Oh. My. Gosh. It’s the end of yet another month and once again I’ve faced the terrible and delectable task of picking my pastel favourites from the many I encountered over the month. This time I started with 60 to choose from and once I had whittled it down to 18, my, what a time I had making my final selection. But 10 is the self-imposed limit and by golly I’m going to stick to it! And so I struggled and pondered and finally made my decisions. I hated eliminating those that I had chosen throughout the month – they were all wonderful!

Let’s have a look at this month’s choices.

There was something about Gary’s pastel that kept bringing me back again and again, a mystical and quiet quality to it in both colour and content. Where does this path lead? Am I inclined to explore and follow where it goes or am I fearful about what I might find?  With questions like that, the pastel becomes a metaphor for the process of art-making itself! There’s something about the overall blue and the darkness that makes me ambivalent about whether I should be calm or anxious. I love this tension between disquiet and ease. To see more of Gary’s work, have a look at his website.

The exact same size as Gary’s pastel, this one is older (all of eight years) but when I saw it, I knew I would have to include it as one of my pastel favourites for this month.  Here mark-making is of the utmost importance. You can feel the energy of the artist as he applied the pastel. He reacts vigorously to what is in front of him. How daring that purple line outlining the hills in the distance. And look, did you notice the buildings in the distance? Scrub and bush, you can feel the chaos of it in the foreground. I also love the way Raoul incorporated the colour of the paper into the whole. Go see more of his work here. (Thanks to Jimmy Wright for posting Raoul’s work on the PSA Facebook group page and bringing this artist to my attention.)

It’s deceiving seeing this pastel, here on the blog, as the same size as the two above when in fact, in real life, it’s much larger. I love the predominant combination of yellows and purples in this piece – the feeling of warm light and cool shade. There is much to explore and enjoy in this piece from the various trees trunks to the refections in the water to the way Mike has indicated the foliage and rocks. A delight. See more of Mike’s work here.

From the darkness of Mike’s pastel, we come to this high key painting by Lorenzo Chavez. The first three pieces had much to say about trees. Here trees are thin on the ground but add a useful vertical. There’s something about the lightness of feeling that comes through in this piece. Winter doesn’t seem so bad as the cool shadowed snow is balanced here by the warmth of the sun illuminating the scrub and parts of the snow. The colour of the water area is that greeny colour that comes from a thin ice layer that’s almost not there. Do you know what I mean? See more of Lorenzo’s work at his website. (As an aside, this painting was on my January shortlist. For some reason, it popped up again in my April viewings and I’m delighted to include it in this month’s pastel favourites!)

We go from a high key pastel to a great example of a low key painting. In a nighttime painting, most of the values are dark and it’s by creating just enough contrast in those dark values that allows us to read the shapes of the painting. Judy does this so well in this piece. Here’s another mysterious painting that invites questions. Is this merely a quiet street or is there something more going on? An ominous feeling surfaces as we notice the car approaching – it heads directly towards where we stand. Incredibly, this is Judy’s first night painting. I look forward to seeing more! It appears that Judy doesn’t have a website but I’m linking here to her Facebook page.

I can hardly believe this is a pastel. What incredible detail and observation! Who knew what you could see in a few pieces of cutlery? I love the complimentary colours of orange and blue and how they both colour what essentially is monochromatic silverware. How amusing that the vases of the title are nowhere to be seen….or are they? Go here to see more of Lisa’s meticulously rendered paintings.

From Lisa’s realism we go to the expressionistic abstraction of this work by Halla. I am mesmorized by this piece – by both the colour and the application of pastel. Line informs both the plant shapes and the negative spaces. I keep looking and seeing more all the time. The title invites interpretation beyond what we see. Within the shape of what I take for a vase, I see a landscape full of life. What do you see? I was surprised not to find a website for Halla but you can see her work on her Facebook profile.

I was totally charmed by this portrait by Jeanne Rosier Smith. Jeanne doesn’t delineate every little detail but gives us enough information to capture this young girl glancing off to the side, her attention caught by something beyond the frame. I have a need to ask her what she’s looking at. The delicacy of the partially opened mouth, the eyes that stare into an unknown distance, the soft shadows on her face, all these fill me with a quiet pleasure. To see more of Jeanne’s work click here (she does some amazing seascapes!).

Another face fully in thoughts of her own, the solid simplicity of this pastel totally captured me. I love the way the linear marks suggest the bare minimum of a three-dimensional form. For some reason, this pastel brings to mind the graphic work of Aristide Maillol and the paintings of Paul Gauguin. Michael says, “I drew this of a friend when I lived in Rhodes, Greece. It’s a study for a concept of the Last Supper.” Wouldn’t you like to see the finished work? I sure would! Click here to see more of Michael’s work.

There’s something about figures depicted against the light that get me every time. In this piece, I am enchanted by the various colourings of white – the blouse, the walls, the crockery. This pastel has a strong composition of abstract shapes that leads the eye around the piece. Working on toned gator board, Ronnie brushed on pumice gel to create texture. After her initial sketch, she “scribbled” in areas with Nupastel and then applied alcohol, “brushed on section by section to avoid mixing values.” She then “went crazy with layers of soft pastel.” The light and colours are reminiscent of the work of Sally Strand. See more of Ronnie’s work and her process here.

And that’s it folks. Another month of pastel favourites. Which one is your favourite? I’d love to hear from you!!

Until next time,

~ Gail