The workshop addresses gesture, shape, proportion and structure of the human figure, and moves beyond traditional pastel “flesh tones” when introducing color. Special attention is paid to materials and their capabilities and limitations, with a discussion of soft vs. hard pastels and various paper qualities. Participants work through short drawing exercises, color experimentation and  spend the final three days of the workshop on a long pose.

Diane Rappisi is a contemporary realist painter whose work fuses the light and chroma of the Cape Cod colorists with the form and structure of the traditional Italian and French academies. She works in oil, pastel, charcoal, and graphite. She is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America and an Elected Member of Salmagundi Club and the Oil Painters of America. Her work resides in numerous private and public collections nationwide. Diane’s honors include “Best of Show’ at the Pastel Society of Colorado’s Mile High Juried International Exhibition, and awards from the International Association of Pastel Societies’ 22nd Annual Exhibition in Albuquerque, NM, and the Pastel Society of America’s 40th Annual Exhibition.