Start to Paint with Pastels

This is a new edition of Jenny Keal’s guide to Painting with Pastels. Opening with an introduction to the materials you need, Jenny then demonstrates a variety of techniques and shows you how to gather source material. Five step-by-step projects follow, including flowers, landscapes and coastal scenes. These demonstrations aim to build on skills learnt earlier in the book, as well as developing new ideas, such as how to create atmosphere, improving composition and colour.

Learn how to use soft pastels (and pastel pencils) in this useful primer. From tips on buying to working through the projects this is an essential guide for anybody who is keen to work with pastels but is not sure where to start. Find out what you need, learn the basics of how to use it and then have a go at some paintings.

The subjects tackled are landscapes, seascapes and flowers, but even if these are not your areas of interest there are still many useful lessons to be learned. Each of the five projects focuses on a particular area; for example the coastal scene is all about creating atmosphere, while the farm study looks at aerial perspective. Other subjects include an iris, harbour scene and rural view of mountains with old barns. The projects contain many detailed steps for a foolproof result, and it is easy to see what is being added in each one and why. There are other paintings by the author with explanations on their working, plus various useful preliminary sketches and photographs showing how you can progress from a photograph to a finished work. Find out how to organise your working area, learn how to cut down on dust and store your work without it getting smudged. Even a total beginner can get a lot out of this book, but I think the person who would get the most out of it is somebody who is already adept at art in other media and wants to try pastels.

Born in Southampton, UK, Jenny has lived for most of her life in the New Forest. She was interested in art from childhood and continued to paint as a hobby while her children were small. In 1990 she joined Romsey Art Group where she met her husband, David Bellamy. After discovering pastels, her painting flourished and she became a full-time artist and art tutor. Jenny demonstrates to art societies and has written a book on watercolour as well as many articles for Leisure Painter magazine.