Artists in Pastel

“ Seabreeze” © Jeanne Smith

Name: Jeanne Smith, PSA

Bio: Jeanne Rosier Smith studied art at Georgetown University, at the New Jersey Center for Visual Artand the DuCret School of Art in New Jersey. After earning her Ph.D. and spending ten years teaching college English, she began painting professionally when her youngest child started school ten years ago.
Jeanne Smith is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America, the Connecticut Pastel Society and the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod, and a juried artist member of the Copley Society, the Salmagundi Club and Academic Artists. She has exhibited at the Massachusetts State House, the Boston Artists Guild, and nationally at the Pastel Society of America, the Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Arts Club and American Artist Professional Leagueshows, among others. She has won numerous awards, including a landscape prize in the 2013 Pastel 100; the IAPS Prix de Pastel in 2012; the Grand Prize in International Artist Magazine's 2012 Rivers, Lakes, and Seascapes Competition; and the Art Spirit Foundation Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Pastel at the 2011 American Artists Professional League Show. Her work was featured in the October 2012 International Artist Magazine. She is represented by Sosebee Gallery on Nantucket, Powers Gallery in Acton MA, Gallery 31 in Orleans on Cape Cod, and Francesca Anderson Fine Art in Lexington MA. Her paintings are in collections across the US and in France, Monaco and New Zealand.

Jeanne offers weekly classes and weekend workshops at her Sudbury, Mass studio and is in demand for classes and demonstrations nationally.

Medium: Pastel

Subjects: Landscape, especially the sea; still life; portraits.

Style: Representational

Navigation: This website is easy to naviagate; galleries are well laid out and clear.

Gallery: Multiple galleries of Landscape; Seascapes; Still Life. Also Portrait, and New Work.

Image View: Galleries consist of thumbnails that may be enlarged, or viewed in a slideshow. Pictures cannot be downloaded, and the Prt Sc option is discouraged by the use of a large copyright watermark.

Demo: See this link: http://www.jeannesmithart.com/PAS0813_SmithDEMO.pdf

Facebook: Yes

“Les Mademoiselles Classiques” © Allan Berman

Name: Allan Berman

URL: http://www.bermanstudios.com/

Bio: Allan Berman was born in San Francisco in 1942 and through the years has become well known for his realistic trompe L'oeil portraits, still life, and wildlife paintings. Allan studied under the late modern day master, Roberto Lupetti, enabling him to ally his style of realistic portrayal with classical technique. Allan has gained national and international recognition as one of America's premier pastel artists.

From 1976 to 1080 he was Resident Still Life Artist at the New Masters Gallery, Carmel, California. He started to garner awards in 1998; among his portrait commissions are those of Sylvester Stallone and Buddy Holly. (Allan is a keen musician, and Elvis tribute artist, performing for President Clintons 50th birthday celebration live on television.) Allan is also a formidable photographer, his ability displayed by his stunning images of Lake Tahoe and Yosemite. He is a past member of the Sierra Pastel Society and has featured in numerous publications – I recently came upon this artist in an old copy of Pastel Artist International, issue 6, 2001.

Allan’s studios are in Palm Desert, Ca.

Medium: Pastel; photography

Subjects: Still life; portraits.

Style: Realistic

Navigation: This minimalistic website is easy to navigate. The website is copyright up to 2010 so I don’t know if it is being actively maintained. No awards are mentioned later than 2003.

Gallery: Paintings; Photography

Image View: Thumbnails open in a viewer; you may scroll through. Download is possible, although the file size is small. Les Mademoiselles Classiques dates from 2000. It is 14 x 18 ins, 404x317, 371 KB.

Demo/Facebook: No

“Greenland #63” © Zaria Forman

Name: Zaria Forman

URL: http://www.zariaforman.com/

Bio: What an artist to start the New Year with!
Zaria Forman grew up in Piermont, New York, half an hour north of New York City. She went to Green Meadow Waldorf school from 6th grade through high school which she describes as a very small school with an alternative approach to education, in which art is greatly infused.

She received her Bachelor of Science in Studio Arts in 2005, at Skidmore College, Saratoga. Since then her work has received a lot of attention in the art world with many articles and critiques in the press; and solo and group shows nation-wide; and a presence in museum and private collections. She has had solo exhibitions the Case Gallery, Saratoga Springs in 2005; Bunburry’s Art Gallery, Piermont, NY and the Allen Sheppard Gallery, NY in 2006; and her 2008 exhibitions Arctic Light: Recent Drawings, in the Allen Sheppard Gallery, NY.

She is currently represented by DFN Gallery in New York, the David Floria Galleryin Aspen, Colorado and the Winston Wachter Gallery in Seattle, Washington State.

Forman states that the inspiration for her drawings began in early childhood when she traveled with her family throughout some of the world's most remote landscapes, which were the subject of her mother's fine art photography.

