When
I say "the perfect blend," I feel a little bit like I am describing a gourmet
coffee flavor, but there really is a perfect blend that exists in pastel
painting. For me, the crème de la crème of pastel drawings combines a certain
level of literal representation with a modern sense of the abstract.
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| The Curmudgeon by John Philbin Dolan, pastel painting, 12 x 16. |
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What
I mean by literal
When
I say a great pastel painting should be "literal," I mean, in part, that when
you look at the painting you should know what or who is being depicted. But the idea
doesn't stop there. I also mean that such works put the vibrant colors of
pastels to good use describing forms, atmosphere, and light. They use line and
texture thoughtfully to give a sense of an object's surface quality and shape.
What
I mean by abstract
An
artist who can couple the literal in his or her pastel drawing with abstraction
visually pushes the versatility of the medium, emphasizing with each stroke the
way that the painting comes together as much as the narrative that is being
visually shown. The two should be dealt with as one. For example, working the
side and the tip of the pastel as well as blending and scumbling are basic
techniques of pastel painting. But when you start to link subject matter with
these formal techniques--that's where the magic happens.
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| Coup de Foudre by Marie-Elise Larène, pastel painting. |
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It
can be a difficult idea for me to wrap my head around. It has been described to
me as looking at a Monet painting and seeing separate dabs of color while
simultaneously seeing the flower grove or the lily pad. You see what the artist
is painting as well as the way he paints it. This also means that you don't
have to just paint what you see--you can push your visuals further for the sake
of the feeling you want to evoke.
I'm
nowhere near an expert in pastel painting, which is why I seek out insightful
and established artists to take pastel lessons from in order to learn more
about how to get my own "perfect blend." Claudia Seymour is one such artist, an
expert when it comes to the bright, glowing, vivid quality of pastels. Her DVD,
Pastel Painting Techniques: Still Life
Flowers makes her time-honored subject matter accessible and invigorating.
She shares compositional strategies, tips on capturing delicate features of
your subject, and pastel-drawing instruction on dimension so that your objects can
really have the look of three-dimensionality. Enjoy!
