Encyclopedia of Pastel Techniques

A new, up-to-date edition of the popular and comprehensive encyclopedia by professional artist Judy Martin. Many manuals on pastel painting take for granted the use of traditional soft pastels, a dry medium that provides the richness and variety of paint colours. Soft pastel is certainly the most versatile and widely used, but the modern range of materials include other pastel types that have their own specific purpose. In this exhaustive A-Z reference for artists of all skills, a variety of different pastel types are detailed, from oil through to water-soluble pastels, amongst the multitude of techniques broken down and easily explained. The book itself is divided into two sections: the first provides step-by-step demonstrations that guide artists through a variety of techniques, from basic colour mixing through to creating special effects such as sgraffito and sfumato. The second part focuses on themes, illustrating how individual artists tackle a number of subjects, including natural landscapes, urban scenes, figures, animals and still life. This resource provides a wealth of stimulating ideas to help artists – both amateurs and veterans – develop their own pastel style.

This is an updated guide to what to do with those colorful sticks you see in art shops.  They are for painting with but are not like paint; instead they come in a variety of different types each with their own special characteristics.  Read all about it in this handy guide for artists.   As it says on the back cover this book “encourages artists to discover and develop their pastel painting skills”.  In other words this is a guide to pastels aimed at the artist who has gained their experience in other media and wants to branch out.  It is not a beginners’ guide and although there are a few “demonstrations” to read through you won’t find projects with staged photographic steps.  Find out what each pastel type does and all about suitable papers and other materials.  Learn about the different ways of using pastels and the effects each are capable of, plus how to use them in conjunction with other art media.  The rest of the book looks at themes for pictures, each subject being a gallery of work with explanations about how effects were produced.  Most subjects are covered from portraits of people and animals to landscapes, buildings, water and still life but not abstracts.  Each of the six sections here has a demonstration by a variety of artists showing how they worked through a picture.  To get the most out of this book it helps to be experienced already and thus be able to master a new medium without a primer.

Judy Martin is a painter, teacher and the author of a number of practical art books. She lives and works in Brighton, on England’s south coast, and exhibits in her home studio every year for the Artist’s Open Houses during Brighton Festival. She studied painting and printmaking at Maidstone College of Art and went on to a two-year postgraduate degree at Reading University. She was a freelance writer and editor for a period of fifteen years, and has subsequently worked in adult education and at a mental health day centre, facilitating groups in art craft and ceramic work.