Her mother, Rena Bass Forman, dedicated her life to photographing the most remote regions of the earth. The cold and isolated landscape of the Arctic consumed her interest for over ten years. Her work from her Arctic trips have been compared to 19th century photographers John L. Dunmore and George Critcherson who were on American painter William Bradford’s 1869 expedition. In August 2012 Zaria Forman led Chasing the Light, an art expedition sailing up the northwest coast of Greenland, retracing Bradford’s 1869 journey and artistically documenting the rapidly changing arctic landscape.

In addition to exhibitions, recent projects of Forman’s include a series of set design drawings for the ballet Giselle, which premiered in October 2012 at the Grand Theatre of Geneva, Switzerland (see the Giselle page) Ten of her drawings were also used in the set design for House of Cards, a Netflix TV series directed by David Fincher and starring Kevin Spacey.

Continuing to address climate change in her work, Forman spent September 2013 in the Maldives, the lowest-lying country in the world, and almost certainly the most vulnerable to rising sea levels.

Medium: Pastel

Subjects: Landscape; seascape.

“With my Greenland and Svalbard series, I attempt to capture the ephemeral properties of arctic light. I am interested in the element of water and how it absorbs and reflects the light in its various forms. The forms that we easily recognize are ice, water, cloud, and fog; these are essential elements that inspire my compositions. I am also interested in the transition between these states and enjoy the challenge of translating such sublime experiences into my work. The different forms of illuminated water give rise to the dreamy, atmospheric scenes that I hope will transport the viewer to this remote region of the earth... Perhaps if people can experience these sublime landscapes, they will be inspired to protect and preserve them.”

Style: Realistic. “When I travel, I take thousands of photographs and make small sketches. Once I am back in the studio, I draw from my memory of the experience, as well as the photographs to create large scale compositions. I add layers of color onto the paper, smudging everything with my fingers and hand.”

Navigation: This website is easy to navigate. Main menu remains available on top of page.

Gallery: Drawings: The Maldives; Greenland 2012; Giselle; Nosara; Svalbard; Israel; Thompson Lake; Greenland 2006; Storms.

Image View: Images open in a viewer; you may scroll through. Download is not possible. Information on the images is provided - and the paintings are impressively large. Greenland #63 is 50 x 75 ins (127 x 90 cm)

Facebook: Yes

The Pastel Journal is the only magazine with a regular publication date that deals exclusively with painting in pastel. The early issues of International Artist were similarly occupied, but soon abandoned that policy to embrace all media.
I have been fortunate to find a sympathetic editor in Anne Hevener, and I have published a number of articles in the Pastel Journal, featuring Vicente Romero, Victor Richardson and Peter Thomas respectively. If you go to the trouble of looking them up on this blog, you will find the linked pdf documents.

“Quelque Part” © Danielle Richard

Name: Danielle Richard

URL: http://daniellerichard.com/

Bio: Danielle Richard was born in Quebec, Canada. After a college degree in Fine Arts, Cegep Ste-Foy, 1975 she earned a Bachelor's degree in Visual Arts from Université Laval in 1980. She had her first solo exhibition in 1975 and has had numerous solo and group shows since then. Her work is to be found in private collections, but also in numerous corporate collections including the Royal Bank of Canada, Reader’s Digest and Dupont.

In 2012 Danielle was elected an honorary member of the Institut Des Arts Figuratifs (the Institute of Figurative Arts). She is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of Eastern Canada (PSEC); and is a member of the International Guild of Realism (IGOR) and the Portrait Society of America (PSOA).

Danielle’s most recent awards include 1st Prize (Horace Champagne Prize) at the International juried exhibition of the Pastel Society of Eastern Canada, '' LES PASTELLISTES'', in 2013. Danielle was also the winner of the first BoldBrush Award in June 2013; her pastel, Quelque Part, was chosen by Carol Marine from 1280 entries. The award is sponsored by FASO (Fine Art Studio Online).

Danielle’s work made the cover and was featured in the French art magazine, Pratique des Arts, hors-série pastel 2013. She was also featured in International Artist Magazine, no 87.

Medium: Pastel, acrylic, oil.

Subjects: Figurative:

Style: Realistic; tinged with romanticism

Navigation: Although in French, this website is easy to navigate. Main menu remains available on top of page.

Gallery: Oil and Acrylic; Pastels

Image View: Thumbnails run along bottom of page and open in a viewer on the same page; you can scroll through the enlarged images, and they may be saved. Information on the images is not provided - although Quelque Part is 19 ins square.

Demo: No

Blog: http://artdaniellerichard.blogspot.ca

Facebook: yes

“Crabs and Lemons” © Felicity House

Name: Felicity House

URL: http://www.felicityhouse.eu/

Bio: Felicity House recalls that as a child she could never get enough drawing material. A post-war education that gave time and status to Art encouraged and developed her visual skills.

She gained her B.Ed (Hons) from Bristol University in 1972 and pursued a career teaching until 2000. She received a HNC (Higher National Certificate) Art and Fine Art from the Arts University Bournemouth and taught there from 2000 as a tutor of life drawing and short art courses. She also became the Art Tutor for West Dean College from 2005 – 2012. This flexibility gave her the opportunity to travel and fill numerous sketchbooks.

