Outside it’s 15° F, and just as I have tucked away the last of my Christmas decorations, winter has finally arrived. This morning I’m grateful to be warm inside with coffee, and feeling inspired as I look through different artworks done in pastels. Today I’m particularly inspired by the impressionist artist Edgar Degas, born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas in Paris, France on July 19, 1834. Degas was not just a painter and sculptor, but also skilled with pastels. In this work, Dancers Resting, I’m drawn to the soft illumination, the airy puffiness of the underlayers of the skirt, the blue shadows on skin, and the underlying sketch marks that add a…