Hear how the Soft Pastel Skills Hub helped Clare develop her skills, choose her own colours and confidently create her own artwork.
Member Olive Dodd, talking about her experience of the Hub and community.
“Sue’s style of teaching appeals to me a great deal. It’s calm and measured. She explains things so clearly while she’s doing it.” Denise B
"I gained information in minutes that could have taken me years to discover." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"My confidence in painting new subjects has increased enormously since joining the Soft Pastel Skills Hub and Art Club.
I love that I can dip into the Hub and quickly find a short lesson on exactly what I need. While working on a dog portrait, I referred to tutorials on short hair, long hair, wet hair, black dogs and different coat colours. I gained information in minutes that could easily have taken months or even years to work out on my own.
The Hub and Art Club have accelerated my learning and encouraged me to paint subjects I would never have attempted before. Before joining, I mainly painted landscapes. Since then I've completed three dog portraits and a cat portrait.
Even projects like the Christmas baubles and coloured peppers proved invaluable. When I tackled a detailed chandlery scene, all those earlier exercises helped me confidently draw the different shapes, surfaces, shading and shine. It made the whole painting enjoyable instead of intimidating."
Keith Walton
A place to turn to when she needs help
"I've been a Hub member for 3 years now and It was such a great idea to create the Hub, I use it a lot for my pastel paintings and drawings. For me it works like a Encyclopedia. I used it for the inside of this barn when drawing this Volkswagen both for the wall and the old wooden floor. It’s so great to have a place to turn to when you need a little help.
Sue is also available to help with all of my art questions to help me when I get stuck. For example, I recently pastelled a dog portrait but there were some tricky angles to the dog's body and I wasn't sure what to do. So helped and my neighbour is so pleased with the painting."
Nina K
"My confidence and ability have grown beyond measure" ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"Since joining the Hub, I have really enjoyed the weekly live sessions, where I have been challenged and attempted things way out of my comfort zone. From painting marbles and metal to being encouraged to draw freehand instead of tracing everything, this has grown my confidence and ability beyond measure.
The Hub itself is a fantastic resource of all types of information, I particularly enjoy the colour section, but everything there is so useful.
Thank you Sue for providing this and being a lovely, supportive and enthusiastic tutor, I’m looking forward to lots more in the future."
Jude Sullivan
"Sue has given me the confidence to finally say, "I am an artist." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"The Soft Pastel Skills Hub has completely changed the way I approach my art. The bite-sized lessons have given me the confidence to choose my own colours, improve my drawing skills, and create artwork without relying on someone telling me exactly what to do.
I love that I can quickly revisit a specific technique, whether it's fur, whiskers or colour, whenever I need a refresher.
Art Club has also helped me see shapes instead of objects, which has transformed both my drawing and painting. Most importantly, Sue has given me the confidence to finally say, "I am an artist."
"I have been a Hub member for over a year now and I find it very useful, especially the different skills I have been improving while under Sue's tutorship. Sue breaks the process of creating beautiful paintings down in a simple and supportive way. There is a lot of support from other members too and it is a place to give and receive support. Sue provides very detailed videos on how to make complicated techniques seem simple."
You will absolutely love what Sue has to offer in the Hub! It has an amazing range of bitesize tutorials that cover pastelling skills and techniques such as backgrounds, whiskers, using apps to help with composition, colour, and many more! It's like having Sue on speed dial!
A huge huge thank you to Sue Kerrigan-Harris. I watched the 4 colour background videos in the hub today. I was really struggling how to do backgrounds that incorporate extra colours and how to blend them without making muddy or losing the colours into one. It makes so much more sense now, and seeing two different ways to do it is so helpful. Thank you Sue, the hub is so useful.
"The HUB is incredible. So much information, specific techniques that will definitely help you on your art journey. Sue is growing the HUB constantly. Sue encourages us to say what we want to see in it. It is interactive including polite and useful critiques of your work. You can post work and ask questions on specific topics. I recommend you sign up and see for yourself how wonderful and useful it is. You’ll love it. I have just finished the fur bite-size lessons. They have been so informative and helpful for me. They have given me the confidence to try subjects that I have always shied away from as I just didn't know where to start.Thank you Sue, your HUB is amazing."
"After watching the Warm Grey Colour Tutorial I realized that I do not know much about colour. We see colour every day but don’t really look at it.
The backgrounds have also been so good. You never know how and what to do with them. So, putting the computer skills together with the backgrounds you learn so much to better the hard work that goes into doing a picture.
I think the biggest thing with the hub though is that it keeps you motivated.
When you are battling you sometimes just want to give up. Knowing that there is a place you can go to learn keeps you going and adds a lot of enjoyment to what you are doing."
"I'm not great with the techy stuff but I find the Hub easy to navigate. The Hub allows me to keep up with progress at a time to suit me.
The Hub is now so full of content we are really spoiled for choice in what to do next. So many hint tips and direction that I’ve learned so much but still find myself playing the recordings to refresh my learning.
It's like having my own personal Tutor on speed-dial .. for which I cannot thank you enough. I particularly like the split format of Art Club, some small weekly projects and for a larger topic spreading the art over a few weeks. It makes the whole process much more enjoyable for me and gives me confidence to post it online.
The Hub is now a lovely group of supportive members and I do hope it may continue for a long time. Thank you Sue xxx"
"Sue is a fantastic tutor, I've wanted to draw all my life but knew I couldn't then last year I found Sue. She made it so easy for me to learn by explaining what she was doing and why she was doing it. I had watched a lot of artists on YouTube but no one explained it how Sue does needless to say at the age of 65 i finally learnt to draw thank you Sue for everything you do for your students."
"Sue introduced me to soft pastels and art! I couldn't even draw a stick man but Sue gave me the confidence to ‘have a go’ despite doubting myself. Now I have a dedicated room at home to produce art. My life is much richer and more colourful since that day I met up with Sue. Such a joy to be part of her journey…… and the Hub is amazing!"
Meet Your Tutor
Hello, I'm Sue Kerrigan-Harris, it's nice to meet you!
I am a professional soft pastel artist, qualified teacher and coach.
Unison Pastel Associate Artist.
Founder of the Soft Pastel Skills Hub.
Teacher to over 1000 students world-wide
My proven teaching style boosts your confidence as well as your soft pastel and drawing skills. The HUB is my membership program to help you be the best artist you can be.
Over 300 drawing and soft pastel tutorials to choose from
Feel more confident creating soft pastel art you’re proud of, with small studies, gentle guidance and a supportive community behind you.
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