Product Description
First published in 1992 and now reissued in paperback, an exploration of colour, shape, value and line for pastel artists in which the author discusses materials and equipment, explains how to make paintings glow with natural or artificial light, and outlines fifteen ways to create a painting. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Loved this book!
I have been learning to use pastels for a few years now. I do portraits and landscapes and have had some wonderful teachers and excellent fellow students. I am totally hooked! I'm loving the learning and the journey. I've purchased manybooks on pastels and get something from all of them. This book has been one of my favorites. I love Mr. Dawson's writing style, his examples, and his demonstrations. When I heard the comparison between this and Susan Sarback's Capturing Radiant Color I went back to it and reread it. I agree that Susan has a valuable book........but not better than Doug's. Read them both...Learn from both. His is a really pleasant read with wonderful examples of his work.

Gives us a bass
I believe that Douglas Dawson is a sincere teacher, but I found this book to be a litany of rules, tricks, and gew-gaws for obtaining effects -- without a governing vision.(Contrast the similarly-named "Capturing Radiant Color in Oils" by Susan Sarback, which is above all a book about seeing and reporting what you see, and in spite of its title the most helpful book I have found for my approach to pastels.)Some of Dawson's rules are in the category of "duh!" and others make no sense.His points are usually illustrated by his own work, including landscapes (quite interesting), cityscapes (often dramatically lit but oddly unmoving), and portraits (sappy, sentimentalized, and including a few real bodice-rippers).The old saw says, "give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime."Dawson gives us a bass, and not a very fresh one.

Pastel beginner from Dallas digs Doug's book.
The book starts with Dawson explaining the difference between the handling of lines--drawing--and the handling of shapes--painting. He then explains and illustrates two pastel painting techniques: working from big to small shapes and working from shape to shape. Then he combines drawing and painting to launch into ways of being creative with color and light. The book ends dealing with backgrounds, depth, and finding new ideas.

Appropriate to an art instruction book, there is an abundance of illustrated examples, step-by-step pictorial demonstrations, and very stunning completed paintings. The book was easy to read, and Dawson's thoughts, examples, and techniques are very easy to follow.

I like this book very much. The most valuable thing I learned from reading Dawson's book was how to turn my drawings and paintings into works of art. ... Read more

Product Description
"Everything was alive, pulsing with light and color."
--Susan Sarback

This is more than a how-to-paint book. It's a how-to-see book ... specifically, how to tune in to nature's glorious subtleties of light and color.

Forget complex theories. "Full-Color Seeing" is based on direct observation. It's about overcoming preconceptions and perceiving true color based on the colors that surround it, the way light hits it, time of day, season, weather conditions, and too many other factors for a mere formula to incorporate. You'll learn to see your subject--any subject--just as life truly presents it to you. This is the secret to capturing the living, breathing sense of atmosphere so celebrated in the works of the Impressionist painters.

A revision of Susan Sarbacks' illuminating Capturing Radiant Color in Oils, this book offers twelve more years of fresh insights, new paintings and expanded coverage on soft pastels. The concepts explored here have been handed down through generations of artists: Sarback was taught "Full-Color Seeing" by master painter Henry Hensche, who learned it from Charles Hawthorne, a contemporary of Claude Monet. This step-by-step approach will add greater vitality to your artwork and forever change the way you see. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Capturing Radiant Light & Color
The illustrations and examples in how to add light to the artwork being created are very good.I think this book is going to be a tremendous help in enhancing my artwork.

Best art book on painting ever!
This is the first art book I have ever read from cover to cover and over again!Sarback makes seeing color and light so enjoyable.Using her strategies, you see the world in a different way.Her explination of local color, symbolic color, color theory, full color seeing, painting edges(hard, soft, broken, and lost edges) as well as painting reflective light is so easy to understand.She uses four stages to paint radiant color and explains each step--so sensible. I took a workshop and the instructor used this book as one of the sources for teaching us to see light and color in our painting.Everyone in the class ordered the book as well as several others that came by and saw what we were doing.I would recommend this book to anyone who has trouble seeing color.It is an awesome book!

