About Pastels

   
Pastels is a wonderful medium with very rich color. Pastel is pure pigment, the same pigment used in other fine art paints. The pigment is ground into a paste with a small amount of binder and then rolled into sticks. They should not be confused with colored chalk, which is quite unsuitable for fine art drawing and painting. Pastels have extreme longevity when they are created on a conservation ground and properly framed. There are pastel paintings in the national galleries that were created in the sixteenth century and their colors are as bright and vivid as the day they were painted.

Pastels are a versatile medium and there are many different ways of using them. There is some confusion when we speak of "pastel painting" because pastel, as a dry medium, often tends to be thought of as a drawing tool. But due to the pastels capabilities, one can use a painterly approach, building layers of pigment, often giving it the look similiar to oil. There are many fine manufacturers of pastels, however my favorites are NuPastels of the hard, Rembrandt, Sennelier, Schmincke and Terry Ludwig pastels of the soft and also the CarbOthello pencils. I generally use all of the above when I create a painting. I paint only on archival, museum quality papers or boards, many of which come in a variety of colors.

All of my paintings begin with a simple but accurate charcoal drawing. Then pastel is applied, with combinations of color mixing done directly on the painting surface with the sticks of pigment. I will sometimes use blending tools, however usually my fingers are my best means of blending. Keeping it simple at first, I begin to establish the middle and dark values and finally the lights. Layers of pastel are added, moving from big and simple shapes to smaller and more complex refining stages, until most or all of my ground is completely covered, giving my work a painterly look.

Rarely do I use a fixative. Even with the use of fixative, there may be a few particles of pigment to fall from the painting, depending on the ground support used. It's simply the nature of the medium and using a spacer behind the mats alleviates any minimal dusting. Conservation framing is vital for pastel paintings, however, if shipment of the artwork is necessary, it will be sent  flat and covered with a sheet of glassine paper for protection, enclosed between solid packing materials. Your painting will then need to be professionally framed by someone in your locality. I offer custom conservation matting and framing for local purchases and local commission clients.