Capturing Light & Color With Pastel

Rating:
Summary: Gives us a bass
Review: I believe that Douglas Dawson is a sincere teacher, but I found this book to be a litany of rules, tricks, and gew-gaws for obtaining effects -- without a governing vision. (Contrast the similarly-named "Capturing Radiant Color in Oils" by Susan Sarback, which is above all a book about seeing and reporting what you see, and in spite of its title the most helpful book I have found for my approach to pastels.) Some of Dawson's rules are in the category of "duh!" and others make no sense. His points are usually illustrated by his own work, including landscapes (quite interesting), cityscapes (often dramatically lit but oddly unmoving), and portraits (sappy, sentimentalized, and including a few real bodice-rippers). The old saw says, "give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime." Dawson gives us a bass, and not a very fresh one.

Rating:
Summary: Pastel beginner from Dallas digs Doug's book.
Review: The book starts with Dawson explaining the difference between the handling of lines--drawing--and the handling of shapes--painting. He then explains and illustrates two pastel painting techniques: working from big to small shapes and working from shape to shape. Then he combines drawing and painting to launch into ways of being creative with color and light. The book ends dealing with backgrounds, depth, and finding new ideas.

Appropriate to an art instruction book, there is an abundance of illustrated examples, step-by-step pictorial demonstrations, and very stunning completed paintings. The book was easy to read, and Dawson's thoughts, examples, and techniques are very easy to follow.

I like this book very much. The most valuable thing I learned from reading Dawson's book was how to turn my drawings and paintings into works of art.