Painting Sunsets in Soft Pastels
Painting Sunsets in Soft Pastels with Kathy Beekman – 1-day Workshop
Saturday, October 24
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
$65 CAE Members / $80 Non-Members
Ages 15+ | All Skill Levels Welcome
Minimum Students: 6 / Maximum Students: 20
Sunsets have captured our imagination for centuries—and offer a perfect opportunity to explore light, color, and atmosphere. In this inspiring workshop, you’ll learn Kathy’s approachable and expressive techniques for working in soft pastel while creating your own vibrant sunset painting.
Through guided instruction, you’ll explore how to blend color, capture glowing light, and build depth, all while reconnecting with a sense of creativity and wonder. No prior pastel experience is needed—just come ready to learn and enjoy the process.
Kathy Beekman is known for her supportive teaching style and ability to help students feel confident and successful, no matter their experience level.
Supply List to bring to class with you:
Basic 12-color box of soft pastels (NOT oil pastels; Sennelier or Terry Ludwig recommended)
2+ sheets of paper (Rising Stonehenge, Arches, or Somerset recommended)
Photos or book images of sunsets for reference
Optional (Recommended):
Final fixative spray
Wet wipes or baby wipes
Dust mask
Smock or apron
Protective paper (newspaper, glassine, or kraft paper) for transport
Optional Purchase:
Black Rising Stonehenge paper available from instructor ($10 per 22” x 30” sheet)
Instructor
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Kathy BeekmanKathy Beekman, a master finger painter whose soft pastel artwork emerges from the West and Midwest countrysides, lives in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, where her home and studio are perched at 8,600 feet. “The vastness of the natural landscape here inspires my work. My paintings reflect how I think and feel about my environment.”
She grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a small city surrounded by the farming communities that continuously inspire her subject matter: the barns, clouds, open spaces, and streams that conjure up idealized versions of the landscapes she experienced as a child. Her style has developed to include mountains and vast landscapes, inspired, again, from where she now lives and the places she visits. This style has a simplified graphic quality with a quiet reflective mood characteristic of all of Beekman’s paintings.
Her passion for the arts extends beyond her canvas. She is a highly sought-after art career coach for artists who want to “rise above the rest”, an instructor in pastel painting to adults, and owner/designer of Beekman Press, which consists of two card lines. She has also authored the books Prosper, A Success Book for Artists, and Motivational Quotes, A Reflection Book for Artists and has another book in the works.
