Art of Pastel Painting, The - Tapa dura

"Provides fresh advice from a renowned pastel artist."
--PastelJournal

"Highly recommended for those looking for the guidance of a master artist."
--Library Journal

Alan Flattmann was inducted into the Pastel Society of America Hall of Fame in 2006.

Internationally renowned expert and artist Alan Flattmann teaches the art and technique of the modern pastel renaissance. Traditionally a leading textbook in art institutions, The Art of Pastel Painting has been revised from its original 1987 version to include updated technical information, demonstrations, and new paintings from the artist. Flattmann's passionate instruction in the use of this delicate yet enduring art remains the voice coaxing potential until the student captures the true essence of his subject.

As an art medium, pastels are convenient and easy to use due to their solid composition. The purity and intensity of dry color produce an extraordinary range of effects on a variety of surfaces. Their flexibility makes them popular for beginners, while advanced students continually challenge traditional boundaries.

The medium first became popular in eighteenth-century France. Today, pastels have entered a new era, one of unlimited possibilities coupled with the importance of simplicity.

Flattmann seamlessly advances through the process of creation while offering invaluable advice on every aspect. Considerations such as surface texture, studio lighting, basic painting concepts, systematic procedure, framing, and preservation are handled in a logical progression.

Alan Flattmann is a recipient of such honors as the Inaugural Pastel Artist International Magazine Awards for World- Wide Excellence in landscape, American Artist Art Masters Award for pastels, and Master Pastelist distinction by the Pastel Society of America. His line of pastel colors, CITYSCAPES, is manufactured by Great American Artworks.

His work has been featured in Alan Flattmann's French Quarter Impressions, also published by Pelican, with text by John R. Kemp; The Poetic Realism of Alan Flattmann, by Joyce Kelly; and articles in American Artist, Southwest Art, Southern World, Art Voices/South, and Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans magazines.

Flattmann's work may also be found in hundreds of private and corporate collections, including the collections of the New Orleans Museum of Art, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Oklahoma Art Center, Longview Museum of Art, Mississippi Museum of Art, and Lauren Rogers Museum of Art. Bryant Galleries, located in New Orleans and Jackson, are the exclusive agents for his work.

Impressionist painter Alan Flattmann was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Showing an early aptitude for art, he studied at the McCrady Art School on a New Orleans Art Association scholarship. Because of his decades of success painting the historic French Quarter, September 28, 2002, was celebrated as Alan Flattmann Day in New Orleans.