Complete Practical Colour Theory Course for Pastel Artists in 6 Essential Lessons, with Cathy Pearce | Soft Pastel Tutorial

Almost 3 hours of video tutorials solely looking at colour theory for pastel artists. We will look at;

  • Colour temperature
  • …

    • Making your own pastel colour wheel reference
    • Greyscale and colour value
    • Colour temperature
    • …

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    Almost 3 hours of video tutorials solely looking at colour theory for pastel artists. We will look at;

    • Making your own pastel colour wheel reference
    • Greyscale and colour value
    • Colour temperature
    • Choosing a colour palette
    • Defining, describing and changing colours
    • Colour relativity

    These are all essential elements required for making successful and balanced paintings.

    When you have watched each of my videos you will gain much more experience and knowledge if you actually try these experiments for yourself as there is no better way to learn than to actually do it in practice. These experiments will then become good reference material for you to keep together in a sketchbook or on your studio wall. You won’t remember every detail so keep these results at hand then gradually over time you will realise that you’re putting this information into practice automatically, it just requires practice.

    Our tutorials are accessed through the Unison Colour website Tutorials section.  Once purchased, access is permanent.  You can watch as many times as you like, whenever you like.

    This tutorial can be found at this page: unisoncolour.com/tutorials/colour-theory-with-cathy-pearce

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    Ann V. profile pictureAnn V.
    18:37 22 Oct 25
    Recently ordered the Autumn Rains set. Rec’d fairly quickly and was packaged well. Just started using the set, and really like them. Very easy to work with, nicely blendable, good coverage. Colors in the set are just beautiful. Am enjoying using them!
    Erla H. profile pictureErla H.
    10:34 20 Oct 25
    My first order online of Unison, love the personal assist, Oliver and Dan, thank you. And of course loved the colours :)
    I am fairly new to pastels, and have tried few, but when I tried Unison, that was it! The pigment is so good, and to work with them really good. So I am now a Unison fan :)
    Mike S. profile pictureMike S.
    20:00 17 Aug 25
    I ordered the hand made colour charts from Unison. What arrived was a wonderful set of hand made colour charts for each of the colour ranges each coated in a clear covering to preserve the pastel. Each chart is titled with the colour range (e.g. blue violet, red earth) and each colour is numbered. The set comes in a box which also helps to preserve the charts.
    davit A. profile picturedavit A.
    15:07 15 Jun 25
    I m very grateful to have found the Unison Pastel online store because in our country, Georgia, there is a limited selection of pastels. The quality of there pastels is outstanding, with soft gradations. it is convenient to be able to order individually and also in interesting combinations. The delivery is also of high quality. Thank you for helping artists in this way.
    Susan W. profile pictureSusan W.
    17:42 25 May 25
    So I've bought, the mini sets Centenary, Drawing Spring, Winter and Summer Dazzle and some pastel paper. Unison's website very easy to manage/navigate. One thing went wrong, but they were on it and dealt with it very very quickly - thank you Oliver. I've always wanted Unison pastels as they get such good write ups. I haven't been disappointed. Every set is brilliant, so well curated but Summer Dazzle is just sublime. Before this I'd bought Autumn mini set, 36 stick Landscape and Midnight. Midnight is just gorgeous, especially the blue sticks. I haven't tried the paper yet but I'm so glad it's in conjunction with Two Rivers, my favourite paper company. Anyway, playtime now...sorry I meant pastel painting time.
    Donna H. profile pictureDonna H.
    15:17 19 May 25
    I reunited with Unison a few years ago. I have them stored beside my easel and many of my pastel paintings are 70% and up done with Unison. They have become my favorites.