Felicity was elected a Member of the Pastel Society in 2003. As Archivist for the Society she regularly research the archives for information in response to requests from the public. She has also contributed to numerous art magazines, including the Pastel Journal(October 2009); the Artist magazine (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 – when she was interviewed by Ken Gofton, a frequent contributor to the Pastel Journal); Watercolour Artist (USA); Leisure Painter(2012); and Artists and Illustrators Magazine (2013).

She is currently Chairman of Bournemouth Arts Club, a meeting point for Artists in the region which regularly holds selected Exhibitions.

Medium: Pastel, acrylic, oil, etching

Subjects: Landscape, Interiors, Still Life, Figurative.

Style: Representational. Felicity has a lightness of touch that can only come from years of drawing practise. I especially like her interiors.

Navigation: Nice clean, uncluttered website. Main Menu remains accessible.

Gallery: Still Life; Places; Drawings; Interiors; Figures; Sketchbook.

Image View: Thumbnails open in Flashplayer when clicked. Download is not possible. Information is provided on title and medium but not on dimension, except for images in the Studio Salespage.

Demo/Blog/Facebook: No

“Lingering Light” © Marla Baggetta

Name: Marla Baggetta, PSA

URL: http://marlabaggettastudio.com/Artist.asp?ArtistID=27986&Akey=3YH3YL29

Bio: Award-winning artist Marla Baggetta attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where she got her BFA Hons in 1983. She worked as a commercial illustrator for a resplendent client list that includes Nissan Motors, Houghton Mifflin, and Disney, before she decided to devote herself full time to painting the landscape on her 1993 move to Oregon. She is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and the Pastel Society of Oregon. She has won numerous awards for her paintings including Arts for the Parks top 100 in 1999, Best in Show, Oregon Pastel Society 2003 and Bronze Award for the International Association of Pastel Societies Exhibition, 2000. She has been featured in the Pastel Journal. She is included in Pure Color; The Best in Pastel.

Marla is sought after for painting workshops in the Portland area and has taught at Art Center College of Design, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Creative Arts Community-Menucha and West Linn/Wilsonville Community Education.

She is represented by the RiverSea Gallery, Astoria, Oregon.

Medium: Pastel; acrylic; mixed media

Subjects: Landscape.

Style: Representational. Baggetta says that she is a great believer in the fundamentals of painting; drawing, composition, color theory and the thought that paintings communicate an idea through this vocabulary.

Technique: “My painting process is a very active one where my first marks and impressions are usually bold and gestural. Then I settle in and make assessments and refinements. The last marks are usually slow, quiet ones, as I am making small moves to find my way towards the finished piece. I'm hoping to capture the "aha!" that originally attracted me to my subject. Each one of my original pastels is done on museum grade sanded pastel paper. I use a variety of brands of soft pastel such as Schmincke, Unison, Terry Ludwig, and Diane Townsend, just to name a few. Each brand of pastel has different characteristics that I use to accomplish a variety of strokes and washes within a piece. The final painting is lightly sprayed with a fine fixative before framing."

Publications: Pastel Step by Step. Walter Foster Publishing, 2004; ISBN-10: 1560108010.

100 Variations: a compilation of Marla’s pastel series first published in The Pastel Journal in 2009. Marla writes about her journey of painting a series of over 100 versions of a small composition which started as project intended as a daily warm-up but evolved into so much more....

Available on Blurb

Navigation: Main Menu remains accessible at top of page.

Gallery: Portfolios: Trunk Sale; New Pastels; Landscapes; Vases; Goddesses; 100 variations; Figurative; Reproductions; Sold Archives.

Image View: Thumbnails open in a viewer and may be scrolled. Download is blocked. Information is provided on title, medium and dimension.

Blog: http://marlabaggettastudio.blogspot.com

Demo: Fifteen demos on youtube

Facebook: Yes

“Waiting to go online” © Emma Colbert

Name: Emma Colbert

URL: http://www.emmacolbertart.com/

Bio: Based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Emma works as an artist and illustrator. She graduated from Kent Institute of Art and Design as an illustrator in 2007, and has worked on portrait commissions, produced original fine art series for galleries throughout Ireland and illustrated several books.

Having discovered pastels very early in her career Emma knew that this was the medium she wanted to develop most in. An equal passion for animals has fuelled a love of painting them. After experimenting with velour pastel paper Emma found a surface that has a spongy soft texture whilst allowing great detail.

Recent projects include a commissioned portrait of a famous Real Madrid footballer which was filmed for UEFA Championship Live and broadcast worldwide. Also the release of the second book in the ‘Charlie Crow’ children’s book series which has been read in over 200 schools in Northern Ireland.

A member of the Pastel Society of Ireland, Emma exhibits regularly in groups and plans her first major exhibitions this year. Her aim as an artist is not only to improve in the medium of pastel, but to document her work in progress through photos and videos hoping to eventually have a time lapse video shown beside every painting of the entire process.

