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Title: Painting the Landscape in Pastel
ISBN: 0823039129
Author:
Albert Handell
Anita West
Publicate Date: 2000-11
Publish: 2000-11
List Price: $22.95
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $13.04
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $8.00
Amazon Merchant Price: $15.61
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Wonderful book
I found it very informative, giving me new ideas to use in my art. Great pictures.
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2: Disappointing
I ordered this book because it was supposed to provide "lucid instructions for first time pastelists" but I found this definitely not the case. There are no instructions--just advice and that is so general that it is close to useless. Much better instructions with demonstrations can be found in other books. There are many illustrations in this book, but for my taste, the paintings are crude and unattractive. Certainly nothing I would care to emulate.
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3: Painting in pastel?
Handell"s current work doesn't impress me as much as his former style. Sometimes longtime artists get carried away with their own notoriety, and get just too artsy. This is more a"coffee table " book than something to learn from.
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4: ... But keep your eyes open
(I'm not clear on the contribution by author Anita Louise West; the text is largely in the first person singular -- Handell's.) This is a decent, if short-winded, introduction to common, fundamental art concepts (color temperature, intensity, complementary colors) and a few pointers specific to the pastel medium. There is little that you cannot get elsewhere in more depth, and some puzzling statements ("A toned paper helps the artist enhance contrast in values" -- p. 20) that beg elaboration. Many of the points are theoretically demonstrated by Handell's own paintings, with a paragraph each of his discussion; but his comments often seem arbitrarily chosen, if not downright wrong for the painting in question. For example, p. 40, he states "these light green colors [of the spring outside the studio window] contrasted with and complemented ... all of the darker interior colors of the studio," but the highest-key portions of the painting are in the interior. On p. 39 a view of a pier shows a flag at half staff. Hendell states, "I purposely played down the detail of the flag," yet it is in plain sight and eye-catching. In fact, the most interesting thing about an otherwise trite scene is the flag (I would have titled the picture "Half Mast") because it adds particularity and involves the viewer ("what's going on?"). The painting is divided exactly in halves horizontally, classically a compositional no-no, so I would have liked to read the artist's discussion of this choice. In some other paintings the artist seems confused (or unconcerned) about the principal light source -- although since Wayne Thiebaud routinely gets away with this, maybe it's not a big issue. In summary, this book is a lightweight, and hopefully encouraging, introduction to a wonderful medium, but the discussion of individual paintings should be read with one's critical faculties in place. Plus, it never hurts to browse another artist's works, even if the lessons contain nearly as many "what not to do's" as "what to do's".
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5: New to Pastel and in awe!
Though I paint in other mediums, I am new to pastels. This book is the only one I will ever need. The pictures are beautiful and lush. The instructions and explanations are simple to understand. Would heartily recommend this book to new or experienced artists.
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