| PASTELS
- Barron's Art Handbook At first, this 95-page handbook appears a bit generic, but there is no better introduction, certainly not at this price. Moves rapidly from the naive questions about why there are so many color) in a pastel set, and on to surprisingly specific details about, for example, simulating the texture of fabrics or reflecting ambient light in portraits. Liberally illustrated with examples and with excellent examples from the medium's elegant history. |
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| THE
PASTEL BOOK by Bill Creevy This is arguably the best available book about pastels. It's 176 pages, 9 x12 inches, full color on every page. Best is an extensive section (a quarter of the book) about every major pastel brand, papers, pencils, oil pastels, and other tools. Half the book is devoted to colors, textures, and techniques. The rest is devoted to oil pastels, mixed media, and so forth. The author is a reknowned pastelist, and a strong writer. |
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| PASTEL
FOR THE SERIOUS BEGINNER by Larry Blovits A worthy companion to Creevy, this 144-pager touches on materials, but quickly moes on to extensive coverage of color, value, light and shadow, and the illusion of depth and space. Handsome, detailed chapters about still life, landscape, and people painting complete an essential book. |
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| CREATIVE
PAINTING WITH PASTELS by Carole Katchen Twelve essential concepts, each addressed in its own lavishly-illustrated chapter. The book measures 9 x 12 inches and works its way through underpainting, blending, finishing, composition, light, value, even corrections. The work of twenty notable and contemporary pastelists provide truly helpful images on every page. |
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MAGAZINES
Two magazines specialize in pastel.
THE PASTEL JOURNAL
This wonderful magazine started in early 1999, and you can still
buy most of the back issues. They're worth owning. Each issue
is packed with enormously inspiring feature articles about talented
pastel artists. Issues are filled-out with useful tips, workshop
and new product info, and other stories. You'll find the magazine
at many Barnes &Noble and BORDERS stores, but subscribing
is more reliable and costs less. One year's supply of six issues
costs $21; two years costs $37.
Contact the magazine by calling 888-711-5544, or by writing to
Pastel Journal, P.O. Box 2791, Corrales, NM 87048, or by visiting
www.pasteljournal.com.
PASTEL ARTIST INTERNATIONAL
Another newcomer launched in 1999, this quarterly also focuses
on individual artist profiles. There's a promise of 144 book-like
pages on heavy paper in every issue, and also the promise of a
free sample issue.
The first issue took over two months to
arrive, but I'm happy to report that the magazine is wonderful.
The US editor is an esteemed pastelist, Urania Christy Tarbet.
Each year presents six issues. I received issue #5, which contained
profiles of various pastel artists; some interesting how-to articles,
including one about pastel pointillism and another about a forensic
artist who captures likenesses and a third about light and shadow
in Venice. The articles are very well-illustrated, nicely written
with plenty of practical information, and the quality of the art
work presented is uniformly excellent.
Subscriptions cost $22 per year. Mailing address is Pastel Artist
International, Box 469068, Escondido, CA 92046.
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