Marie-Christine Coupillaud

“ Méditation” © Marie-Christine Coupillaud

Name: Marie-Christine Coupillaud

URL: French version: http://www.pastelliste-coupillaud.com/marie-christine_coupillaud__pastelliste.ws

English version: http://www.pastelliste-coupillaud.com/

Bio: Born in Libourne, on the Dordogne  (Christian Signol’s “La rivière espérance”) in 1952, Marie-Christine Coupillaud lives in the south-west of France, at Artiguelouve, near Pau, where she took watercolour lessons before experimenting with oil paint and finally discovering pastel in 2000. After working on her own in her studio, she took two training courses with the professional artists of the Société des Pastellistes de France in 2004 and 2005. Her work attained sufficient quality to enable her to  later participate in the International Pastel Festival in Feytiat, near Limoges. She also exhibits with the Société des Amis des Arts de Pau. Her work has won numerous awards, and accolades in the press.
Medium: Pastel

Subjects: Landscape, especially mountains. One of the few pastellists this side of the Atlantic who paints a lot of mountains, with the exception perhaps of Andrew Hemingway. Also, seascapes; still life; animals.

Style: Realism tempered with a painterly approach.

Navigation: This website is in French, and in English.

Gallery: The Pyrenees; the Countryside; Venice; Animals; Still Lives; The Ocean.

Image View:  The presentation of images is unique among websites I have seen to date. There is a series of viewers for thumbnails on one side, and the centre of the page has two large viewers for the main themes. The thumbnail viewers play the thumbnails in series, but may be enlarged to occupy the centre stage. Pictures cannot be downloaded as such, but one can always use Prt Sc to save the screenshot.

Demo/Blog: No

Facebook: Yes

Jackson's Pastels

Jackson's Pastels are new to me (as of November 2013) and are manufactured by Jackson's Art Supplies. The full set consists of a modest 64 colours supplied in square half-sticks. There is a very useful range of neutrals in grey and in earth shades; two rather day-glow shades of pink and orange respectively; and a set of blues and greens that includes shades for blue and turquoise seas. When I checked the catalogue the full set appeared to be retailing at an astonishing £7.95 - at that price they are perfectly pitched at the beginner who wants a decent range of colours without breaking the bank. This set retails at the price of about 3 full sticks from the main pastel makers. I have given them a brief trial, and they glaze well over existing layers on paper such as Canson Mi-Teint Touch. They are much softer than Nupastel, and harder than Blue Earth - somewhere in the region of Rembrandt perhaps. There is no colour chart, so I have photographed the set for posting here. I have no information on light-fastness or pigment to binder ratio at this time. 
I have added this brand to my list of pastel manufacturers posted at http://pastelprogress.blogspot.com/p/colour-charts.html

Jackson's Pastels

William Rambaldi

“ Il Macchinista” © William Rambaldi

Name: William Rambaldi

URL: http://www.williamrambaldi.it/WEB6/artist.html

Bio: William Rambaldi lives in Bologna, Italy, where for many years he has been practising the art of pastel. 
Recently William has recently been practising an innovative expressionistic technique with soft pastel. The painting is carried out in two phases: first a technical study; then a second phase based on the artist's intuition, in an instinctive and impulsive application of soft pastel. From the amount of work that William has been posting on the Passionate about Pastel Facebook page, this seems to be a productive means of painting in pastel without losing anything of the quality of the artwork or the medium.

Medium: Pastel

Subjects: Landscape; Figurative.

Style: His interpretive paintings focus on the reality of the subject and exaggerate the emotional side of reality rather than that perceived objectivity.

Navigation: This website is in Italian, but it easy to navigate. Links remain available at the side of the page.

Gallery: Paesaggi (Landscapes); Ritratti (Portraits); Figurativo (Figurative).

Image View: Thumbnails enlarge in a viewer on the same page, and may be scrolled. (Don’t be put off by the manner in which the thumbnails assume a “frosted glass” appearance on mouseover – just click for an enlarged view.) Information is provided on title and dimension. There is a further zoom feature which is very useful as one can zoom in with the + and – buttons or the scroll wheel on the mouse, and this gives an excellent window on the artist’s technique and surface. Don’t miss the Apri L’originale button that looks like a square with an arrow at the top left corner – this brings a hi-res copy of the painting onto a new webpage and is very exciting. Il Macchinista is 40 x 50 cm, as is Il Barcone.

“ Il Barcone” © William Rambaldi

Demo/Blog: No

Facebook: Yes

Loriann Signori

“ Field at Dusk ” © Loriann Signori

URL: http://loriannsignori.com/

Bio: Loriann Signori  graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Swain School of  Design (now part of UMass at Dartmouth) and went on to pursue a Master of Fine Arts, graduate honor awards in the  American University, Washington, D.C.
Her awards include 1st place  Montgomery Art League in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010; 1st place, Shades of Pastel, National Exhibition, 2009; and Best in Show, Maryland Pastel Exhibition, 2009. (She is a Signature Member of the Maryland Pastel Society).

Gallery Representation: Waverly Street Gallery, Bethesda, Maryland, and John Matthew Moore Gallery, McLean Virginia.

Loriann lives and works in Silversprings, Maryland.

Medium: Pastel; oil

Subjects: Landscape.

Style: Impressionistic, Loriann states that she is a painter of luminosity. She has been influenced by Hans Hoffman, Rothko, Wolf Kahn and Richard McKinley, in particular their work with colour temperature.

Technique: Loriann  points out that each painting goes through a process that begins with an underpainting and progresses with thin layers of glaze. it is often necessary to scrape, rub or sand the surface in order to maintain the translucence sought. Small plein air paintings and colour notes precede the studio work.

Navigation: A FineArtStudioOnline website.

Gallery: Pastels; Oils

Image View:  Thumbnails enlarge twice, and may be scrolled. Little information is provided on dimension. Field at Dusk is an exception at 6x6 ins, and I have featured it because it is near actual size and must represent the artist’s plein air passion.

Blog: http://loriannsignori.blogspot.com/ See also interview with Casey Klahn at http://pastelsblog.blogspot.ie/2009/02/plein-air-on-purpose-loriann-signori.html

Coizie Bettinger

“ Pumpkin Glow ” © Coizie Bettinger

Name: Coizie Bettinger

URL: http://coiziebettinger.com/

Bio:  Coizie Bettinger’s father was an artist - she still has a sketchbook in which she and her father both  painted versions of Cape Cod lighthouses.
Coizie majored in biology, took a graduate degree in Family Support and Education and directed adoption programs in Vermont, while never giving up on her painting. Moving to the Pacific Northwest, and discovering pastels gave her new impetus.  Coizie has taken classes from some prominent pastellists; her work has been hung in juried shows, and is collected through the U.S from Maine to Alaska. Coizie is a member of the Northwest Pastel Society and is represented by River Gallery, Mount Vernon, and Scott Milo, Anacortes, both in Washington State.

Medium: Pastel

Subjects: Landscape.

Style: Reductionist approach, more a “spirit of place.”

Navigation: A FineArtStudioOnline website with a very clean, uncluttered feel to it.

Gallery: Paintings:  Art’s Alive; Recent Work; Old Favourites

Image View: Thumbnails enlarge twice, and may be scrolled. Information is provided on medium and dimension. Pumpkin Glow is 18x24 ins, 500x361, 138 KB

Blog/Demo: No

Facebook: Yes