Both of Susan Sarbacks books are Excellent
I purchased Susan's first book when it came out and recently picked up this second book.The book is really excellent.I have been painting for 40 years and have found the info in these books extremely helpful.Several years ago I purchased 'The Impressionist Landscape' by Lois Griffel.Also indispensible. All of these three books may be the most important books in my library of hundreds of books. If you want to learn basics in color application from pure color Griffel's book is a great book to start with.Sometimes I think that Sarback's books are a little more advanced because she is not specific about what colors to use when laying in a color.Lois Griffel spells out exactly what color she used.That is why Lois's book is important to mention.

Both of these painters learned from Henry Henche in the Famous Cape Cod School of Art and when you read these books you will find that they both have very different painting methods and color theory.And that's OK. Lois Griffel recently, just last year, sold the Cape Cod School building in MA and move west, and this is how close to the vest both of these astounding, living, artists are. Henche must have taught thousands of students, but these are the only books that I know of that teach oil painting in the original Monet method that was delivered to Hawthorn from Monet's studio apprentice directly.

All three of these books will start you painting color blocks.Copy the demonstrations, then set up your own blocks in real life. Start each book from page one and two and read each page. It is just like being at a workshop. I have done this with many books and have grown in leaps and bounds. Although it is not my style to paint like this, you will find that this color theory can carry over into any style or form of art you create. Color is so important, and if you are just starting out, or have been painting for years.......These books will blast you into a new direction in which you will never return.

This book is an eyeopener
I was looking for a book to teach me more about the effects of colors and how they fit together to capture different moods in landscapes. I looked at the reviews of this book "Capturing Radiant Light & Color in Oils and Pastels" and decided to buy it along with a few other books about color. Before I read this book I wasn't very bold in the use of color. Every artist reaches a plateau. This book teaches you how to see color, the author calls it "Full-color-seeing". You can see and interpret color in different ways and the book teach you how. You can always paint the landscape with the exact color you see, but you don't capture how your soul experience the colors. The book teaches you techniques of how to experience colors, how to relax etc. and how to see them together to create a whole. The author is an artist and a teacher as well and it shows in the book. She knows about the pitfalls and guides you past them towards the goal of "full-color-seeing". A lot of tips. Step by step in (how and why) building up the landscape painting. Praticing methods too.
Light is color and color is light. The book was for me an eyeopener in the awareness of how I interpret color and how to look at the subject. The book teaches in a impressionistic style, but the colors are more radiant. You never have a boring painting subject after reading this book. The book is very valuable because it is a result of years of development as an artist. If you like painting landscapes and want to create the mood, what you feel, I recommend this book.
I would like to thank the author for writing this book.

My "Desert Island" art book
An amateur artist for about 60 years, I've finally decided to get serious. Studies with Chuck Ceraso, a local Colorado student of Henry Hensche, were interesting, which led to the purchase and study of a book by another Hensche student, Lois Griffel. While buying Griffel's book on Amazon, some other books came to my attention, including this one by Susan Sarback, so I ordered it. I can only say, "Wow!" She does a great job of explaining Hensche's theories on color perception and expression. The theories are illustrated with many beautiful color reproductions of her own works and others, including a number of progressive demonstrations which show the steps from blocking in color masses to applying final details. The whole is very impressive and inspirational -- her words, the paintings, even the overall design of the book. Certainly a live orientation to this style would be a good supplement, but an intelligent artist who is open to exploring color could gain great skill from studying this book alone. I thumb through it frequently for the sheer joy of encountering the illustrations. And yes, if I were marooned on a desert island, this could be my sole art book -- although a couple of compact, well-illustrated books on Picasso and Klee wouldn't be used for firewood either... ... Read more

Product Description
Techniques for creating life-like portraiture with pastels. Contains eight step by step demonstrations which feature a variety of ages, complexions and expressions. Teaches how to build form and realistic features, the types of marks and textures produced by different papers, and palettes for creating an array of skin tones and hair colourings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Mysteries revealed.
Paul Leveille is truly a master of Pastel Portraiture.The book revealsmany of the mysteries of properly building up a pastel painting to achievea lifelike, realistic looking portrait.The book takes you through eightdetailed portraits, start to finish.One drawback for me was, Paul doesnot give us a starting photograph of the subject, so during the stages itis difficult to know why the lights and darks, colors and shadows areplaced where they are until you see the finished portrait.More a tutorialof techniques than a means of following along and copying his worksstep-by-step.Still, an excellent source of learning that will leave youable to create realistic portraits in pastel.

