• 5 Days Tuition

• Soft Pastel

• Florals & Portraits

• All Levels Welcome

• Maximum 12 Participants

• Residential Retreat

Pastels - Find Your WOW! Factor

Spend a week reveling in the joy of pastel with one of Australia’s most highly recognised pastel artists.

Over five full teaching days, Lyn Diefenbach will take you through the essential building blocks of successful pastel painting while helping you discover how to create work with greater luminosity, character and impact.

The retreat will be divided between two of Lyn’s favourite subjects:

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2½ days exploring florals

followed by

2½ days exploring portraits

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Rather than simply showing you how to copy a subject, Lyn will help you understand the decisions that sit behind a successful painting — line, value, colour, edges, surface, application and the subtle adjustments that create the illusion of reality.

Through clear demonstrations and individual attention at your easel, you’ll be encouraged to work at a level that challenges you without feeling overwhelmed.

You’ll use your own reference material, allowing you to choose subjects and a degree of difficulty that suit your experience and interests.

The aim?

To give you the knowledge and confidence to create paintings with your own unmistakable WOW factor.

During the Retreat You’ll Explore

Line & Drawing

Develop a stronger understanding of the underlying structure of your subject and the importance of accurate, confident drawing before colour is introduced.

Value

Learn to see and organise light and dark values to create convincing form, depth and structure.

Colour

Explore colour relationships, temperature and intensity, and learn how subtle colour choices can dramatically change the mood and impact of a painting.

Edges

Discover how hard, soft and lost edges can direct attention, create atmosphere and help give a painting a convincing sense of space.

Luminosity

Explore Lyn’s approach to creating light, richness and luminosity in pastel while maintaining freshness and clarity.

Pastels & Surfaces

Gain a better understanding of different pastel types, surfaces and how their characteristics influence the finished painting.

Application

Learn how pressure, layering, mark-making and handling of the pastel itself can create very different effects.

Creating Impact

Move beyond simply reproducing your reference and begin making deliberate choices that bring character, presence and visual impact to your work.

Florals in Pastel

2½ Days

The first half of the retreat will focus on flowers.

Floral subjects provide a wonderful opportunity to explore colour, luminosity, edges and the interplay between delicacy and structure.

Lyn will guide you in looking beyond individual petals and details to understand the larger shapes, values and relationships that give a floral painting strength.

You’ll explore how to capture the character of your chosen flowers while creating a painting that feels luminous and alive rather than overly laboured.

Using your own reference material allows you to choose a floral subject that genuinely excites you and work at a level appropriate to your experience.

Portraits in Pastel

2½ Days

The second half of the retreat turns to portraiture.

Working from your own reference material, Lyn will guide you through the process of developing a portrait with convincing structure, skin tones, character and presence.

You’ll explore the relationship between drawing, value, colour and edges while learning how subtle changes can transform a likeness.

The emphasis will not simply be on copying a face, but on understanding how to create the illusion of form and capture something of the character of your subject.

Lyn’s demonstrations and individual guidance will help you identify what your own portrait needs as it develops