The Pastel Journal

Pastel Journal covers topics of interest to working pastelists as well as those who work in pastel as an additional medium along with those who are just experimenting with the medium.

The Fear Factor

The Pastel Journal

Paula Rego: Obedience and Defiance • An exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art celebrates modern master Paula Rego and her bold exploration of modern ethics through pastel.

Face Your Fears • Artists are like inventors. We try to identify new ways to present our ideas visually; similarly, an inventor works to imagine and create a new product. Both are vulnerable to failure. Artist Anne Strutz (with a little help from Thomas Edison) offers tips for learning to embrace the missteps in order to advance our goals.

Play Days

“Reasoning Out an Object” • Adolph von Menzel drew every day, the better to understand his world.

ALASKA Art in the Wilderness • Being an artist-in-residence is an incredible opportunity to commune with nature in locations that offer up-close-and-personal experiences with a subject. In Alaska’s Togiak National Wildlife Refuge, some of those subjects have fur and claws and can measure 9 feet when standing.

Driven to Abstraction • Gear up with these five simple exercises and confidently explore a new-to-you genre.

TIP

demonstration Emeralds

The 21st Annual Pastel 100 • Poetic. Lyrical. Masterful. Powerful. Alive. These words that jurors used to describe the prizewinning paintings in this year’s Pastel 100 Competition say a lot about the artists’ achievements. These are pastels that demonstrate a confident proficiency in painting technique, but in each case the real triumph is the artists’ ability to create a piece that affected jurors beyond a demonstration of skill. This is work that touches the heart, sparks curiosity, stirs the senses or, in some cases, all of the above. We’re pleased to present on the following pages these 100 exceptional examples of impeccable skill and creative vision in the pastel medium.

IN PURSUIT OF THE PRIZEWINNERS • LEARN WHAT THIS YEAR’S PASTEL 100 JURORS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT WHAT MAKES A PAINTING RISE TO THE TOP OF THE COMPETITION.

Meet the Jurors

The Joy and Power of Suggestion • ALINE ORDMAN’S BOLD STROKES AND ABSTRACT APPROACH PRODUCE ACTION, COLOR AND LIGHT IN THIS YEAR’S TOP PRIZEWINNING PAINTING.

Finish Line TOOLKIT

TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

A Marked Intuition • BRE BARNETT CROWELL LETS HER WORK FLOW ORGANICALLY, AN APPROACH THAT YIELDED A PRIZEWINNING PAINTING OF SUBLIME COLOR AND MOVEMENT.

Into the Clouds • A LOCALE THAT NORBERT NAGEL HAS VISITED MANY TIMES PRESENTED A WINNING SCENE WORTH MEMORIALIZING.

About Light and Color • A CONTEMPORARY REALIST WITH AN IMPRESSIONISTIC APPROACH, JIAN WU COMBINES ALLURING COLOR HARMONIES WITH DAZZLING LIGHT EFFECTS.

Theater of Lights • A PATCH OF SUNLIGHT ILLUMINATES THE INTRICATELY PATTERNED RUG IN AN OTHERWISE DARKENED ROOM IN JERZY MOSCICKI’S AWARD-WINNING INTERIOR.

Landscape & Interior

Landscape & Interior

Portrait & Figure

Portrait & Figure

Still Life & Floral

Still Life & Floral

Animal & Wildlife

Animal & Wildlife

Abstract & Non-Objective

Abstract & Non-Objective

One Photo, Two Visions