An ice--breaking resource.
This great oversized book gives good illustrated step by step projects on portraiture pastel painting. It takes out the complications of starting a painting of someone. Though on a few projects some more steps could havebeen included, but this does not diminish the overall guidance the bookprovides. It has superb color and a well explanation of tools andmaterials, and how to take care of them. Composition, perspective and lightis also explained for the rendition of your project. ... Read more

Product Description
Following the best-selling Workbook format, each lesson in this introduction to pastel begins with a list of aims, together with clear instructions on how to achieve them. Step-by-step demonstrations, annotated artworks and finished paintings reveal the whole process in detail, while practical exercises allow beginners to build up their own invaluable workbook. A book to inspire all those new to this adaptable and lively medium. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Pretty nice
I recenly picked up pastel work again and needed something to help dust off the rust and this book was just it!

You HAVE to have this one
I bought this book a loooong time ago as a very new beginner. The exercises in it are fantastic for turning you into a pastelist so quickly and you'll be creating beautiful art immediately. It builds knowledge and confidence at the same time and this one is a must-have. Of allll my many books on pastel, this is still my #1 fave!

best pastel book out there
I waited a year to get this b/c the price was too high.It is THE pastel book.I have made several of the projects in here and I look like a professional, thanks to this book.I highly recommend it over any other pastel book.

a good book to start with
I bought this book after we started pastels in my art class.Not liking the pastels very much at first I decided to do a little work on my own.This book was invaluable!This is such a great book to start off with.Not only does it teach you about the medium itself, it also goes into color theory and the reasons for choosing certain colored papers to convey the feeling of the painting.Along the way I learned a great deal, but most importantly was not that I couldn't use the pastels, it was the pastels I was using were not very good, hence my frustration with them.I went out and bought some good pastels and worked my way through this book.I don't regret it.This book really inspired me to do more.I even took it to class and we did one of the lessons!This book is well worth more than the price.

Good Pastel Book
This is a good book for beginners, well written, and takes you far enough in your learning to be very useful. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Inspiring,beautiful and full of good tips
As a beginning pastelist, I found this book to be quite an inspirational journey. It showed me possibilities and beauty in a medium unfamiliar to most. I had a sense of being educated almost unconciuosly because I was so engrossed in the information and drawn into the beauty of this book. I highly recommend it as a reference tool and as a treat for the eyes. ... Read more

Product Description
This book outlines basic setting up and preparation, taking the reader step-by-step through all the techniques, with practical projects to follow at home. Once the basics have been mastered, the book then details more specialized methods, explaining clearly and simply how to achieve increasingly advanced effects. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

interesting book
This is a great book when you get back into doing art to get tips.

Loads of Detail
This book was more than I expected. She shows how to approach drawing and how to really see what you're drawing.This will be very useful to beginners.More advanced artists will find this book useful in improving their understanding of pencils, pastels and pen and ink as media, seperate or together.Anyone at any stage of artistic development will find something useful.

encyclopedia
This is a very good basic handbook for drawing w/pencils, pastels and other media.In my attempt to teach myself more artistic approaches to my life, this book has been very helpful and will probably be a long-standing resource for me. ... Read more

Product Description
Intended for enthusiastic beginners and practising artists alike, this book shows you everything you need to know about still life. Easy-to-follow projects instruct you in essentials, such as how different type of materials work, and aim to inspire you to tackle more complex techniques. This book is one of a series of titles which range from acrylic figure to oil portrait and from pastel life to water-colour landscape. It offers close up step-by-step photographs which show still life being created before your eyes and it lets you into the secrets of how professional artists produce their work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Handy Helper
This book focuses in well on different aspects and teaches you new techniques in easy to follow instructions. ... Read more

Product Description
Learn basic pastel painting methods and how to achieve superior results with this exciting art medium. Well-known European teacher and painter John Blockley dicusses techniques for beginners and accomplished artists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

blown away
I purchased this book last fall and was blown away by the remarkable works of Ms Capole.In January of 2004 I had the wonderful opportunity to attend her first portrait workshop.There I was able to view several of the origional paintings in person and can say that the color quality of the book's photos are true to life.The instructions are presented in an organized, concise manner along with corrosponding step by step photos. If you cannot attend one of Wende's workshops, this book is your second best option!

Author?
Daniel Greene is Ms. Caporale's husband, but he's nowhere credited in the book, as far as I can discover, with being a co-author, though I'm sure he probably lent an editorial eye.Wende can carry the promotion on her own merits.

