Headshot of Helen McCusker smiling confidently at the camera

Helen McCusker

Helen has worked as an Art Instructor for over 25 years, specializing in Drawing and Painting – particularly Portraits and Figurative work, and primarily working from live models. A Board Member of the Etobicoke Art Group, she participates regularly in group exhibitions. Helen also teaches Pastels & Mixed Media for Haliburton School of Art and Neilson Park.

Upcoming Workshops

Portraits from Life

ICAN – Studio A (West)
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Half-Day Workshop

Draw a pastel portrait from a model in a studio setting. A slideshow of traditional and contemporary pastel portrait styles will be followed by a quick demo. The remainder of time we will draw the model with support from the instructor. A show-and-tell of our portraits will conclude the workshop.

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.

Workshop Material List

Material List

Participants are asked to bring easels if at all possible.

All participants are required to bring drop cloths.

Paper
I recommend sizes from at least 11” x 14” or larger to 18” x 24”. Any light- to mid-toned paper with tooth to hold a couple of layers of pastel. Suggestions are:

  • Mid-tone tinted Pastel Paper such as Canson Mi-Teintes or ‘Ingres Vidalon’ Steel Grey, Moonstone, Sky Grey, Light Blue, etc. Unless you’re accustomed to working with darker, more intensely coloured backgrounds, the neutrals are a good choice.
  • Have some newsprint or other paper to place under your drawing paper for a cushion and to avoid picking up texture from the drawing board.

Pastels
I prefer to work with the harder pastels such as NuPastel, Rembrandt, and Conte. I recommend firm pastels for preliminary drawing. If you prefer to work with pastel pencils, that’s fine, too.

  • Colours – If you have a colour palette that you’re accustomed to using, bring what you have. You will need some good darks in Blues, or Greens or Browns (or Black). My preferences are NuPastel’s Spruce Blue, Cordovan and Bottle Green (with Spruce Blue being my ‘go-to’ colour). Rembrandt equivalents are: Darks – Prussian Blue 508.2, Indian Red 347.2, Orange 235.2 or Mars Violet 538.3 Middle Tones – Burnt Sienna 411.5, Caput Mortuum Red 343.9 (or similar shades). Please note you can work with one colour from the dark, mid-tone, and light colours – you don’t need them all.
  • You will also need lighter colours such as Ivory, Yellow Ochre, Sanguine/Terra Cotta, Buff (Y.Ochre tint), light Ultramarine. Rembrandt equivalents: Burnt Sienna 411.9, Deep Yellow 202.12, Ultramarine Deep 506.9 (or similar tints)

Note: The above recommendations are guidelines. You will need tints and shades that provide a range of values. Using a limited palette can work quite well so don’t worry if you don’t have a huge number of colours.

Other

  • Kneaded Eraser – quality brands are Prismacolour, Staedtler, Faber-Castell
  • Paper towels
  • table covering
  • bulldog clips
  • lo-tack masking tape (green/blue painter’s tape)

Optional

  • binoculars – for optimal viewing if you have difficulty seeing distances
  • paper tortillons or silicon smudging tools
  • latex or vinyl gloves
  • drawing supplies you like to work with.


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Workshop Fee (PAC members): $75





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