Medium: Pastel

Subjects: Emma says : “I’ve always loved painting animals and people. It’s only recently I’ve pushed myself to get better at landscapes, interiors, water, skies, sunlight, all the things that make paintings interesting. I now find myself taking as much pleasure in painting a windowsill as I would a face.

My favourite subject to paint is definitely my own dog who features in the painting shown. I know her so well, she inspires ideas, is patient with me when I ask of her, and has a real presence that not only I feel as she’s one of my most popular series.

I think I have an obsession with trying to catch something in a moment of beauty. I simply hope that in a moment lost in my painting the viewer might find a sense of calm and connect with the soul of the subject”

Style: Realistic. Emma's affection for her subjects is apparent in her treatment.

Navigation: Easy; all main menus remain accessible.

Gallery: Portfolio : Illustration ; Fine Art ; People ; Dogs; Other Animals

Image View: Thumbnails enlarge in pop-up window on same page, and may be scrolled; download is permitted.

Blog: http://emmacolbertart.blogspot.ie/

Demo: Go to the blog for step-by-step development of paintings.

Facebook: Yes

Painting © Leoni Duff

Name: Leoni Duff

URL: http://www.art-in-pastel.com/home/

Bio: Leoni Duff lives in Launceston, Tasmania. Her first love was music and she stuied at the Conservatorium of Music in Hobart, where she majored in piano. Having an lively interest in art and art history, during the 1980’s Leoni turned increasingly to painting, starting with watercolour and progressing to oils. Largely self-taught Leoni has relied on both historical and current art resources for guidance and direction, not neglecting the early Australian artists, especially the artists of the Heidelberg School. She confesses to be strongly influenced by the Dutch still life masters, Vermeer with his light filled interiors, and the still life of Chardin. Having started with watercolour, then oils, Leoni now works exclusively in pastel. She is in demand for pastel teaching and has been invited to tutor art classes around Australia including the McGregor Art Schools, University of South Queensland.

Leoni is the recipient of many awards, including several People’s Choice awards. She is the guest artist for the 2014 Salon International de Pastel in Saint-Aulaye, France.

Medium: Pastel

Subjects: Still Life, Landscape.

Style: Representational. Leoni spent many years living in rural North East Tasmania in the tiny hamlet of Herrick where she developed her unique style. Her background and training as a classical musician at the Tasmanian Conservatoriumgives her a deep connection with the history of the arts and she is particularly drawn to the Baroque themes and methods. Duff sees her art as visual music, striving for the sense of dignity and composure, passion and control, beauty and honesty, form and content of the Baroque composers.I read he blog on her 2013 French trip (of course) and she even imagines Bach’s organ Toccata in D minor playing in the background as she negotiates Rocamadour’s steep cliff. (But did she have dinner on the terrace of Le Beau Site? Maybe it was too late in October. Dommage!)

Navigation: Main menus remain accessible on top of page.

Gallery: Still Life; Landscape; Figurative; Portraits

Image View: Thumbnails enlarge in viewerwindow on same page, and may be saved; information on size is not porvided – presumably all are in pastel.

Blog: Yes, under Art-Tour, France– but it is more a travelogue.

Demo/Facebook: No

A Moment in Time © September McGee

Name: September McGee

URL: http://www.septembermcgee.com/content.asp?page_id=1

Bio: Multi-award winning artist September McGee has gained recognition with her uncommon use of brush strokes in telling her story. An American Impressionist, September uses uncommon tools and unorthodox techniques, the benefit of being a mostly self-taught artist. September minored in art in undergraduate studies at Fitchburg College, MA and studied under Helen Van Wyk.

Winner of many national juried exhibition awards and honors, and an extensive resumé of prestigious juried exhibitions to date, September has built her national reputation in the US. Her works have been published in national magazines including the Pastel Journal, 2010. Her paintings are held in galleries and numerous private and public collections throughout the world.

An Elected Member of the Allied Artists of America Society, NY, McGee additionally holds three Signature Member Honors with the Pastel Society of America, the Connecticut Pastel Society, and the Pastel Society of the West Coast.She lives at Laguna Beach and is represented by Exposures International Gallery of Art, Sedona, AZ; Greenberg Fine Art Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; and Cooley Gallery, Leesburg, VA.
Medium: Pastel; oil

Subjects: Figurative

Style: Representational in an impressionist style.

Navigation: Main menus remain accessible on top of page. Beware when surfing the gallery pages – the “next” button at bottom of page will not necessarily take you to the next page in sequence – just use the numbers.

Gallery: Paintings – many pages in numbered sequence.

Image View: Thumbnails enlarge in new page, and may be saved; information on size and medium is provided. A Moment in Time is 24x18 ins, 123 KB.

Blog: Yes - http://septembermcgee.blogspot.com

Facebook: Yes

One can never have enough pastels! All pastel artists know this. So when a new range is introduced to the market it is a major event. And when the range is of the extent and quality of Jackson's Handmade Soft Pastels, it has to be investigated and tried out.
This blog concentrates on reviewing the websites of artists who work in pastel; but when a new product of this quality comes on the market, I regard it almost as a duty to review it.