    I had been working on the painting below and I just was not able to achieve the brightness in the center of the painting that I wanted. I wanted something with a some sparkle to it. I received an email from Unison and saw Summer Sparkle Mini set and there was my color with the sparkle.! When they arrived I went to the easel and finished my painting."Blue Bells On Campus". And the packaging with this mini set tops the set off with a glittering band. I love this set.
    Art always makes me happy but this mini set really made my day. Thank you so much. Donna Housel
    Mark S. profile pictureMark S.
    08:55 14 Apr 25
    Hoping to do 5 day challenge! Yet to start!
    However the people at unison could not do enough to support me! Above & beyond!🙏🙏🙏🙏❤️
    rosalien N. profile picturerosalien N.
    23:30 13 Apr 25
    Edith K. profile pictureEdith K.
    15:02 11 Apr 25
    Unison Color soft pastels are the Rolls-Royce among the different pastel brands I know. Some qualifiers: good hold of the chalks, tenderness of the powder, intensity and brightness of the colors. A real joy to work with.
    The family business is very professional. Recently I ordered their color chart and a box of colors and I was served quickly and efficiently.
    Lorraine B. profile pictureLorraine B.
    17:19 30 Mar 25
    Beautiful pastel set, I have a set of hard pastels which I enjoy working with so I'm going to look into the Unison pastel training to make the most of these soft sticks.
    Rob J. profile pictureRob J.
    20:40 23 Feb 25
    Dan and the team at Unison are absolutely fabulous and the soft pastels are THE most incredible vibrant colours and a dream to work with. I cannot recommend them highly enough……..absolutely splendid!
    Carol Y. profile pictureCarol Y.
    19:33 23 Feb 25
    Loved the colours of pastels shosen by Stephen for this challenge. Really good teaching and Q & A was extemely helpful. Would certainly recommend Unison challenges.
    Rhona H. profile pictureRhona H.
    08:35 16 Feb 25
    Unison pastels are just beautiful. I am in love with this product. Shopping was easy. Delivery fast and item is fabulous.
    margaret F. profile picturemargaret F.
    18:22 02 Feb 25
    I bought a gift voucher for a relative who works in your pastels
    Debbie D. profile pictureDebbie D.
    18:10 10 Nov 24
    I recently bought both the Autumn and Winter Mini Sets from Unison Colour. The colours are absolutely stunning in both Sets. Although, I haven't used the Winter set, yet, I have used the Autumn set in the Autumn landscape image. The pastels are perfect in colour, size, their smoothness and are just beautiful. Quality at its best. I can highly recommend Unison Colour, overall.
    Susan. C. profile pictureSusan. C.
    12:44 05 Oct 24
    5 day pastel challenge was a well designed forum for skill refresher, opportunity to receive helpful feedback and discussion. Stephen Fuller conducted the series beautifully, gave helpful tips, listed the specific tools and pastels he used (while encouraging use of substitutes if you were lacking those).
    Amanda profile pictureAmanda
    09:16 05 Oct 24
    The Unison 'Autumn Rains' pastel challenge with artist Stephen Fuller was just excellent. The piece was beautiful, the tuition well-delivered and well-paced, and the feedback was amazing. Stephen generously took the time to do live questions each evening and, incredibly, put an encouraging comment on each picture that participants posted in the Facebook group. He's a lovely man to learn from, and his art is gorgeous. Thanks Stephen and thanks Unison for arranging this. I love your pastels and your associated artists!
    Kaliunis F. profile pictureKaliunis F.
    19:38 02 Sep 24
    These soft pastels came to me expertly sustainably packed.
    The pigment and binding medium are very high quality and represent all-round good value. I liked the presentation .. boxes that are strong and nicely designed quite adequate for fieldwork.
    My choice of pastel reflects my style and personal preference. The pastel are a joy to use thanks.
    Julie H. profile pictureJulie H.
    18:13 25 Aug 24
    Purchased a couple of single colour pastels to supplement the set I had previously bought. I love unison pastels as they are very soft and blendable but also have fantastic depth of colour. The pastels arrived quickly and were very well packaged. Communication with Unison is great - they really care about the products and their customers.
    Ann K. profile pictureAnn K.
    08:35 18 Nov 22
    Unison pastels come in such a huge range of vibrant colours. I chose them initially because they are British made having previously tried other brands originating elsewhere. I soon fell in love with them. I am a beginner but I find them easy to use and their layering qualities are much greater than others I have tried. Turn round time on orders is quick and the products are well packaged.

    The Unison community of users and artists is very friendly and so helpful and supportive of a beginner like me. The pictures below show the vibrancy of the colours.

    Unisons 5 day challenges are amazing. They are hosted by unison associate artists and are completely free. I have completed several. You learn lots of new techniques and get to be part of an amazing community of artists. Thank you Unison.
    Jenny H. profile pictureJenny H.
    10:58 09 Mar 22
    I initially purchased the hand drawn colour chart so that I could try and match my pastels (of varying makes) already having a few unison pastels I decided to also purchase the set for The Haven 1 day course after completing the 5 day Durdle Door challenge, which I really enjoyed. Just love these pastels as they are so soft and creamy and blend really well. A great course with excellent tutor Nina Squires and Dan and the Unison team. Very professional with excellent handouts and all questions answered in the Q&A's.
    Can't recommend them enough to anyone to try these courses they are brilliant and with unison and the fb community with you all the way encouraging each other, it really gives everyone a boost.

