All my workshops are offered for two hours and accommodate sheer beginners to advanced in the same workshop. I travel to your site and provide professional grade pastels, pastel paper, and other materials. I teach proven artistic techniques of the masters, and share entertaining and novel cultural and historical anecdotes. Participants learn all the essentials of pastel painting any subject, and take home their own pastel painting. All sites receive free downloadable color flyers and press releases.

New for 2019! Sail Away on the Craft of Pastel Painting

Feel the breeze and pastel paint it, too!

Pastel Paint Stunning Still Lifes like the Masters

Gregory Maichack, twice nominated for the MCC Gold Star Award, and award-winning pastelist, presents his all-new  “Pastel Paint Stunning Still Lifes Like the Masters” workshop: instruction, demo, and hands-on work by sheer beginners to advanced who keep their pastel painting. He demonstrates how beginners to accomplished artists can easily pastel paint a still life while applying techniques applied by masters such as van Gogh, O’Keeffe, Monet & da Vinci. He shares humorous and insightful anecdotes on the artists in this fun workshop. Essential techniques of pastel painting will be clearly demonstrated as participants follow along. He provides hundreds of professional grade pastels, paper, & pencils.

Scarlet Poppies

Pastel Paint Like Georgia O’Keeffe

Maichack’s Single Poppy

Georgia O’Keeffe’s famous poppy paintings (single and double) will be the focus of “Scarlet Poppies: Pastel Paint Like Georgia O’Keeffe.” Maichack will provide an easy entry into the world of pastel painting. All necessary strokes needed to pastel paint any image will be demonstrated.
Participants will receive an engaging hands-on experience of basic pastel painting, as well as advanced techniques. All will use professional grade materials to understand how to easily start and complete a pastel painting. Maichack will bring 100s of pigment-rich pastels and individually demonstrate and guide attendees through the essentials of painting with pastels.
“I will display my original pastel artwork of both O’Keeffe’s single and double poppy paintings to illustrate and unveil the process. Ongoing questions will be encouraged. All will take home their painting.”

Pastel Paint Like the Masters

Extensively researched, Maichack teaches participants by lecture, revealing anecdotes, historical context and demo of techniques applicable to many styles of pastel painting, covering all essential pastel techniques. Participants using van Gogh’s, Georgia O’Keeffe’s and Monet’s famous “Sunflowers” artwork, and also Maichack’s reference photos, create their unique sunflower pastel painting.

Monet’s Mirror

How to Pastel Paint Monet’s “Water Lilies”

Imagine using the actual imagery that inspired Monet to paint his “Water Lily” paintings. Maichack, a Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) pastel demonstrator, offers a new workshop for sheer beginners to advanced, in which you produce your own Impressionist pastel painting. Maichack shares his water garden photos he took on site at Monet’s home studio in Giverny, France, and will paint with you from the same imagery which Monet painted his famous water lilies.

Expressive and fun, you will quickly learn how easy and direct pastel painting is from Maichack’s long experience teaching pastel techniques. It’s perfect at libraries, day or evening, for teens, adults, & seniors.
As always, all will keep their pastel paintings and use hundreds of his professional-grade pastels, paper, and materials.

Que Sera, Seurat!
How to Pastel Paint Optically with Color

“Que Sera, Seurat!” fuses the science of color with the poetry of pastel in this Pontillism workshop. All will pastel paint a shimmering Venetian landscape: a gondola-crowded Grand Canal in wavering mosiacs of color. Participants apply the techniques of Pointillism, as practiced by Seurat and Signac, in this fun and fascinating workshop, easily learning concepts such as radiation, Divisionism or chromo-luminosity, and utilizing practical techniques such as stippling, pastel hatching, and the “chisel stroke.” Maichack will guide you in the magic of making color sing. So, if you love vibrant color and how to make it shimmer this is the workshop for you!
As always, all will keep their pastel paintings and use hundreds of Maichack’s professional-grade pigment-rich pastels, paper, and materials.

WARNING: In this course your mind will become the palette, swirling with kaleidoscopic, evocative colors, energized by the magic of Pointillism.

The Pastel Art of Georgia O’Keeffe:
Modern American Abstraction

Become inspired to create beautiful pastel paintings by exploring America’s foremost modernist pastel painter of flowers. Focusing on the calla lily, participants work in tandem with the artist. Also, topics such as her landscapes, shells and more will be covered. From sheer beginners with no experience to advanced students, all will experiment with hundreds of my pastels learning pastel handling techniques O’Keeffe used in her pastel art. Scumbling, feathering, blending, slurring, edges, and layering will be mastered in this direct tactile medium of pure and nuanced color. How layering is accomplished without fixatives for achieving O’Keeffe’s “clean” look will be a focus as well as building an abstract foundation through Leonardo da Vinci’s revolutionary drawing technique.

Supplies: All materials provided: an array of professional grade pastels, pastel pencils, Rembrandt pastels, and assorted Canson pastel paper.