Jacksons recently introduced a range of hard, square pastels which are ideal for a beginner to trial, although they naturally lack the covering power of softer sticks, But that clearly is not their purpose as Jacksons have now brought to market a range of 200 handmade Soft Pastels of high professional quality. These hand-rolled pastels are formed with the lightest of touches, so as not to over compress the pastel ingredients. The low binder to pigment ratio of these sticks allows for both subtle and bold mark making. The pastels are 2 inches (50 mm) in length and about 5/8 inch thick. They are ideal for "painting" as the pastels glide smoothly onto paper.

I have trialled the beige/khaki set (one can choose from a wide array of themed selection sets as well as buying individual sticks). The colours, from left, are: Yellow Beige TJH177, Beige TJH174, Olive Beige TJH176, Green Beige TJH178, Pale Bister TJH195, Olive Ochre TJH175, Beige Ochre TJH143, Dark Ochre TJH183, Khaki TJH574, Dark Khaki TJH573, Dark Sienna TJH307, Van Dyke Brown TJH243, Burnt Sienna TJH305, Dark Umber TJH649

The results of my initial trial are featured here. The paper used is a blue-grey Tiziano from Fabriano. It is not unlike Canson, with a laid, slightly dimpled surface.

The top row is the set stroked gently on to the paper showing the coverage when used like this. The second row is the same set, blended into the support; you can see that the coverage is complete.

I also blended a dark and a light on to the surface, and glazed over with a light and dark respectively. The results show a distinct glaze, with each colour quite discrete.

I also compared the hardest stick in this range (dark hues tend to be somewhat harder than light hues) with a corresponding hue from Sennelier and Blue Earth.

This demonstrated that the latter two are somewhat softer in this khaki colour; and the Blue Earth is also softer than the Light Bister from Jacksons.

However, the Jacksons may have the edge for a multi-purpose stick as the very soft pastels, like Blue Earth, and Schminke, are difficult to paint with in a precise manner and lend themselves to an impressionist approach, or as a final reserve for highlights and end strokes. That said, Jacksons are very smooth and buttery - much softer than, say, Rembrandt. This last image is of four adjacent values blended to give a continuous range.

A range of 200 is a generous selection, and not unattainable at about £1.50 per stick. I tend to buy my pastels in sets of adjacent hues or values; the beige set featured here is an excellent set of neutral colours; I also like the greys, and the blue range is very desirable. These pastels are worth a trial by any serious pastellist, and a worth addition to the canon. I am using them already!

Spring Landscape © Takeyce Walter

Name: Takeyce Walter

URL: http://takeyceart.com/

Bio: Takeyce Walter is an artist and art instructor who finds her inspiration in the landscape. Her paintings feature the rural landscape of upstate New York, the Adirondacks, Cape Cod, and Vermont. Walter is especially inspired by, and drawn to rivers, lakes, and the ocean. She is fortunate to live in close proximity to the Hudson, Mohawk, and Au Sable Rivers and visits the beaches of Cape Cod during the summer. In addition to exhibiting her paintings online, she also exhibits in local venues and has had many shows both group and solo siunce 2006. Her work is represented in many private collections in the US and internationally. Takeyce is an Associate Member, Pastel Society of America, member of the Adirondack Pastel Society and Art Instructor, Saratoga Arts 2013 to Present.

Medium: Pastel; oil

Subjects: Landscape; Still Life

Style: Representational

Navigation: Main menu remains available on top of page.

Gallery: Available; Archive

Image View: Thumbnails enlarge in a viewer on same page, and may be saved; information on size or medium is provided only occasionally, although the title comes up on resting the cursor on the image – it would have been so easy to add the medium and size too. Images can also be viewed as slideshow. Spring Landscape is 3.5 x 5 ins.

Blog: Yes - http://takeyceart.com/home/blog/ Takeyce Walter’s return to painting in 2005 has been documented on her blog. She made a commitment to finishing at least one painting a week and started blogging to help track her progress. Takeyce has maintained that commitment and is still painting productively.

Facebook: Yes

As the Shadows begin to Lengthen© Cheryl Culver

Name: Cheryl Culver, PPS, RBA

URL: http://www.cherylculverpaintings.co.uk/

Bio: Cheryl Culver studied Fine Art at Leicester College of Art & Design. After graduating she spent 18 months in Mauritius with the International Voluntary Service as an artist. On her return to England she established a partnership working in property renovation and interior design using her skills to produce the architectural drawings and artists impressions of projects undertaken.

Cheryl lives in Sandwich where she has a custom-built studio in her garden. Quiet unspoilt places are her inspiration and she shares these with her English Setter and her sketch book. She has featured regularly in the Artists Magazine, in December 2008 in the Pastel Journal, and Pratique des Arts feature article October 2010.

Cheryl Culver has exhibited at the Mall Galleries with the Royal Society of British Artists and the Pastel Society UK since 2001. In June 2003 she was elected as a member of the Royal Society of British Artists and in March 2004 was elected a member of the Pastel Society UK. In July 2012 she was elected as President of the Pastel Society UK. She was a guest of the French Pastel en Périgord Society in 2012, where she was presented with the Pastels Giraultaward.

