4. Use unusual formats to inspire composition. Looking closely at many of Degas’ pastel paintings you can see where he has added strip of paper to alter his format from a rectangle to a square. There are also a number of long narrow canvases - almost ‘double squares’. In each of these less common formats both the abstract arrangement within the frame and the way spaces need to be used imaginatively result in much more dynamic and exciting compositions than are often made using a simple rectangle.

5. Draw what you want others to see. Not what you see, but what you would like to show others, is what Degas advocated when drawing from observation. The difference lies in how you select what to include and what to leave out, as well as in what you choose to emphasise.

6. Limit colours. Degas' use of colour was often spectacular - yet this could be achieved with a limited palette - meaning fewer colours are involved in the colours scheme, eg. blues and yellows, plus the various related greys and neutrals made from these two main colours. A more intense colour effect can be created by restricting the palette in this way.

PASTEL WORKSHOPS 28TH MARCH/25TH APRIL/23RD MAY - see the website for further details of these Saturday sessions which will explore Degas use of chalk pastels in capturing the clothed human figure.

I thought I knew Degas' work quite well. Over the years I have returned again and again to his vast collection of drawings and paintings to look for new of ways understanding how to depict the moving figure. Then I was asked to write 'Paint Like Degas' for Ilex Press (now Octopus Books) and I found I had to look closer and harder if I was to be able to explain some of the master's methods. Here are 3 of ten things I learned in the process :
1. Draw plenty of lines to start your drawings (or paintings). Degas was famously advised by his master Ingres to 'Draw lines young man, plenty of lines'. 
Try either a thin stick of charcoal gently searching for the best flowing lines to describe the figure - or dilute oil paint doing something similar with a thin sable brush on a prepared canvas.
2. Work on a tinted surface - off white paper for pastels and a mid-tone ground on canvas for oil paint. This allows both lighter and darker colours to stand out, particularly when they are opaque (as chalk pastels, or thicker oil colours are).
3. Build up colours in broken layers - Degas' innovative use of chalk pastels was characterised by hatched/scribbled broken layers of colour. When he returned to oil paint he emulated the pastel style and layered his colours in a similar way - sometimes scraping down a wet layer into the weave of the canvas, allowing a second layer to be floated on top.
4. ...coming soon...