Book Description

Experienced pastel painter Carol Hodgson, shows how to use her innovative and inspiring techniques to create beautiful paintings with soft pastels. Learn how to paint sunflowers, a Tuscan landscape and a Venetian scene full of light and colour.

Carol Hodgson's vibrant, lively paintings reflect her love of pastels and the versatility of this medium. Using a range of simple and unusual techniques, she shows how to create amazing paintings full of light, texture and atmosphere. An inspirational and practical guide packed with information.

Pastel properties and techniques simply explained Clear advice on mark making, blending and using fixative Packed with handy tips and practical guidance Three beautiful step-by-step demonstration

Book Contents

Introduction, Materials, Techniques, Colour, Sketching and planning, How I work, DEMONSTRATIONS: Sunflowers; Tuscan olive grove; Mooring poles in Venice, Index

About The Author

Lives in Everton, Doncaster

Reviews

Artbookreview.net
Oct 09 There aren’t that many books around on pastels, which is a pity, because it’s an attractive and relatively simple medium. To have one that concentrates on the absolute basics and comes from a series that assumes very little previous knowledge on the part of the reader is a double treat. Carol Hodgson shows you how to handle pastels and then provides three very thoroughly illustrated step by step demonstrations of sunflowers, an olive grove and a Venetian scene that cover a good variety of both subject and techniques. Everything you need is there, all that’s missing is the mystique.

KarenPlatt.co.uk
Oct 09 There's plenty of good information on using pastels in this book as well as on sketching. Carol then demonstrates three step-by-step pastels. This is a useful book for anyone interested in using this medium with clear instructions and photographs showing techniques. There is also a gallery of work providing further inspiration.

Myshelf.com
Dec 09 I tend to associate pastels with warm weather because I like to have bare arms when working with them…the color tends to come off on my sleeves! Perhaps I need a book like this, despite not being a beginner because I could do with owning a book that tells me something beyond the basics when using this fascinating medium…I've always liked pastels; essentially they are crayons for adults and I find they free me up, as they don't come with the baggage that paints seem to carry with them. This book is about using hard and soft pastels (not oil crayons) and the tremendous range of effects they are capable of. You can find out what types of paper are best and what else you need to purchase (not too much) and also how to store and transport these very fragile items. Learn how best to work with them and what techniques to use depending on what you want to depict, then work through some projects. These are of the photographic staged variety, with nice large photos so you can see what is going on when working on a dark background. Choose from sunflowers, a Tuscan scene and gondola mooring poles with reflections in Venice to practice your skills. Obviously this is just a taste of what pastels are capable of and this is not a thick book, but you can learn quite a lot from reading then and working through the exercises in here including how to protect your clothes. A good basic grounding in the subject.

The Artist
Mar 10 The How to Paint series is perfect for those artists wanting to try a new medium and who are looking for help to build up their confidence and skills. They are colourful, well-designed, full of ideas, information and step-by-step instruction. In Pastels, Carol Hodgson includes advice on materials, shows how to master the basic techniques, looks at ways of mixing and harmonising colours, and demonstrates both sketching and studio working methods. Throughout, the topics are easy to follow and beautifully illustrated.