Capturing Light and Color with Pastel

I have been learning to use pastels for a few years now. I do portraits and landscapes and have had some wonderful teachers and excellent fellow students. I am totally hooked! I'm loving the learning and the journey. I've purchased many books on pastels and get something from all of them. This book has been one of my favorites. I love Mr. Dawson's writing style, his examples, and his demonstrations. When I heard the comparison between this and Susan Sarback's Capturing Radiant Color I went back to it and reread it. I agree that Susan has a valuable book........but not better than Doug's. Read them both...Learn from both. His is a really pleasant read with wonderful examples of his work.

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.