I got thinking the other day (oh yeah!). While cruising around the web, I see so many inspiring, delightful, surprising, beautiful pastels done by artists working today. So, my plan is, at the end of each month, to share a few of the pastel gems that caught my eye. There will be many to choose from but I promise to keep the selection to 10 and under. That’s gonna be difficult I know!
So let’s get cracking! Remember to keep an eye on the sizes of these pastel gems.
- Bruce A Gomez, “Punto Amada,” plein air pastel on Arches 140lb CP w/c paper, 8 x 10 in. I can feel the cool of the shade and see the sparkle of sun glinting on the water. Bruce says he sands the tooth of the paper down using 80 grit sandpaper until it feels like suede. It apparently holds the pastel beautifully! Click here to see more work.
- Barbara Newton, “Fond Memories,” pastel, 7.5 x 7.5 in. Small and magical! This pastel recently won an award. Click here to read more.
- Jude Tolar, “Wildflowers Dance,” pastel on Ampersand pastelbord, 11 x 14 in. I love the simplicity of this pastel. It reminds me of one of Childe Hassam’s pastels seen in my previous blog. To see more of Jude’s work, click here.
- Jacob Aguiar, “Untitled,” pastel on UArt 500 paper, 12 x 16 in. Aren’t these trees lovely? I wanted to put a link to Jacob’s website but I couldn’t find one…I guess because he works full-time as a naturopathic doctor! Really?? Wow that’s all I can say. You can find him on Facebook.
- Tony Allain, “Towards Cable Bay,” pastel on sanded paper, 18 x 18 in. I admire the way Tony puts down a stroke so confidently and then leaves it alone. His colours and compositions are always so powerful. Click here to go to Tony’s website.
- Casey Klahn, “The French Moderists,” pastel, oil bar and graphite on 100% rag paper, 11 x 9 in. I love this piece. I’m not sure why. There’s something about the colour, the texture, the content, that keeps me looking. It reminds me of still life paintings by Giorgio Morandi. Click here to see more about this painting.
- Catherine Meeks, “Sunlight and Shower,” pastel on pastelboard, 16 x 10 in. I am delighted by the colour, lightness, and abstract quality of this pastel. Click here to go to Catherine’s blog.
- Ruth Mann, “Girl in Pink,” pastel on Fisher 400, 16 x 12 in. Look at all those colours in there!! To see more of Ruth’s work, click here.
- Joni Beinborn, “Bertha,” pastel on pastelmat, 26 x 19 in. I have to say I am generally not a big fan of animal art but this blew me away! To see more of Joni’s equine work, click here.
- Janet A Cook, “Thread of Flight,” pastel, 40 x 43 in.
- [Updated July 2016 for the Pratiques des Arts feature on my blog – This painting by Janet Cook is a combination of realism and fantasy. We easily recognize the figure of a young woman and the dove, yet the position of the girl suspended in midair and her connection with the dove are in the realm of metaphor and surrealism. With this primarily blue over reddish purple pastel painting, Cook gives us not only a luscious and textural piece to enjoy visually but also one that stimulates our interpretive capacity – how do we, the viewer, read what’s being said? The figure is so beautifully rendered and sits so well in this magical piece.] To see more of Janet Cook’s work, click here. This painting won an award in the Pastel Society of America’s 42nd Annual exhibition.
So that’s the first edition of my blogs on pastel gems found on my internet travels. What did you think of the pastels? What do you think of this monthly sharing? Helpful? Valuable?
Please let me know by commenting on this blog. (To do this, click on the title of the blog which will take you to the post on my website. Scroll to the bottom of the blog post and write your comment there. Then you’ll need to “Verify your real existence” by following the Captcha instructions. Once you’ve done that, remember to click the Post Comment button!! Whew! OR you can reply directly to me and I’ll manually post the comment to the blog for you.)
Until next time,
~ Gail
15 thoughts on “Pastel Gems: A Monthly Round-Up”
I look forward to seeing the other artists you find in your web crawls! Have you seen the work of Kim Lordier? She has a show right now in Carmel, CA. Most of the work is of the Monterey Peninsula.
Hey that’s great feedback Susan – thank you!! And yes, I definitely know Kim’s work. Love it! Would love love to see a whole show of her paintings.
Wow! This was so enjoyable! Thanks!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Lauraine and I’m so glad you let me know!!
This is a great idea! I was already familiar with some of them but not all> A few others you might wantto check out,if you don’t already know them: Charlotte Riley Webb, Rosemary Dahan,Kim Lordier & Takeyce Walter. I am amazed at the quality & variety of work being done with pastel now.
Thanks Eileen! Thanks for the intro to a couple of new-to-me artists!
Thanks for the inclusion in a power group of pastels! A bit heady for the morning, but I will take the compliment with gratitude.
Janet Cook is terrific, and the one by Catherine Meeks is stellar. Ruth Mann is brilliant! All fine works!!
Morandi – I spend a lot of time looking at his stuff, and it is special anytime I can get my values to line up well enough. I believe the pilly, raggy paper and the oil bar helped. Suddenly cannot remember the brand name – sorry.
Casey, it’s going to be difficult not to include you everytime! But I gotta spread the love so hope you’ll understand 🙂
Thoroughly enjoyed seeing all these paintings. Have been a fan of Casey Klahn for sometime so good to see he made your list.
– Susan Bosworth
Monthly Gems is a great idea. I love seeing what paintings catch other people’s attention. i also had taken note of Janet Cook and Catherine Meeks paintings. Thanks so much for sharing all this. Appreciate your comments like how Bruce Gomez sands the 140# WC paper. Look forward to more.
thanks so much for featuring and of course Casey is one of my all time favorites
Thoroughly enjoyed this blog and look forward to enjoying more. You have an uncanny knack of picking just the right art I will enjoy and could search for years without finding. Many thanks S
Glad you enjoyed it Sandy. From the response I’ve had, I think this will be a monthly post!
Hi Gail, I’ve just seen that you picked on of my portraits for your monthly gems. Thank you! I feel really honoured…even more so when I read Casey Klahn’s comment!
You are most welcome Ruth. Your portrait is beautiful and deserved to be there!!