Rick Lee - Photographer - Charleston, WV

Rick Lee's Pastel Art

Rick featured in Pastel Journal Magazine - November 2000

Artworks Database: I have designed a database that artists can use to
keep track of their work. Click here.

Prints Available: Prints of the Taylor Books painting are available at Taylor Books. Many people have asked about this. If you can't afford an original this is good news. If you are interested in other paintings, email me.

What Is A Pastel Painting? See article below.

Rick's Tutorial: How to Photograph Flat Art

Catalog of works from recent years:

26, 27, 28 Bedfordbury
1998 - Covent Garden, London, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 29x19 inches
1150.00 SOLD

The Radcliffe Camera
2000 - Oxford, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 16x20 inches
1200.00

The River Cam
2000 - Cambridge, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 29x20 inches
1500.00

Queen Street
2000 - Bath, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 29x20 inches
1200.00 SOLD

Castle Combe Stream
2000 - Castle Combe, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 28x20 inches
1200.00

Castle Combe Church
2000 - Castle Combe, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 21x29 inches
1200.00 SOLD

Blossom Dairy
1998 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 18x27 inches
900.00 SOLD

Breezemont Columns
1996 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 18x13 inches
500.00

Camille's on Lee Street
1996 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 15x20 inches
750.00

Column Capitals, Capitol Building
1996 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 19x14 inches
500.00 SOLD

Covent Garden Market
1998 - London, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 13x18 inches
900.00 SOLD

Deangate
1998 - York, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 12x17 inches
800.00

Dean's Yard at Westminster Abbey
1998 - London, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 12x18 inches
700.00

Houses of Parliament from Lambeth Bridge
1998 - London, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on gray-flocked paper - 24x16 inches
800.00

Lee Street Triangle
1996 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 21x15 inches
750.00 SOLD

Loewenstein Building
1998 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 17x28 inches
SOLD

Manor Place
1996 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 24x16 inches
600.00

Gatehouse, St. Mary's Abbey
1997 - York, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 23x17 inches
NFS, the collection of the artist

Minster Yard
1998 - York, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 18x12 inches
700.00 SOLD

First Presbyterian Church
1996 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 14x20 inches
500.00

Scott Brothers Building
1996 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 14x20 inches
500.00 SOLD

Sunrise Mansion
1997 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 21x16 inches
750.00 SOLD (featured on the Clay Center site)

Taylor Books
1996 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 16x20 inches
SOLD (see www.taylorbooks.com)

House on Veazey Street
1996 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 14x20 inches
500.00 SOLD

Yorkminster & St. William's College
1998 - York, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 18x12 inches
800.00 SOLD

Rowing, Regent Park
1999 - London, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 27x18 inches
800.00

Punting on the Cam
1999 - Cambridge, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 14x14 inches
700.00

Christ's Pieces
1999 - Cambridge, England
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 18x12 inches
800.00 SOLD

KB&T Center
1999 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 27x18 inches
SOLD

The Capitol City Building
1999 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 18x27 inches
SOLD

Kanawha County Library, the Old Federal Building
1999 - Charleston, WV
Rick Lee
Pastel on black paper - 27x18 inches
SOLD

What is a pastel painting?

Pastel is pure pigment, the same pigment used in making all fine art paints. It is the most permanent of all media when applied to conservation ground (such as acid-free paper) and properly framed. Pastel has no liquid binder that may cause other media to darken, fade, yellow, crack or blister with time. Pastels from the 16^th century exist today, as fresh as the day they were painted, no restoration needed.

Pastel does not refer to pale colors, as the word is commonly used in cosmetic and fashion terminology. The name pastel comes from the French word "pastische" because the pure, powdered pigment is ground into a paste, with a small amount of gum binder, and then rolled into sticks. The infinite variety of colors in the pastel palette range from soft and subtle to bold and brilliant. Note: Pastel must never be confused with colored chalk. Chalk is a mineral substance impregnated with dyes.

An artwork is created by stroking the sticks of dry pigment across an abrasive ground, embedding the color in the "tooth" of the paper, sandboard or canvas. If the ground is completely covered with pastel, the work is sometimes called a pastel "painting". Leaving much of the ground exposed produces a pastel sketch or drawing. Techniques vary with the individual artists. Pastel can be blended or used with visible strokes. Many artists favor the medium because it allows a spontaneous approach. There is no drying time, little clean-up, and no allowances to be made for a change in color due to drying.

Historically, pastel can be traced back to the 16^th century. Its invention is attributed to the German painter Johann Thiele. A Venetian woman artist, Rosalba Carriera was the first to make consistent use of pastel. Chardin did portraits with an open stroke, while LaTour preferred the blended finish. Thereafter a galaxy of famous artists... Watteau, Copley, Delacroix, Millet, Manet, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Vuillard, Bonnard, Glackens, Whistler, Hassam, William Merritt Chase... just to list the more familiar names, used pastel as finished work rather than preliminary sketches.

Edgar Degas was a prolific user of pastel, and its champion. His protégé, Mary Cassatt introduced the Impressionists and pastel to her friends in Philadelphia and Washington, and thus to the United States. In the Spring of 1983, Sotheby Parke Bernet sold at auction two Degas pastels for more than $3,000,000 each. Both pastels were painted about 1880.

Pastel is sometimes combined with watercolor, gouache, acrylic, charcoal or pencil in a mixed-media painting, but it is incompatible with oil paint. Today, pastel paintings have the stature of oil and watercolor as a major fine art medium. Many of our most renowned living artists have distinguished themselves in pastel, and enriched the art world with this beautiful medium.