“Capture the Glow” A Pastel Workshop
with Rita Kirkman
February 5th - 7th, 2026 | 10:30 AM - 4:30 PM
3-Day Workshop
204 S Austin Street in Rockport, Texas.
$350 for Members, $400 for Nonmembers.
Class Description:
This intensive three-day workshop will teach you how to infuse your paintings with warm sunlight. You will learn to nail your values using an acrylic-based underpainting, then identify and utilize color temperatures to make your paintings glow!
Accompanying concepts include simplicity of composition, color harmony, and frequent small works for more rapid improvement. This workshop is not subject specific. You can work from your own photos of whatever subject you prefer. Rita will be demoing mostly animals, with at least one landscape thrown into the mix.
About the Instructor:
Rita Kirkman, PSA-MP, CPS, IAPS-EP
Rita Kirkman was born an artist. She has been using pastel since she was 11 years old and had her first paid portrait commission when still a teenager. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1988. Meanwhile, in 1986 she began a 12 year career sketching quick portraits at amusement parks, and in 1988 she began a business drawing detailed pencil portraits from client photos.
Since 2003, Kirkman has improved her own style and technique with pastel through independent study and workshops with renowned artists each year. This effort has been consistently rewarded with major awards in national and international competitions. Her work has been featured in the Pastel Journal and the Pratique des Arts Spécial Pastel, and published in many others. She is a Pastel Society of America Master Pastelist and an Eminent Pastelist with the International Association of Pastel Societies. Her portraits and paintings are in private collections all over the world, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, Africa and Australia.
In 2011, Kirkman took a workshop with internationally known daily painter Carol Marine, which had an incredible impact on her career. Painting small and posting frequently improved Kirkman's work and expanded her name and artwork recognition thoughout the pastel world. She has since become a popular workshop instructor. At the heart of her teaching is recognizing value and temperature over color, simplifying and strengthening composition, and of course the benefits of painting small.
Kirkman's latest venture, in 2020, has been to create a Patreon Page, where she shares behind-the-scenes video clips and exclusive content from the studio, along with demo videos and Paint-Alongs from her Virtual Open Studio Days and various other art tips from her 40+ years as an artist.
February 5th - 7th, 2026 | 10:30AM-4:30PM
$350 for Members and $400 for Non-members