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    Colour theory with cathy pearce feat

    Reviews for the Complete Practical Colour Theory Course for Pastel Artists in 6 Essential Lessons, with Cathy Pearce | Soft Pastel Tutorial

    1. Wendy Reynolds

      Wendy Reynolds (verified owner)

      Wow! What a fabulous tutorial from Cathy! It’s was clearly delivered covering all aspects of the Colour Wheel and how to use it! I spent the whole Bank Holiday weekend looking and learning from each lesson.

      I have a colour wheel that I purchased a couple of years ago but had no idea what all those black lines, geometric shapes and terminology meant! It is great spinning the layers around but if you are unaware of its purpose it just gathers dust. Now it ALL MAKES SENSE to me!

      Now inspired to have a physical go at creating my colour learning experience, I’ve purchased the pastel stick set. I’m going to get a spiral paper pad and do it myself. My learning style is ‘Pragmatist’, like to see and understand before putting things into action. Cathy is right you need to do your own colour wheel and it will help you to remember HOW to make colour work for you. Thank you so much Cathy and Unison Colour Pastels. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

    2. Violet

      Violet (verified owner)

      This is a really comprehensive, challenging and thought provoking tutorial – one to work slowly through and keep as a resource to refer back to. I thoroughly recommend it.

    3. Kathy Davis

      Kathy Davis (verified owner)

      The course content is excellent! There’s a lot of invaluable information that I learned. The color wheel made sense to me. Also learning the color schemes finally made sense. Now to put it into practice!!!!

      The reason I gave this a 3 is because the sound quality is very poor. The sound kept flickering in and out and left my computer “thinking “

    4. Fifiwolfee

      Fifiwolfee (verified owner)

      As someone learning about art later in life I was introduced to some basic concepts of the colour wheel on a short oil painting course and wanted to know more, but reading articles or sections of art books it hadn’t sunk in. As I want to develop my pastel art, finding pastels more accessible as an art medium for regular use at home, when I saw this course I jumped on it.

      Cathy does a great job of introducing the concepts of the colour wheel in a progressive way which makes sense and of delivering a good understanding of hue, value and intensity. Her exercises bring the intellectual neatly together with the practical and I feel confident enough now to delve deeper into colour combinations in my own time.

      Purchasing the suggested colour wheel pastel set from Unison to accompany the course was a good investment to make sure I was on the same page as Cathy with regard to colour throughout.

    5. Karl

      Karl (verified owner)

      I stopped painting 30 years ago.
      When I tried to get back into it (with pastels this time), I found I’d forgotten all about color. I bought a few books to try and get back into it, but to no avail.
      I was about to give up when I came across Cathy Pearce’s courses. These videos are exactly what I was looking for.
      They are extremely well designed and the explanations are simple and precise. For me, this theory is important to be able to do things with pleasure.
      I highly recommend the course. I’ve rediscovered the taste and pleasure of color, thank you.

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    Colour Chart Guidance

    We believe the colours in our web based colour chart are a faithful representation of our pastel range. But with any colours portrayed on the internet, there’s a whole heap of variables which mean that what you see, may not be what we see. That said, there’s some things that can be done to mitigate some of the variance.

    Mobile phone and tablet screens tend to be pretty good for colour, so they’re always worth using, when viewing our colour chart.

    We hate to say it, but cheaper computer displays, including laptops, can be rather hit and miss, in both colour and contrast, so they might not reveal the depth of the colour, as well as the true tone.

    If you’re really keen on getting your computer up to speed on colour representation, you can use a calibration device to reach your display's fullest potential.

    With all that said, if you think we’re way off the mark with any of the colours then, by all means let us know, and we’ll give it another shot.

    Pastel Size Guide

    Half stick size clear bg

    Half Stick

    Length: 2.5cm
    Width: 1.2cm

    Available in limited colours and only within sets.

    Small stick size clear bg

    Small Stick

    Length: 5cm
    Width: 1.2cm

    Full range of Small Sticks available on website.

    Large stick size clear bg

    Large Stick

    Length: 7.3cm
    Width: 2.4cm

    Large Sticks available in over 100 colours on website.