Medium: Pastel

Subjects: Landscape

Style: Highly stylized illustrations of the landscape

Navigation: Main menu remains available on top of page.

Gallery: Page numbers

Image View: Images are presented full size, two to a page, fully labelled; they may be saved. As the Shadows begin to Lengthen is 33 ins sq, 553x553, 134KB

Blog: No

Heritage © Amy K. Sanders

Name: Amy K. Sanders, PSA

URL: http://www.amyksanders.com/Site/Welcome.html

Bio: Massachusetts artist Amy Katherine Sanders is largely a self-taught artist. She studied with Ron Parent for several years and also painted under the direction of guest artists at Truro's Castle Hill Center for the Arts.

She considers pastel to be her primary medium, although originally she worked in watercolors and was a member of the Connecticut Watercolor Society for many years. She still paints occasionally in watercolors, and even acrylics and oils, but she finds the richness of pastel color and its flexibility allow her to capture more expressively the beauty and depth of the scenes that she is drawn to paint.

Amy is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America. Her paintings have been sold in a series of auctions to benefit Truro's Castle Hill Center for the Arts and the Truro Historical Society. She has exhibited in galleries in Connecticut and on the Cape, and has been represented by the Addison Art Gallery of Orleans, Mass. since 1998.

Amy was the Feature Artist, International Artist magazine, December 2010/January 2011 issue (#76) on creating paintings from photographs; Feature Artist, IA, February/March 2011 issue (#77) on using multiple layers and colors to create interest in pastel; and Feature Artist, IA, April/May 2011 issue (#78) on utilizing a wide range of values to increase depth in pastel.

She was included in the Artists feature in January/February, 2011 issue of the Pastel Journal; and in a piece featuring the depiction of the many faces of water, in the December, 2012 issue of thePastel Journal.

Medium: Pastel ; oil

Subjects: Mostly landscape.

Style: Representational

Navigation: Main menu remains available on sidebar or on top of page. Site last updated August 2012.

Gallery: PASTELS – Landscapes; Stones and Shells; Animals; Seascapes; Miscellaneous; Figures - ; PRINTS; OILS.

Image View: Thumbnails enlarge in viewer while the thumbnails remain scroll on top; information is provided on medium and size. Images may also be viewed in a slideshow. Download is provided for. Heritage is 10 x 10 ins sq, 786 x 800, 123 KB.

Blog/Demo: No

Name: Barbara Noonan

URL: http://morninnoonannight.com/

Bio: Seattle artist Barbara Noonan is often to be found painting at her studio in the Pioneer Square section of downtown Seattle. Barbara is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of the West Coast and the Northwest Pastel Society. She teaches pastel painting in Seattle and is frequently asked to do painting demonstrations in local art groups. She has studied with Richard McKinley and Bob Gerbracht, and with the Mitchell Albala Critique Group. Her work was featured in the Pastel Journal, February 2013; and she was awarded an Honorable Mention, in the Abstracts section, the Pastel 100, 2013. Her work is to be found at the Childhood's End Gallery in Olympia, WA, Simon Mace Gallery in Port Townsend, WA, and at the Women Painters of Washington Gallery, Seattle.

Medium: Pastel; watercolour

Subjects: Landscapes; Still Life; Figurative

Style: Loose representational to quite abstract depending on subject.

Technique: Barbara’s work is directed by the watercolor underpainting in each piece and her pastel strokes are in response to these shapes and patterns. What her imagination generates is typically an abstracted landscape but not every time. Barbara says: It’s taken years for me to carefully study and then paint the light and shadows but they often felt overworked. Distillations is my latest series leaning towards the abstract. I’ve purposely paired down my strokes of soft pastel over a watercolor wash to provide only the essential information; creating a sense of place… My mark making is intentional and expressive. Thicker strokes offer weight while lighter strokes provide lightness and breath. When layering colors I’m conscious of nature’s atmospheric influence especially as the sun emerges or dwindles.

Navigation: Standard FineArtStudioOnline website

Gallery: Baseball series; Abstracts; Interpretative Landscape Distillations; Water and Movement; Landscapes Plein Air and Studio; Still Life; Portraits Figures

Image View: Thumbnails enlarge in viewer anmd may be further enlarged; information is provided on medium and size. Download is allowed. Mellow Mountain is 16 x 16 ins., 550 x 547, 173 KB.

Blog: http://barbaranoonan.blogspot.com

Name: Jerzy Moscicki

URL: http://moscicki.artistes-cotes.com/

Bio: Polish artist Jerzy Moscicki was born in 1954. He studied at the National High School of Plastic Arts, and the Universities of Wroclaw, Nancy and Orleans. Now living in Lyon, France. He has devoted himself exclusively to painting since 1990 and is represented in numerous private collections. His work may be seen in La Galerie Bellon, 11 rue de la Plage, St Jean de Monts, a popular holiday destination in the Vendée.
Medium: Pastel; watercolour ; oil

Subjects: Still Life

Style: Representational."From my style, I stand in the tradition of value painters - before seeing the color, I look at the light. I'm attracted to this particular relationship between light passing through the colored shadow… Through hundreds of paintings, oils, pastels and watercolors, mostly still lifes, I have told the history of objects, always via the realist convention of chiaroscur. It taught me the art of the painter."

