Alcohol with Soft Pastels, Two Techniques for Wet Pastel

Discover two powerful wet pastel techniques using alcohol and clear gesso in this comprehensive pastel painting tutorial by artist Avon Waters, also known as *The Wet Pastelist*. This video walks you through the process of building a vibrant landscape painting from a monochromatic value sketch to a richly layered color composition. Learn how to create compelling underpaintings with powdered charcoal and rubbing alcohol to establish values, blur edges, and introduce movement into your artwork. Avon demonstrates how layering colors over a textured base using clear gesso enhances depth, transparency, and light effects in soft pastel work. You'll see how the interplay of pressure, touch, and texture brings out subtle shifts in color and value, creating a nearly abstract, atmospheric landscape. Whether you're a beginner exploring soft pastels or an advanced artist seeking to deepen your technique, this video provides insightful tips on material handling, compositional flow, and expressive mark-making using both hard and soft pastels. If you enjoy learning new ways to work with pastels and want to unlock the expressive potential of your materials, this tutorial is packed with visual inspiration and practical demonstrations. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and visit Avon Waters’ website for newsletters and upcoming live events! Help support this channel and consider a donation : https://buymeacoffee.com/avonwaters See more of my work, sign up for free online events and more at: https://avonwaters.com Music, "The Drive" by Kevin MacLeod