"Colored Pencil for me is like therapy. I forget time and everything else when working on my drawings.” 

Arlene Steinberg received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Syracuse University in 1976. She then worked for 22 years as a textile and wallpaper designer, even having her own hand-screened wallpaper company for many years.

Eventually she felt the need for a change and started working in collage, later switching to paper sculpture, and in March of 2001, she picked up her colored pencils, and did her first colored pencil painting; a lily. She was hooked.

Arlene has studied the great Masters and has incorporated some of their theories into her paintings. She uses a complementary value underpainting for her paintings and this is the method she teaches in her workshops. The first layers create a tonal drawing using neutral or complementary colors done with a light touch. Arlene then works from dark to light and slowly builds up color using light pressure. A finished painting will have more than 20 layers of color.

Arlene has been drawing all her life; by the age of six she knew that she wanted to be an artist. She’s never looked back. “When I was a student at Syracuse University, drawing was my favorite subject, but I felt I needed to be more practical. I pursued a major in textile design, and enjoyed that focus for many years. Rediscovering colored pencils has also meant rediscovering the art of slowing down and enjoying the process of creating fine art.