Pastels

Pastel is possibly the purest form of painting – we work with pure pigment and little else!
~ Amanda McLean

Our spotlight today is on pastels. Many people might think that "pastels" only refers to pale colors, but in this case, "pastel" refers to the material used to make the art.

Flower Clouds, 1903
by Odilon Redon

Fire Light Reflections, 1890
by James Guthrie

Autumn Sunset
by Irene Carranza

Note in Pink and Brown, circa 1880
by James McNeill Whistler

Woman in Green, 1901
by Pablo Picasso

I think Odilon Redon had a special je ne sais quoi, so here's another by him, called The Fall of Icarus:

La Femme à la Médaille ou Mystére (The Woman with the Mysterious Medallion, also known as Woman with a Gold Medallion)
by Lucien Levy-Dhurmer

Hartford Tunnel
by Gigi Liverant

Links:
* An article about a French family of pastel makers. Very cool!
* The Pastel Journal Blog and Pastel Pointers with Richard McKinley
* The International Association of Pastel Societies
* The Pastel News blog
* Lessons and tutorials
* Old Pastel Masters
* I like these by Gregory Hansen
* A pastel street artist, plus one more, with a recipe for homemade pastels
* Silence by Lucien Levy-Dhurmer
* A selection of pastels by Victoria Taylor-Gore
* An interesting post about a wonderful red chalk drawing, possibly by Monet