In any event, both are masters in their own right. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Showing Mary Cassatt's differing styles
The book I received had a different cover, but I ordered the book in "very good condition."
It must be an earlier print run of the same book, same author, same publisher.
The size of art and layout of each painting is good.
The author's comments were interesting and helpful in viewing Cassatt's art.
It is easy to see the other impressionist's influence on Cassatt and her art.

A collection of the work of a trailblazing female artist
Mary Cassatt was truly a pioneer in the art world, paving the way for women to branch out beyond the "female domain." Her art career began in 1872, when her first painting was exhibited in Paris. During her career, she was deeply appreciated in France, but largely ignored in her native United States, even though she received her artist's training in Philadelphia.
This book is a collection of her work and if they knew nothing about the artist, most people would be able to determine that the artist was female. Most of the scenes in the book depict a woman doing something typical of women in the nineteenth century. Women are holding children, giving them baths; children are posing for portraits or women attending social events. In the rare occasions that men appear, they are doing "men work" and are extraneous to the action.
One of the true trailblazers of the women's movement, Cassatt herself never realized the significance of her achievements. Shortly before her death in 1926, she was quoted as saying, "After all, a woman's vocation in life is to bear children." However, despite her thoughts she did break an enormous amount of new ground in the changing role of women. By demonstrating that women could create quality art, she helped make it possible for women to gain opportunities in all walks of life. This book is a sound tribute to that fact.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A master at his craft, but book needs updated
Too many "black and white" pictures to get the feel of Daniel Greene's art.Plus, you get to see his work in progress, but not enough info about the colors he is actually using.Nice to look at and get an idea of his craft, but if you are wanting to learn, check out newer Pastel books.

the best
not well organized, and 70's color reproduction, but otherwise, the best pastel instruction (in portraiture) that I have come across.Highly recommended and much better than contemporary books.But it while you caN !!!!!

Classic Techniques...Pastel Painting
Daniel Greene brings to the lover of classic techniques his how-to, timeless artistry of making the image come alive using pastels.Paintings in black and white and color. ... Read more

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Product Description
A practical introduction to all aspects of drawing and calligraphy from beginners to intermediates, with full technical instruction and easy-to-follow step-by-step projects. ... Read more

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Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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Carole Katchen, well-known artist, workshop instructor and author, invites readers to begin expressing their own ideas in the brilliant, liberating medium of pastel.

This book will inspire pastel painters looking for new creative directions and gives beginners a great place to start. Checklists, tips and step-by-step demonstrations make the instruction easy to follow.Artists will first learn how to master basic techniques, from choosing colors, paper and fixatives to making expressive marks. The second half of the book guides artists to explore the "boundless limits" of their own creativity.Katchen motivates artists with:

* A 10-point checklist for choosing evocative subjects
* Tips on how to break the rules and take chances with pastel
* Strokes that will reflect and enhance personal vision
* Four different approaches to beginning a painting
* Advice on how to strive for excellence, not perfection ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

an artist's art book
This book was great and fun to read. Even her painting examples in the book show how much painting can be a joy and fun. I especially liked how the book is divided up into easy to understand chapters and topics like "what you need to know about applying pastels" or "what you need to know about completing a painting" . With tips and reviews throughout the book. Thus it is a good book to use if one is also teaching art. The book is not just for beginners but for those that have been painting for years. It shows you how to "have fun with art" not just knowing techniques. Author- Creative Painting For The Young ArtistCreative Painting for the Young ArtistAnyone Can Improve Their Handwriting (CD)

Expressive and Impressive
Carole Katchen understands the pastel artist and reflects her understanding in this book that goes from the basics of selecting and using pastels to the emotional needs of the artist. She has useful tips throughout. She has information and examples of negative painting, blending,scribbling, and stippling. There are refresher pages that emphasize the main points of each chapter. But, maybe the most important chapter is the last one, because it encourages the artist to be true to himself or herself and know that if art is done with courage, fun and dedication, it will glow with distinction. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Capturing Personality in Pastel
This book is inspirational, educational, informative, and funny.Any artist wishing to capture the essence of personality in a portrait will be truly enthusiastic to have this book on their shelf for reading and reference. ... Read more

Product Description
Containing a collection of different contributors' works and methods, this book begins with a section on materials and techniques, with advice on blending, and on the variety of methods and application of pastels. It covers landscapes, water, skies, still life, flowers, townscapes and portraits. ... Read more