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Les Darlow
Les Darlow uses PanPastel Colors for his skyscape and landscape paintings. He also teaches and demonstrates using PanPastel with Canson paper, and pastel sticks.

“One of the best things about PanPastel Colors is that they don’t affect the tooth of the paper. So even when I get to the last stage of the painting, the tooth is free for me to continue painting with more pastel over the top.
It is also semi transparent, allowing me to achieve layering just like watercolor. Recently, I have been experimenting using the white of the paper as you would if painting in watercolor and the results have been quite amazing
The Pans allow me to mix like paint, for that perfect color, blending and creating washes, creating similar effects to wet-in-wet watercolor, although it is a dry medium. Professional quality, lightfast and low dust with adaptable and functional packaging, these are a must in my studio, I would not be without them. They are also great for field trips.”
About Les Darlow
Les was born in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1961, and trained as a technical and Scientific Illustrator, having freed himself of the technical preciseness of a photo realistic painting he now paints expressively and creatively, producing paintings that are based on feeling, light, energy and movement. He has a love and passion for weather and landscapes and most of his paintings are subjects that have that connection for him.. he thinks that one can paint the same scene over and over again as light and weather change the subject continuously.
He loves painting skies and thinks they are the key to a great landscape. He has a fascination for storms and extreme weather, whether that is a sunrise at -20 degrees in winter, a snow storm, a stunning sunset or a growing super cell in the height of summer, these are the key elements to his painting.
He is intrigued by skies and has studied them in some detail having gone to great lengths studying a little meteorology and taking to the sky in a light aircraft to get even more information about their three dimensional depth. Clouds are constantly growing, dissipating, moving and changing colour and this understanding helps me paint them more authentically.
One of Les’s favorite things is to demonstrate pastels to groups: “I find it very rewarding to be able to show people how good the papers and colors that I use are, and how they make such a huge difference to the finished results. I love to paint with my students, as we create wonderful works developing styles of painting.”
Les is a popular demonstrator and tutor and has been invited to teach in America, Russia, Canada, and throughout the UK and Europe including France and Spain. He is also a Canson papers ambassador.
Recent Posts:
Golden Artist Colors Acquires Two Revolutionary Professional Art Materials Brands — PanPastel® and Sofft® Tools
Golden Artist Colors, Inc. is delighted to announce the acquisition of two groundbreaking products, PanPastel® and Sofft® Tools. Co-Creators Ladd Forsline and Bernadette Ward, Colorfin LLC, have grown these products, originally introduced in 2007, into important companion products for pastel and mixed media artists alike.
Artist Q&A: Beverly Brown
Our latest Q&A is with New York City based artist Beverly Brown. We wanted to share her beautiful PanPastel paintings and to find out more about her creative process and why she uses PanPastel. Beverly used PanPastel Colors for all of the work shown below.
Artist Q&A: Benjamin Ward
My grandfather was a painter, illustrator, and professor. I grew up sitting on his lap watching him draw. It fascinated me. I had an amazing (and patient, ha) art teacher in high school that nurtured my abilities and helped me create a portfolio that was awarded several scholarships to major art schools.
Artist Q&A: Lora Murphy
Lora Murphy was born in Ireland and educated in Ireland, USA and Italy. Trained as an oil painter, she now works primarily in Encaustic and mixed media. Lora teaches workshops in Contemporary Portraiture in Encaustic throughout the world and is currently working on an E-course, due to be released this year. She divides her time between Ireland and Denmark and maintain studios in both countries.