Post Impressionism: Van Gogh’s Starry Night — Expressive Pastel Painting

This pastel painting workshop is designed for adults and teens, both sheer beginners to advanced participants who want to paint expressively. Maichack, a faculty member of the Springfield Museum Studio School, will explain exciting Post Impressionist concepts and then start you off by sharing a fearless approach to drawing. You will then find it effortless to work in tandem with the artist expressively drawing Starry Night with white charcoal pencils on black paper.

Also, van Gogh’s painting Terrace of a Café at Night (Place du Forum) will be explored and displayed in a large format to paint from, enabling further mastery of van Gogh’s unique vision. A demo of pastel handling techniques that allow a command of edges, scumbling, blending, slurring, and layering, and a demonstration of various strokes will fully illustrate van Gogh’s successful expressive methods. You will develop your own pastel paintings while understanding decorative qualities such as energetic line and bold color.

This workshop includes all materials: Indigo paper, white charcoal pencils, black paper, Rembrandt soft pastels, Nupastels, French and English pastel pencils, assorted colored mid-toned Canson pastel paper and other materials. All keep their pastel painting(s).

The Art of Pastel: The da Vinci Mode

From the perspective of Leonardo da Vinci’s working methods, participants will receive an engaging hands-on experience of pastel painting with beginning to advanced techniques. Drawing in the mode of Leonardo da Vinci is explained and demonstrated, and all participate in this fun and carefree way of drawing. This drawing method is called “pentimenti” and it is easily grasped by participants. Since making mistakes is part of the technique, it is a fearless approach.

A special technique of Leonardo da Vinci’s called “sfumato,” a term he coined, will be thoroughly explained and demonstrated. Special pastels to achieve this ethereal effect will be provided. Participants will freely experiment with hundreds of artist’s professional grade hard and soft pastels and professional pastel paper. Beginners to accomplished artists benefit, side-by-side, in this fun pastel painting workshop.

Maichack, nominated twice for a Massachusetts Gold Star Program Award, will individually demonstrate the essentials of painting with pastels, and he will display his original pastel artwork to illustrate da Vinci’s concepts. His demonstration of expressive pastel painting shows how to achieve luminous color and volume, how to structure an engaging composition, and offers tips on creating impact the Leonardo way.

 Monet’s “The Regatta!”

(How to Pastel Paint as Impressionists)

Participants in this expressive and fun workshop will easily learn Impressionist concepts (Monet’s favorite color harmonies, Divisionism, and The Impressionist Shimmer). If you love color, and the Golden Age of Impressionism, this is the workshop for you.

This workshop includes color reference pictures of The Regatta, and all materials (Nupastels, Rembrandt soft pastels, pastel pencils, assorted mid-toned pastel paper, black paper, white charcoal pencils, and other materials). All participants keep their pastel painting(s).

The Art of Pastel Workshop

(perfect for libraries, schools, senior centers and other venues)

Have you ever wanted to do a landscape, portrait or special project in pastel? Bring a simple photo or just come to participate in an art workshop, lecture and demonstration with award-winning pastel painter Gregory John Maichack, an MCC Gold Star Program Nominee. Participants will receive an engaging hands-on experience of basic pastel painting, as well as advanced techniques. All will understand how to easily start and complete a pastel painting. I will bring hundreds of pastels and individually demonstrate the essentials of painting with pastels. I will display my original pastel artwork to illustrate the talk. A demo of expressive pastel painting will detail achieving luminous color, volume, structuring an engaging composition, and tips on creating impact. All will receive help tailored to their projects, whether landscape, still-life or portraiture. Ongoing questions will be encouraged. Participants are encouraged to experiment with the artist’s professional grade hard, soft and super soft pastels, professional pastel paper, etc. However, if you have your own pastels, please bring them. Created for adults and accommodating 14 years of age and above if accompanied by an adult.

Images of Venice Pastel Workshop

(perfect for libraries, schools, senior centers and other venues)

Photographs from the artist’s trip to Venice will be distributed to work from, or bring your own photo and participate in a hands-on art workshop, lecture, and demonstration with award- winning pastel painter Gregory John Maichack.

Whistler’s pastels of Venice from the late 1800’s will be the focus of the “dry coloring method.” This simple method will provide an easy entry into the world of pastel painting. Layering will then be explored using the artist’s hard, semi-soft, and very soft pastels.

Participants will receive an engaging hands-on experience of basic pastel painting, as well as advanced techniques. All will use professional grade materials to understand how to easily start and complete a pastel painting. Maichack will bring 100s of pigment-rich pastels and individually demonstrate and guide attendees through the essentials of painting with pastels. I will display my original pastel artwork to illustrate the talk. A demo of expressive pastel painting will detail achieving luminous color, volume, structuring a flexible sketch, and tips on creating impact. All will receive help tailored to their projects, whether landscape, still-life, or portraiture. Ongoing questions will be encouraged. From absolute beginners to advanced.