Pastel Podcast Episode 5: Albert Handell 

This episode of The Pastel Podcast features Albert Handell, an influential impressionist painter working in both pastel and oil. The conversation traces Handell’s artistic journey—from early training at the Art Students League and years in Europe to breakthroughs with pastel, major honors, and a lifelong commitment to teaching. Listeners hear practical demonstrations, technical advice, and stories that reveal why Handell is widely credited with helping popularize plein air pastel painting in the modern era.

From Oils to Pastels: How the switch happened

Handell began as an oil painter, working intensely from his late teens into his early twenties and then studying in Europe from 1961–1965. He describes hitting a creative “well” while preparing for a one-man show at the ACA Gallery on West 57th Street in New York. Drawing — a longtime passion — prompted an experiment with pastel. After consulting friends for material recommendations, Handell found the medium felt like “fish going into water.”

“Pastel is a media that incorporates painting and drawing simultaneously.”

The exposure from a revision of Eleanor Lathrop Sears’s book Pastel (in which Handell contributed step-by-step material) helped propel his pastel work into the spotlight. Soon after, he received substantial recognition: induction into the Pastel Society of America’s Hall of Fame (1987), a retrospective at the Butler Institute of American Art (2007), where two works joined the permanent collection, and the Master Circle Honor from the International Association of Pastel Societies.

Why pastel? The qualities that hooked Handell

Handell contrasts oils and pastels to highlight their opposite technical challenges and pleasures:

• Oils: exceptionally rich darks and glossy mixtures; whites must be used cautiously to avoid chalkiness.
• Pastels: boundless high-key color possibilities, but achieving deep darks is more difficult; the medium allows drawing and painting gestures to occur simultaneously.

Technical strategies Handell emphasizes include the use of pressure to expand a single stick’s range and careful value relationships across similar colors.

“One color is more than one color.”

By varying pressure on a pastel stick, Handell explains, a single stick can yield multiple values and hues—behaving somewhat like adding white or black in oil, but accomplished through touch rather than pigment mixing. This “two-color theory” helps pastel painters solve the common problem of not having the exact stick they want on location.

Lost-and-found edges and value relationships

Handell stresses the importance of lost-and-found edges in landscape painting. When colors of similar value meet without a hard edge, they can read as a single shape in grayscale—an essential trick for establishing convincing planes and atmospheric depth.

Plein air vs. studio: How Handell works today

Handell split his practice by scale and setting: smaller pastels for plein air (12×16 up to 16×20) and larger oils in the studio (24×30, 30×40, etc.). He often paints outdoors during warmer months and teaches both indoor and plein air workshops. The rhythm of alternating media keeps his work fresh: a few weeks with pastels, a few weeks with oils.

Daily discipline plays a central role in maintaining momentum. Handell paints every morning for roughly two hours, always with a plan for the next session—even quietly talking through problems as he paints. When demonstrating, he verbalizes that inner dialogue so students can follow his decision-making process.

Composition and “seeing” abstraction within nature

Handell’s compositional approach grew out of classical drawing training. Early life-drawing practice taught him to measure relationships—where one elbow sits relative to the other, how a roofline intersects a tree, or how large one negative shape is compared to another. This lifelong habit of measuring translates into his landscapes where he “zooms in” on shapes and relationships to create powerful, compact compositions.

He likens recurring forms to rhythms: a leaf or branch is considered for its direction, width and whether it narrows or widens as it moves. This rhythmic attention to shape gives many of his works a signature look that viewers can often recognize at a glance.

Subjects, recurring motifs, and notable works

Handell repeatedly returns to a handful of subjects: trees, rocks and water, adobe architecture, skies and cloud formations, and the figure. Notable stories and examples from the conversation include:

• A plein air white pine painted during his Woodstock years that later graced his Butler Institute retrospective cover.
• Skies at high altitude in New Mexico, where thin floating rain-evaporating clouds and bright blues have informed many paintings.
• Portraits and nudes—Handell favors the back view of women and has painted male nudes to explore anatomy.

Teaching, influence, and the pastel renaissance

Handell began demonstrating and teaching pastel when supplies were scarce and pastel was often considered a secondary medium. He describes setting up a small in-studio store for students in Woodstock and traveling with materials for workshops. Through workshops, demonstrations, publications and festival participation, Handell helped spur what he calls a renaissance in pastel painting.

He points to the Pastel Society of America’s early prize structure (significant cash awards) and the reissue of foundational books as turning points. Today, the international pastel community and conventions like Pastel Live and IAPS attract artists worldwide—a dramatic change from the limited resources available to students in Handell’s early teaching years.

Materials, framing and practical tips

On conservation and presentation, Handell praises modern glazing options that preserve pastels while improving display, including TruVue glass and museum-quality Optium acrylics. The latter is easier to travel with and reduces the risk of breakage for plein air exhibitions.

Handell also explains his mixed-media approach: sometimes starting an oil with a watercolor underpainting or leaving watercolor washes as part of a pastel composition. He emphasizes restraint in finishing works: if in doubt, do less—let the painting breathe.

“If in doubt, drop the chalk.”

Studio practice and open-studio philosophy

Viewers get a tour of Handell’s studio, which highlights his practical organization—racks for storage, a supply of pastels categorized for easy access, and paintings in various stages. Handell maintains an open-studio policy; visitors are welcome to view work without obligation to buy. He attributes much of his subject selection to moments when an external scene “hits” him internally—a signal to stop and paint.

Final thoughts and resources

Albert Handell’s advice blends technical insight with a painter’s practical wisdom: measure relationships, experiment with pressure and color value, alternate media to stay fresh, and cultivate daily studio discipline. His workshops remain a vibrant way to learn his approaches to color, composition and plein air technique.

For artists and enthusiasts seeking further learning, Handell’s books, instructional courses (including video courses), and workshops provide direct access to his methods. Pastel Today and Pastel Live offer additional ways to connect with the modern pastel community and find events, articles and exhibition news.

Key takeaways:

1. Pastel combines drawing and painting—use pressure to expand available color and value.
2. Measure shapes and relationships carefully; composition often benefits from “zooming in.”
3. Alternate plein air pastels with larger studio oils to maintain freshness and perspective.
4. Use museum glazing options for pastel framing; Optium acrylics can be practical for travel.
5. Practice regularly—consistency is central to growth.

Albert Handell’s career exemplifies how technical curiosity, disciplined practice, and a willingness to teach can reshape a medium’s place in contemporary art. His blend of practical tips, demonstration-based teaching, and palpable enthusiasm continues to inspire pastel and oil painters alike.

Related Links from this episode of the Pastel Podcast:

• Albert Handell’s website
• Pastel Society of America
• Butler Institute of American Art
• International Association of Pastel Societies
• Pastel Live Online Conference
• Plein Air Convention & Expo
• Pastel Today free e-newsletter