Pastel Painting Atelier: Essential Lessons in Techniques, Practices, and Materials

Revel in the luminous and vibrant qualities of pastel with Ellen Eagle’s essential course in the history, techniques, and practices of the medium. In this comprehensive yet intimate guide, Eagle explores pastel’s rich but relatively unexamined past, reveals her own personal influences and approaches, and guides you toward the discovery and mastery of your own vision. In Pastel Painting Atelier, you will • Advice on basic guidance on building, storing, and organizing a collection of pastels; choosing the right paper; and the importance of experimentation • Studio practice ideas for creating your ideal working environment and recipes for making your own pastels and supports • Study of the working lessons on proportion, gesture, composition, color, application, identifying and correcting problems, and recognizing when a work is finished • Meditation on cues for extrapolating the subtle details, presence, and temporal features of whatever you choose to paint • Step-by-step Eagle’s acute insights into her own works as they progress A magnificent selection of works by masters such as James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Rosalba Carriera, Mary Cassatt, and Eugene Delacroix augment this guide, as do works by contemporary artists including Harvey Dinnerstein, Elizabeth Mowry, and Daniel Massad. Aimed at serious artists, this guide enlightens, instructs, and inspires readers to create brilliant and sensitive works in the historic medium of pastel.