Navigation: Website is in French but provides translations in 52 languages via embedded Google Translate.

Gallery: Top 10 (oils only); New Look – Pastels; New Look – Oils; New Look – Aquarelles; Classic Look – Pastels; Classic Look – Oils

Image View: Thumbnails enlarge in viewer on mouseover. Information is provided on medium and size. Download is not possible. Silk Square #4 is 50 x 50 cm/

Blog/Demo: No

Name: Christine Russell

URL : http://www.art-christinerussell.co.uk/index.htm

Bio: Christine Russell was born and educated in London, England and having nurtured a passion for drawing and painting since childhood, embarked upon a full time painting career in 1993. Christine worked for the Royal Opera House for a number of years, both on and off stage, during which time she met and was influenced by a theatre designer who produced a collection of exquisite designs inpastel.

Over the years, Christine has taken on many private commissions in the U.K. and the Middle East and has been exhibited at a number of prestigious galleries. In 1996 she was invited to become a full member of the Society of Women Artists, where she has served on the Council and Exhibition Selection Panel.

For the past 11 years she has shared a studio in Gloucestershire with her daughter, Claire, a picture framer and gilder. Her time is divided into painting for exhibitions, running courses at her studio, at Marlborough College Summer School and abroad. She has travelled widely and this love of travel is combined with tutoring painting holidays in Spain, Italy, Morocco, Cuba, India and Sri Lanka. This aspect of her work was featured in the June/July issue of Leisure Painter. Demonstration pieces and articles have featured in a number of other publications: Masterstrokes, Pastel and Painting Great Pictures From Photographs (books published by Sterling Publishing inc), Who's Who in Artand The Society of Women Artists Exhibitors, 1855-1996. The Collins Artist's Sketchbook, and in The International Artist and Pastel Artist International magazines.

Medium: Pastel; oil.

Subjects: Still Life. Inspiration is drawn from a diverse range of subjects, from classical fruit, flowers and musical instruments, to sassy high-heeled shoes and modern packaging. Her motivation is always driven by the keen observation of the subtleties of light on surface texture and it is for this reason that she works directly from lovingly constructed still life sets, rather than from photographs.

Style: Highly detailed still life has become Christine’s speciality and forms the major body of her work. As an antidote to fine-detailed work, she occasionally likes to “crawl out from the end of the microscope” to paint landscapes and other subjects, often inspired by the places she has visited on her travels. These are more impressionistic and experimental. Occasionally she works in oils, preferring to use almost neat paint, often applied with a knife.

Technique: Soft pastel is her primary medium of choice, as she enjoys the immediacy and vibrancy of the sticks made from almost pure pigment. She will often apply an under-painting in acrylic ink or watercolour, which helps to establish the tonal qualities of the piece at the initial stage. This is allowed to show through in places as the picture progresses.

Navigation: Main menu remains available on top of page.

Gallery: Fruit paintings; Flower paintings; Shoe paintings; Still Life; Landscape.

Image View: Images present on each gallery page as thumbnails and do not enlarge. No indication is given of dimension.

Demo/Blog: No

Name: Oliver Kohls

URL : http://www.oliverkohls.com/

Bio: Oliver Kohls trained as a naval officer training, achieved a masters degree in politics and international studies and spent many years at sea in the German Navy. As an artist he is self-taught, studying the techniques of the old masters in museums in Berlin, Munich, London, Paris and Amsterdam. Heavily influenced by the Impressionists he is evolving from a realistic approach towards a more free and impressionistic style.

In May 2010 he was accepted as a member at the Pastel Guild of Europe and in 2014 he became a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America. His work was featured in the June/July 2104 edition of International Artist, No 97.

Medium: Pastel.

Subjects: The sea - as I was posting this, Google were celebrating the life and work of Rachel Carson, and reminded that I once read books The Edge of the Sea, The Sea Around Us, and Under the Sea Wind– titles that perfectly sum up Oliver’s subject matter.

Style: Highly realistic but evolving. "Pastel seems to me the most appropriate way to express my artistic feelings and motions. I enjoy the mixture of drawing and painting while I am able to use both hands and fingers. I love the way a painting evolves and the constant dialogue between intention and pigments applied."

Navigation: This website is available in German and in English versions. It is clean and navigable – as is appropriate for a sailor-artist.

Gallery: Portfolio

View: Images enlarge in a viewer and may be scrolled. All are labelled with title, dimension and support. Download is not possible on the website without using a screengrab, but may be achieved on Oliver’s excellent blog. Anse de Sainte-Croix II is 50x70cm.

