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24 Soft Pastel Mark-Making Techniques You NEED to Try! + PASTEL GIVEAWAY 🎨

Monet Cafe' with Artist Susan Jenkins

9,495 views

Discover 24 soft pastel mark-making techniques for creating more texture, movement, color and expression! I demonstrate 12 dry techniques and 12 wet techniques—including how to liquefy soft pastels and use them almost like paint.

🎨 Ready to begin? Jump to the first dry technique: 01:26
💧 Want to explore wet techniques? Jump to: 21:59

🎁 PLUS: U.S. viewers can enter to win a 48-color Paul Rubens soft pastel set! Details below.

✨ THE MAGIC OF SOFT PASTELS—PART 2: MAKING YOUR MARK

Watch Part 1—Discover Your Pastels:
✨ The Magic of Soft Pastels — Part 1: Why ...

A single pastel stick can glide, skip, twist, scatter, blend and layer. In this lesson, we’ll explore blending, broken color, hatching, feathering, side strokes, pointillism, scumbling, dusting, washes, splattering, stencils and much more.

The goal is to build a visual vocabulary of marks that can make your paintings more expressive, painterly and uniquely your own.

⏱️ VIDEO CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and giveaway
01:26 Dry mark-making techniques
03:18 Blending
05:52 Broken color
08:43 Hatching
09:23 Cross-hatching
09:48 Feathering
11:23 Side strokes
12:04 Layered side strokes
12:38 Pointillism
13:24 Scumbling
15:29 Twisting
15:53 Drawing
16:58 Rolling and pressure
18:28 Dusting
21:59 Wet mark-making techniques
25:44 Water wash
27:58 Alcohol wash
29:47 Airbrush medium
31:30 Matte medium
33:38 Stiff-bristle brush
35:01 Fan brush
36:29 Toothbrush splatter
38:00 Palette knife and skewer
39:34 Alcohol spritz
41:00 Water spritz
41:55 Sponge texture
42:57 Sponge and stencil
45:53 Giveaway details

🎁 PAUL RUBENS PASTEL GIVEAWAY

One eligible U.S. viewer will win a 48-color Paul Rubens soft pastel set!

TO ENTER:
Leave one comment on THIS original video telling me why you would love to win. One entry per person.

I’d also appreciate a thumbs-up and subscription if you enjoy the lesson, but liking and subscribing are not required to enter.

• Open to legal U.S. residents age 18 or older.
• No purchase necessary; void where prohibited.
• Winner randomly selected and announced September 30, 2026.
• I’ll reply to the winning comment from my official Monet Café Studio account and pin it.
• The winner has 24 hours to respond before another winner may be selected.
• Never pay a fee or provide financial information to claim this prize.

This giveaway is offered solely by Monet Café Studio. YouTube is not a sponsor and is released from liability related to it. Entries that violate YouTube’s Community Guidelines will be disqualified:
https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubewor...

Winner information will be used only to confirm eligibility, communicate and ship the prize.

PURCHASE THE PAUL RUBENS SET:
Use SUSAN12 for 12% off:
https://lightwish.com/products/paul-r...

🌿 COMPLETE PART 2 EXPERIENCE

Patrons receive the full lesson, companion guide, mark-making practice pages, featured video links, timestamps and additional course resources:
Patreon: susanjenkins

THE MAGIC OF SOFT PASTELS:
Part 1—Discover Your Pastels
Part 2—Making Your Mark ← You are here!
Part 3—Discover the Surface
Part 4—Beyond the Reference

🎨 PRODUCTS USED

Some links are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monet Café Studio!

Canson XL Black Sketchbook:
https://tidd.ly/4cIacZn

White POSCA Marker:
https://tidd.ly/4r69z1H

Prismacolor NuPastels:
https://tidd.ly/43jDcSh

Canson Mi-Teintes Velvet:
https://tidd.ly/4nHsIVb

Paul Rubens 48-Color Set—SUSAN12 saves 12%:
https://lightwish.com/products/paul-r...

🛒 MORE ART SUPPLIES

Beginner Pastel Supply List:
https://amzn.to/3Ndz94G

Amazon Art Supply Shop:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/monetcafe...

