The Pastel Journal

Pastel Journal covers topics of interest to working pastelists as well as those who work in pastel as an additional medium along with those who are just experimenting with the medium.

The Spirit of Competition

The Pastel Journal

When Pastels Went Prime Time • A recent exhibition of 18th-century pastel portraits at The Getty Museum highlighted the medium's remarkable rise in popularity.

Painting a "Colorless" Landscape • Artist Barbara Jaenicke shares five tips for capturing muted landscape subjects in paintings that sing with color.

24th Annual Pastel 100

SOUND JUDGEMENT • What makes one pastel rise to the top in a crowded field of excellence? Find out what goes into the decision-making process and hear advice for catching a juror's attention.

JURORS FOR THE 24TH ANNUAL PASTEL 100

Building Beauty • Admiration for a shipbuilder's fine craftsmanship inspired a painting that went on to win Daud Akhriev the Pastel Founders Award for the artist's own remarkable technique and artistry.

Steeped in Gold • A muted stillness in Shilei He's winning work both conveys and invites contemplation.

A Deeper Reality • Paintings by Pirkko Mäkelä-Haapalinna have their starting point in realism-then move toward abstractions of organic forms, expressing more universal themes.

Living Things • Yang Zhao finds awe in nature, in wildlife and in the human figure. He puts emphasis on this idea in his creative expression-something we see on glorious display in his prizewinning pastel painting.

Pain Paintings • Silja Salmistu combines an awareness of tradition with modern experimentation to create though-provoking compositions of difficult issues staged as child's play.

LANDSCAPE & INTERIOR

LANDSCAPE & INTERIOR

PORTRAIT & FIGURE

PORTRAIT & FIGURE

STILL LIFE & FLORAL

STILL LIFE & FLORAL

ANIMAL & WILDLIFE

ANIMAL & WILDLIFE

ABSTRACT & NON-OBJECTIVE

ABSTRACT & NON-OBJECTIVE

Creating Star Power