Blog: There are many images to be viewed on Oliver’s blog, at http://kuestenbilder.blogspot.com

Facebook: Yes

Name: Bill Cone

URL : http://billcone.blogspot.com

Bio: Born and raised in California, Bill Cone studied fine art at San Francisco State, and commercial illustration at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. After working as an illustrator for many years, he began working for Pixar Animation Studios as a set designer on Toy Story, going on to subsequent projects as a Production Designer for A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, and Cars.

While working on A Bug's Life he began using pastels to do lighting studies. Realizing pastel's inherent benefits of speed and portability, he began doing lighting studies outdoors. Working in natural light began to influence Bill’s perception of light and color relationships. 18 years later he is still pursuing the process of integrating his experiences in nature with film work. His pastel work for Pixar has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, and other venues around the world, as part of the 'Art of Pixar' show.

In 2004, he organized an artist's pack trip into the Sierra Nevada back country, which has become an ongoing source of inspiration in his personal work –“visually, the qualities of light at higher altitudes, the colors of the rocks and how they respond to light, as well as the nature of water in creeks, rivers and lakes are all inspiring. Bill has explored the Rock Creek Basin, the Ansel Adams Wilderness and the Sequoia National Park in his search for painting locations.
Several of his Sierra trips have been covered in Plein Air magazine. His work has appeared in the Pastel Journal on several occasions, including a feature piece in the August 2013 issue, when he was the cover artist.

A member of the California Art Club, Bill's landscape work has been exhibited in various galleries and venues in California over the last 12 years, including the CAC Gold Medal show. Since 2009, Bill has had 4 solo shows at the Studio Gallery in San Francisco.
Bill currently teaches several workshops a year, one in the Sierra Nevada, and several in the Pt. Reyes National Seashore. Because of his dual career path, Bill began teaching periodic classes about the effects of natural light at work, to get computer artists who were lighting scenes on computers out of their offices to 'light shots' in nature, so to speak. Bill teaches a 12 week class at the Animation Collaborative. This is not a pastel workshop, it is a class that focusses on developing and orchestrating a light- and color-based plan for film.

Medium: Pastel

Subjects: Landscape

Style: Representational

Technique: "When I first started seriously trying to do lighting studies with pastels on the movie, A Bug's Life, back in the mid-90's, I tried working on black Canson paper, as my inspiration for this, Ralph Eggleston, the Art Director of Toy Story, had done the same. However, I found in short order that I could not put down enough color to overcome the effects of the black ground, as Ralph could do so beautifully, so I went looking for other, less 'extreme' color choices. I quickly settled on the color called 'Twilight', as it was a middle value, and the violet grey tone seemed to be harmonious with shadows and atmosphere in natural light, or at least the kind of light I was attempting to portray in my studies…"In terms of working methods, if Bill has the time to spare on location, he begins with several pencil sketches hat reveal a subject’s potential. He recommends preliminary scouting and sketching on the first day so that one can better schedule your remaining time in the field.
"As I became more interested in working out of doors, the pastels came with me on summer vacations to Oregon and Canada, and I incorporated the color Tobacco, a rich, warm brown, in my paper arsenal to allow for the colors of lakes, rivers, and streams I was studying. That is my basic history with the use of those two colored papers over the last 18 years, though I have explored, and used, other colors."

Navigation: This website is a blog. As such, it is an intelligent and literate demonstration of the art of plein air pastels by a master of the medium. The blog attracts many comments and responses and is a pleasure to read.

Gallery: Scroll down the blog

Image View: Images are posted sequentially on the blog and may be downloaded, Dimension is a not always given, but there are enough visual clues to guess the format.

Facebook: Yes

Name: Steffi Decker

URL : http://www.steffidecker.de/

Bio: Steffi Decker was born in Bleicherode, Thuringia, Germany, in 1965. Now living in Wanfried, she is mainly self-taught, and worked in a variety of mediums until devoting herself to pastel in 2009. She has been studying with Patrick Devonas since 2011. She has been a member of the Pastel Guild of Europe since 2010, and Eichsfelder Kunstverein since 2014. She got an Honorable Mention in the Pastel 100 in 2013, in the Animal/Wildlife category, and was featured in International Artist issue 99, 2014.

Medium: Pastel.

Subjects: Animals.

Style: Representational

Navigation: This website is in German with translations into English and French.

Gallery: Tierportraits (Animal Portraits); Wildlife; Blumiges (Flowers); Landschaft (Landscape); Stilleben (Still Life).

View: Images may be viewed individually or in a slideshow. All are labelled with title, dimension and support. Download is possible. Arthur and Lina is 151 KB, 40 X 50 cm.

Facebook: Yes

Jeanne Rosier Smith

Allan Berman

Zaria Forman

The Pastel Journal articles

Danielle Richard

Felicity House

Marla Baggetta

Emma Colbert

Leoni Duff

September McGee

Jackson's Handmade Soft Pastels

Takeyce Walter

Cheryl Culver

Amy Sanders

Barbara Noonan

Jerzy Moscicki

Christine Russell

Oliver Kohls

Bill Cone

Steffi Decker