Featuring ten professional artists who are all respected practitioners specializing in pastels, this book looks at a wide variety of styles, subject matter and techniques. These artists offer the amateur painter the opportunity to learn and benefit from their combined experience. In the masterclass the artists discuss their ideas, sources of inspiration and approaches, explain their choice of materials and how they achieve striking effects of colour and texture with them. Step-by-step demonstrations of work in progress are included with chapters describing the various types of pastel, the basic elements of technique, and different approaches to interpreting particular subjects, such as portraits, people, trees, flowers, water and light.