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CHAPTER 1
Color + Light
"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment," said Claude Monet. Indeed, having a healthy obsession with light and color is part and parcel of being an artist. Anyone with an eye for beauty is drawn to the splendor and drama of certain lighting situations: the shimmer of sunlight on water, evening light breaking through trees, the human face bathed in a glow of warm light. These magical moments of luminous color simply beg to be painted, and pastel is a wonderful medium with which to render them.
In this chapter, you'll find examples of artists who use color and light to intensify the power of their visual statements. In some pastels, the artists have opted to exaggerate color; in others, they've chosen to tone it down. Similarly, some artists have decided to accentuate the lighting of a scene in order to heighten the drama or, conversely, to manipulate it to create something more quietly nuanced. Making choices that express not only what's seen, but also what's felt, is the work, the privilege and the joy of the artist.
CHAPTER 2
Composition + Design
"Composition," said Henri Matisse, "is the art of arranging in a decorative manner the diverse elements at the painter's command to express his feelings." To create a dynamic composition then — one that catches and holds a viewer's attention — artists must consider the visual elements of art: line, shape, color, value, texture, form and space. Not only that, they must also use these elements strategically to convey intent. Like a musical composer arranging melody and rhythm, or a gourmet chef bringing order to an array of ingredients, an artist must organize various visual elements to create an effective whole.
At the start of the design process, for example, a painter might ask: Does the scene before me stir feelings of awe and excitement — or loneliness and isolation? Where do I want to put emphasis? How do I want a viewer's eye to travel through the painting? Whatever the answers, the artist will make design choices accordingly. In the following selections of pastels, you'll see how painters have used overlapping shapes, repetitive colors, contrasting patterns, varying areas of texture, sweeping marks and directional lines to create a sense of movement and rhythm in their compositions, and — most importantly — how, by doing so, they have conveyed the excitement they feel for their subjects.
CHAPTER 3
Mood + Atmosphere
"Without atmosphere, a painting is nothing," said Rembrandt. Atmosphere breathes life into a painting. When speaking about atmosphere in a landscape, a person may be referring to the depiction of the quality of the air — the actual weather conditions. But the reason that a rainy street scene, misty mountain valley or approaching storm cloud is interesting atmospherically is that it also evokes a strong feeling or mood. In this chapter, you'll encounter landscapes that suggest a sense of energy, mystery, anxiety and even hopefulness. To do so, the artists have taken note of the angle of the sun and the moisture of the air, and then endeavored to capture these qualities with careful attention to color and value.
Similarly, a still life painter considers elements such as lighting, background treatment and the distance between objects to conjure a certain mood. In the following pages, you'll come across still life work that conveys an array of feeling. In some, you'll find an impression of emptiness, in others; a sense of exuberant chaos. Similarly, the pervading mood of the portraiture in the chapter ranges from solemn to wistful, from introspect to jovial. And while an expression and pose may be key to the portrayal, these figural artists — like the others — have also considered factors such as variation in tone and color temperature, and the handling of edges, to create the desired ambience.
CHAPTER 4
Style + Expression
"Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist," said Pablo Picasso. The avant-garde artist was certainly one of the boldest and most innovative painters of the twentieth century — an unmitigated rule-breaker. And yet, he famously advocated for learning the fundamentals of art before pioneering a new path. Once artists understand the basic principles, how they choose to employ them is the essence of style. Whether it be daring color choices, punchy staccato strokes, an unconventional perspective or all of the above, the artistic qualities that artists choose to fl aunt — or which they opt to minimize or ignore altogether — impact visual expression.
An artist cultivates this unique voice over time, the result of experience, exploration and a life of observation. Thus, while artistic style is grounded in the rules of art, it is — at the same time — a part of the artistic process that emerges, not from careful preparation, but from instinct, an outcome of informed but unconscious planning.
CHAPTER 5
Concept + Story
The Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro said, "Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing." His quote illuminates the artistic sensibility — the power to witness the world deeply and to notice details more keenly than the average observer. And that power is further magnified when the artistically minded are able not only to "see beauty," but also to formulate their observations into visual statements and express them as works of art.
While most painters don't set out to tell well-defined stories in their work, that doesn't mean that a personal story isn't there. In a compelling piece of art, even if the guiding idea isn't explicit, viewers can feel the artist's connection. As you engage the paintings in this chapter, you'll find that, in some cases, the vision of the artist may have been mostly about expressing an aesthetic ideal. In other cases, the communication is more direct, and you'll understand an intention. When a painting moves us — whether it's uplifting, provocative or something more nuanced — it's because the artist's idea speaks an emotional truth.
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Excerpted from "Pure Pastel"
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