Artist's studio with paintings, brushes, and art supplies by a window.

Online art class – Start here

Online Soft Pastel Class Guide – Start Here

Welcome to my online soft pastel class guide. It brings together everything you need to access your course, choose your materials, work safely and enjoy learning at your own pace.


Sign into your account to access your COURSES
My account

✔ First book either a Live or recorded session.
✔ To access your recordings – Sign into your account
✔ Check your confirmation email. It can go to spam or junk folders, so check there if it doesn’t appear.
✔ Scroll to Course details within the web receipt and click the course title.
✔ Sign in when prompted – password reset emails can take a few minutes. Repeated attempts can block the system, so take it slow.
✔ From the account page and its dashboard on my website, when you have signed in, shows your purchases and courses – click courses to navigate to the course information
✔ Everything stays available — no rush

When you first come to my in-person art classes, I take you straight into the kitchen of our village hall (in Holt, near Wimborne in Dorset). It’s small but perfectly formed. We make a cup of tea or coffee, perhaps share a biscuit or two, and take a moment to settle in. Because with art, feeling welcomed and comfortable matters.

This warm virtual welcome will have to take the place of the tea and biscuits ☕️
One part of feeling comfortable is knowing you have what you need to get started, so the notes below are here to guide you. If you ever have questions, please do get in touch — the human side of teaching is one of the things I value most.

A note about finding time

While I can teach you skills and techniques, the biggest commitment you’ll bring is time. Regular practice helps everything settle and grow — but life has a habit of getting in the way.

Weeks can fly by (I feel this myself!), so if you miss a session or fall behind, please don’t be hard on yourself. Everything remains available, and you can always simply start again the following week.

The format for my online workshops

I run two series of workshops each year, one in Spring and one in Autumn. Each series is progressive and can be booked either as a full course or as individual sessions. Most people choose the full series, as the regular practice helps build skills and confidence over time.

Each two-hour live workshop demonstrates my process step by step. You’ll learn practical pastel techniques while watching an artwork develop from blank paper to a finished piece, using scenes I provide for inspiration.

Groups are kept small to maintain a friendly, supportive atmosphere and allow everyone to feel part of the group.

All sessions are recorded for flexibility. You can attend live on Zoom or watch the recording at a time that suits you and work at your own pace. Most participants complete the workshops within a year, but you’re welcome to take longer if needed.

A private Facebook group is included, offering a space to share your work, receive feedback and connect with other participants

How to access your online course

How booking and accessing my online courses works. I’ve created 6 steps to guide you through. Like all art, my students say, it’s easier the more you use it.

Step 1: Booking a course

When you book a course through the website, an account is automatically created for you. Please tick the box that says you are happy to receive emails, so the website can send you website receipt email and links.

This includes:

  • a username (generated by the website) a password which you set
  • access to the course content linked to your purchase

You don’t need to set anything up manually at this stage.

Step 2: Check your email (this is the easiest route)

After booking, you’ll receive a confirmation email from the website.

???? This email is the simplest way to access your course.
Scroll down to Course details and click the course title to go straight to your content.

You’ll be asked to set up an account on my website via email when you are making the purchase. The website creates a username for you, you set the password.

Step 3 – Accessing the recordings or a Live Zoom session.

I record each Live session so that you can either watch Live or catch up at a time and pace that suit you.

Recordings: If you’re accessing a recorded workshop, you can watch the videos. They are hosted in a video player, within the video screen, you can see video player tools – pause – enlarge screen – a navigation bar – recording quality. You can’t break it, so press the buttons and explore it. If you get on a muddle just reload the page by going back to the email and re clicking the emai lnk to the course.

Live Session: send out an email with the Zoom link the day before the Live workshops. The email has the link to access the course information which is where the recording sits when I have processed it. If you sign up close to the start date and don’t recieve the Zoom link, email me, I’ll happily help.

Step 4: Signing in

To view your course, you’ll be asked to sign in.

  • Use the username provided by the website
  • If you’ve got a sign in error or forgotten your password, use the password reset option
  • There’s a dashboard within your account, you can see your purchases and also the courses that you have purchases. If you have purchased a ‘series’ each course in the series has a unique course name and section on the course list.
  • Reset emails can take a few minutes to arrive — it’s best to wait before trying again

Once signed in, you’ll stay logged in on that device.

Step 5: What you’ll find inside the course

Inside your course area on my website you’ll find via a clickable menu:

  • Session information
  • Reference images
  • Colour charts
  • Links to recorded sessions (soon after the Live Zoom sessions)

Everything connected to your booking lives in one place on a Dashboard which you access via your Account on my website.

Step 6: Recordings and Live sessions

Live sessions are hosted on Zoom. Session recordings are added to my website after the live session once editing is complete.

This usually happens within a day.
Once uploaded, recordings are available to watch at your own pace, using the links described above.

Any question, please get in touch, I am always happy to help

Nina