The Pastel Journal

At what point can I call myself an artist? This is a question that vexes most artists somewhere along the creative journey. Do I need a degree? A certain number of workshop hours? Do I need to have a well-stocked studio to qualify? Must I be making art fulltime? Am I an artist if I don't sell or exhibit my work? How “good” do I have to be before I can declare myself an artist—and how am I to judge? As with all practitioners of art, the pastelists featured in this issue find themselves at different places in respect to their art lives, offering a reminder that every artist has a unique story to tell. Vladimir Zlotskiy (page 18), for example, defines himself on his Instagram page as “an IT guy…

Shirley and Andrea Shepard have been in court a lot. They were there for Ghislaine Maxwell's trial. They were there for Harvey Weinstein's trial. They were there for Bernie Madoff's sentencing. Yet the Shepards aren't lawyers, judges or even court officers—they're courtroom artists. Cameras are forbidden in federal court and, up until 2008, in New York, in the lower courts as well. So, media outlets—newspapers, television news stations and websites—depend on artists for a “snapshot” of what goes on in the courtroom to illustrate their coverage. The Shepards have been providing just that for 19 years. Beginnings Shirley is a native New Yorker. Her interest in art began in early childhood. She recalls drawing right from the start. “I did terribly in English, but I did wonderfully in art,” she says. Shirley attended…

The subject of women's personal ablutions preoccupied Edgar Degas (1834–1917) for decades and inspired variations in oil, sculpture, monotype and pastel. By the mid-1880s, Degas had amassed for inclusion in the final Impressionist exhibition a series that he described as “women bathing, washing themselves, drying themselves, toweling themselves, combing their hair or having it combed.” The description suggests an unusually intimate preoccupation, far removed from the historical narratives Degas sought to paint in his youth. The same acuteness of observation he brought to other genres was now focused on the bathroom and boudoir. Given the majestic design of the main figure and the body's tactile presence, Woman Having Her Hair Combed may be the finest figure Degas produced in any medium. Surprisingly, the pastel does not seem to have been included…

QUESTIONS FOR A SELF-CRITIQUE When a painting is nearing the finish, take time to assess your success with the following questions. Rotate your painting and check it from all angles. You may be surprised by what you might have otherwise missed. • What is my painting about? Have I made my intentions clear? • Does the composition include a variety of shapes—big, medium and small? Are they arranged in an interesting fashion? • Does the piece have good distribution of values with light, medium and dark passages? Are the darks leading my eye through the picture? • Is there a focal point? (See thumbnails above.) Does that area have the highest contrast and the most detail? Is there distinguished edge handling to attract attention? • Are my color choices—perhaps an analogous, complementary…

Making art can be expensive, but savvy pastelists have a few tricks up their sleeves to keep costs down—without sacrificing quality. We asked six talented pastelists—Cory Goulet, Jeri Greenberg, Lisa Gleim Jones, Karen Margulis, Mary Ann Pals and William Schneider—for their money-saving advice. Here's what they had to offer. Stick Reviver I keep a small container of coarse cornmeal nearby to clean my pastels as I work. When a stick gets dirty from handling or rubbing against other sticks, I just pop the pastel into the container and lightly shake it or manually roll the stick around. This works like a charm. A five-pound bag costs only about $2 and lasts for months. —Lisa Gleim (lisagleimfineart.com) Easel Lighting Since I live in the upper Midwest where cool natural light is a given in winter, I…

We all have times when the painting process isn't going smoothly—when we hit those rough patches. It simply comes with being an artist. While we know that not every work can be a masterpiece, we still hope to improve our skills with each painting—and to make a great one every now and then. The good news is that if you're able to identify the mistakes that you've made in a painting, you can begin to address them and make positive changes to improve your technique. Identify Bad Habits Make a list of your bad painting habits. We all have them. Here are some of the most common ones: • not having a clear concept—an understanding of why it is you're painting a subject or scene • mark-making just for the sake of it…