.
Introductions

9:20 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
PowerPoint Presentation – The process and results

9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Practice Activity – Pencil Layout of image on illustration board (class) 

10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Practice Activity – Application of ground to illustration board (class)

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Lunch

1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.
My Demo – Applying pastels (class)

1:45 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Practice Activity – Applying pastels (class)

3:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Show and tell (class)

Download Workshop Details

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Workshop Fee (PAC members): $150

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