Dick Blick:
https://tidd.ly/4o4rQcQ

🌸 CONNECT

Website: https://monetcafestudio.com
Instagram: Instagram: susanjenkinsartist
Facebook: Facebook: theartofsusanjenkins
Monet Café Art Group: Facebook: MonetCafeArtGroup

God bless and happy painting!
Susan Jenkins | Monet Café Studio 🎨

#SoftPastels #PastelPainting #PastelTechniques

20 Comments

@dianesouza2732 3 weeks ago (edited) Pinned

I would LOVE to add this Paul Rubens 48 color set to my mid size but growing collection of soft pastels! I’ve been seriously working on my pastel technique since January 2026 and your channel and Patreon group has contributed so much to helping me attain the next label in my work! ❤

@Icantthinkofanything4 10 days ago

Thank you for all the amazing videos! I’d love to win this pastel set because I’ve been wanting to get more into soft pastel art, but good-quality pastels can be pretty expensive. Last month’s theme was especially helpful because you shared some budget-friendly alternatives for soft pastel paper. I had previously been using cheap drawing paper, but after trying your methods, I’ve been able to build up more layers and get much better results! I love creating soft, colorful artwork, and this set would give me the chance to experiment with new colors and improve my skills without worrying so much about the cost. It would definitely get lots of love and use!

@Wendy8888 3 weeks ago

Hi Susan! Thanks for so many great tutorials. This one is so useful. I'm gonna make the grid and experiment with all of these mark making techniques.

I currently only have medium and hard pastels. The Paul Rubens set would be awesome to win as I need to add soft pastels so I can better layer my paintings.

Thanks for your generosity and all you do! God bless.

@the.doctor.artist255 3 weeks ago

Ma'am, you're my favorite soft pastel artist and all the soft pastel works that I've done are inspired by you. And I thank you so much for teaching me one of the most beautiful mediums of art. And the one thing that always drags me to your paintings is that they feel spiritual to me, like remembering the Almighty all the time for the kind of beauty, the nature He has created while I'm trying to picture a glimpse of it on a piece of paper. Words aren't enough for how much I respect you as a my teacher and inspiration. ❤ Thank you 😊

@WilleenCorey 3 weeks ago

So enjoyed learning about how to use and make marks with dry pastels. I am soon to be 80 and my gift to myself will be art.

@YolandaBrynt 8 days ago

Thank you dear Susan you are the best showing with so much love and care and enjoy to be your patron

@patrickdaniel5572 3 weeks ago

Thank you offering free classes and sharing your love of pastels. I own one pastel set and it's very lonley and could use a companion. Looking forward to becoming a patron next month.

@yorkie3nme 3 weeks ago

Thank you so much for this opportunity to get a beautiful set of pastels by Paul Reuben’s! Watching you paint on Monet Café makes it seem attainable. I would love to begin working in this medium. Blessings!

@susanhilton 3 weeks ago

Love all the techniques you showed with these wonderful pastels.

@beckypelletier4908 13 days ago

Loved this one so much! The stencil idea was my favorite❤

@Angie_SeasBeStilled 12 days ago

I’m brand new to pastels! Don’t even have a set yet! So excited to get started

@Mjpuck62 2 weeks ago

I’m just getting started with pastels and I love your lessons and love you! I think I might have bought the wrong set to begin with so I would love to add a different set to give me a few more options! Either way, I will continue to watch your videos and learn all I can from them. I don’t have an art store close by but did pick up a couple of new colors last time I was in the city, so I’m excited to expand my palette. Thank you Susan for your generosity and kindness. We appreciate you! ❤️

@SharonK-i9w 3 weeks ago

Very beginner watercolor painter, so naturally I need to add pastels. It has been harder than I thought to find beginner books and videos - much harder to find than watercolor tutorials. Thank you for doing this series. A box of pastels would certainly help the learning process : )

@beejensen 3 weeks ago

Grateful for your teachings!

@scrappysoulsister 3 weeks ago

Thanks Susan for your videos! I would love to play with the Paul Reubens set. The colors look so yummy 😊

@sashaz2072 3 weeks ago

Excited to be learning about pastels

@staceyprall5180 3 weeks ago

Oh my gosh, I would love to win this set because I have been out of pastel painting for a while and I am looking to get back in. This would be an amazing boost for me. I’m so glad I found your channel. Thank you.

@caldcyn 3 weeks ago

I would love to receive the Paul Ruben set because I’d like to try softer pastels. I have my mom’s set of NuPastels from her college days (50+ yrs ago and they still work), and I have a set of Blick Studio. I bought a single Sennelier white pastel at Blick’s and couldn’t believe the difference. Thank you for being so generous with this offer and for all the great info you provide on this channel and for making this world more beautiful with your paintings! ❤