HowToPastel Archives

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Three portraits in black and white by Eric Kennington

Eric Kennington – Three Portraits For Remembrance Day

I had decided it was time for another ‘Close Look” blog. A number of possibilities came to mind but as I began preparing, I realized it was almost Remembrance Day. So it made sense to choose work related in some way to war. I began to recall pastel portraits I’d seen somewhere along the way,

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Edgar Degas - two paintings of ballet rehearsal onstage

Edgar Degas – Ballet Rehearsal Onstage x 2!

While researching another project, I came across two paintings by Edgar Degas – one in oil, one in pastel – on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website. I was so taken by these pieces that I had to bring them to you! They have slightly different titles but are basically the same painting of a

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Edmond-Francois Aman-Jean, "Les Confidences," ca. 1898, pastel on blue-grey mounted paper on canvas, 48 1/16 x 38 in, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. DETAIL

“Les Confidences” By Edmond-François Aman-Jean – A Close Look

Sometimes you come across a painting that keeps you looking beyond a cursory – oh-that’s-wonderful thought. I especially love when the deeper looking involves a painting (and artist) previously unknown to me. This is true of today’s close look blog post. Check out Les Confidences by Edmond-Francois Aman-Jean (b. 13 January 1858, Chevry-Cossigny, France – d.

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Female Artist: Marie-Geneviève Navarre, "Portrait of a Young Woman," 1774, pastel on paper, 24 x 19 3/4 in, National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), Washington, DC - detail.

Lesser-Known Female Artist Marie-Geneviève Navarre

It’s time for my monthly round-up of pastels but I decided to do something a little bit different this time. I was looking through a little book I have called Women Artists put out by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Funnily enough, on the same day this book came to my attention

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Mary Cassatt, "The Long Gloves," 1889, pastel on paper, 25 1/2x 21 in, Private Collection

Delighting in ‘The Long Gloves’ by Mary Cassatt

Big question….what post to offer just before the Christmas holidays? Something wintery? Nah, don’t need to be reminded of that at the moment. (Mind you, the Winter Solstice has just passed and we are now heading into lighter days again. Yay!!) And then I remembered a painting that I’d seen posted somewhere recently that I think

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Giovanni Boldini, "Girl In A Black Hat," 1890, pastel on paper, 23 1/4 x 13 in (59 x 33 cm), Private Collection

Giovanni Boldini – “Girl In A Black Hat”

Back in April of this year, Don Gardi posted a portrait on the Pastel of America Facebook site – “Girl in a Black Hat” by Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931). Not only was this a stunning pastel but it was by an artist I was only vaguely familiar with. I was so impressed with the portrait I

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My Two Favourites from the Current IAPS show!

  I have been ultra busy preparing for my show opening this Friday and so my blog writing has slipped a wee bit. (Okay, that was an understatement!) Rather than let even more time pass by I thought I’d write a quick and dirty one. (If you want to know where that phrase came from

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Eugene Delacroix, "Sketch after Ruben's painting, "Coup de Lance," c.1839, pastel, 12 5/8 x 12 1/2 in, Musee du Louvre, Paris

Delacroix’s Pastels – how he portrayed the Crucifixion

In one of my earliest blogs on this website, I wrote about my surprise at discovering that Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) worked in pastels from time to time. (Click here to read that post.) Since it’s the Easter weekend, I thought it would be appropriate to share three of Delacroix’s pastels of the crucifixion. The first

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Odilon Redon, " Bouquet of Flowers," c. 1905, pastel on paper, 31 5/8 x 25 1/4 in, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Odilon Redon…a portrait painter??

  Okay, fess up. Did you know that the French Symbolist Odilon Redon (1840-1916) painted portraits? I didn’t realize this until I came across his Portrait of Madame Arthur Fontaine in the Metropolitan Museum collection. We’ll take a look at it but first, take a glance at a couple of beautiful pastels which I think you’ll

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