While it might be tempting to use watercolor paper or drawing paper when using pastels, go with a true pastel paper at least for the very first time. There is no separate palette or mixing tray that you use in order to dial in the color of choice. With direct application of the media to the surface, and no blending tray, should you make a poor color selection , you simply have to live with it.
Now when using oil pastels, as we eluded to above, they cannot really be blended that well especially when compared to the other types of pastels. In addition to keeping everything in place on the paper surface, fixatives can also be used to build up a layer or two in your artwork.
So, if you want to generate a bit of tooth again for another layer of pastel, just simply give it a spray with a fixative of your choice, let it dry , and start working again. Glassine is a special type of paper that is used for protecting and preserving pastel works. In fact, some pads of pastel paper will actually have glassine between each one of the sheets for easy portability — like the Canson Mi-Teintes Pastel Paper Pad.
One thing that is truly unique about pastels is the exposure of pigment in the finished piece. Unlike paint where the pigment is mixed in with a binder, the pigment in pastel is fairly raw….
This includes proper mounting and a UV barrier source. However, unlike other mediums you might be familiar with, pastels particularly soft ones are going to kick up dust while you are working. Should the weather be nice, some artists may like to sit outside while using pastels and simply place their pad either on their lap or a sturdy art easel. As much as we would love to keep talking about pastels, we wanted to show you a few pieces of work that really caught our eye. Here you can see the raw beauty of pastels and the type of work you can plan on creating yourself in your own studio when you take the plunge into this lovely medium:.
Pastels are a complex medium. From techniques to the nuances between just soft pastels alone would be enough for us to write for weeks on end.
Mary is a self-taught artist that has been painting for over 20 years. Mary favors traditional media including oil, acrylic, and watercolors. Mary started Createlet to expand on this goal and bring her teaching skills to a wider audience. Pastels have a higher pigment concentration than any other artist medium hence the rich, luminous colors that pastels can achieve. The powdered pigments used in pastels are similar to those found in oil paints. Pastels can be hard or soft.
Soft pastels have more pigment and less binder, so they are easier to smudge and have brighter colors. Hard pastels have less pigment and more binder than soft pastels. Hard pastels can stay relatively sharp, so they are ideal for pastel artwork that requires tight detail. What is the difference between a pastel painting and a pastel drawing? A pastel painting refers to a pastel artwork in which the paper is fully covered in pastel. If the surface of the paper is not totally covered in pastel and some of the paper underneath shows though, then it is referred to as a pastel drawing.
Making your own pastels is a bit more complicated than making acrylic paints or watercolor paints, but overall it is still a fairly easy process.
Here are the steps to making your own pastels:. A Place powdered gum tragacanth into a glass jar, add water and mix to dissolve. The ratio is typically 1 part gum tragacanth to 30 parts water. Close the jar and refrigerate it for at least 48 hours. The mixture will become a gelatinous solution. B Place powdered pigment on a glass palette. Make a hole in the middle of the pile of pigment. Pour a very small amount of the gum tragacanth solution into the center of the pigment.
Using a palette knife, mix the pigment and the gum tragacanth solution. C If necessary, add more gum solution. Mix thoroughly until the mixture reaches a doughy consistency. D To make a lighter shade of blue, add a pile of white pigment to the remaining blue pastel. Add a small amount of gum tragacanth, and repeat the mixing process.
E Mold the doughy pastel into a stick form. Place the pastel on absorbent paper, such as a paper towel. Allow the pastel to dry typically hours. You can create your pastels in any shape that you want, depending on what you might want to use it for. F The dried pastels and the marks that they make on abrasive paper. Unlike acrylics and watercolors, which are mixed and blended on the palette before being applied to the paper or the canvas, pastels are blended directly on the paper itself.
Pastels can be blended in a variety of ways, such as blending with a finger, a tortillon, a Q-tip, a cloth, or a special pastel blending tool that is designed specifically for blending pastels. A A layer of pastel is applied to the paper, using the side of the pastel. Loose pastel particles are visible on the surface of the paper. B A layer of pastel before it is blended, followed by an image showing how it looks after just over half of the layer of pastel has been blended.
C This photo shows the process of the pastel being blended with a finger, which is the most common technique for blending pastel.
D A layer of white pastel has been applied over top of the blended light blue pastel. It is then smoothly blended with the bottom layer of pastel. Next, explore how a pastel painting is created, from start to finish! In this demonstration, we used NuPastel by Prismacolor, which is a hard pastel — excellent for detail. The abrasive paper has a strong tooth, which catches the pastel pigments as the pastel moves across the surface of the paper. Outlining the background makes it easier to work on the foreground.
You could paint the same painting on each of the different surfaces and find different challenges and different results. Below I demonstrate some of the ways of using hard and soft pastel in a painting, using a 3-stage process.
I am working on watercolour paper with a light clear gesso underpainting, using the brands Unison, Rembrandt and Conte. So really there is only one thing to do. Play, mix, experiment. Try and get your hands on a variety of pastel surfaces and pastels themselves. Mix things about and see what works and what does not. Try moving the pigment about with water or pure alcohol or mix in with charcoal. Judy Tate has been drawn to soft pastels for most of her painting life.
She followed a structured learning with The Open College of Arts and attendance at a wide variety of workshops in different mediums and techniques. In the last decade Judy now focuses almost entirely on soft pastels with some mixed media.
You can find out more about Judy on her website: www. I have only done watercolour and decided to have a change. My birthday is in May so I thought I might have a request list for my new hobby. This is my first visit to the site and need to reread all the advice before I feel more confident to make a start. I enjoyed reading this as it is very informative on the different types of pastels and their uses. I might try pastels again sometime!
They are durable, versatile, and great for sketching and producing artistic effects. They render smooth and soft strokes because of its creamy texture. I started with oil pastel but found it rather sketchy and soon moved on to soft pastels. My choice was Windsor and Newton which I am sad to see have been discontinued. I liked to use very heavy unbleached water color paper or alternatively color before use. I have read extensively about Degas methods, I never do the under painting, but do use fixative and work over it again.
I suppose Rowneys are still going.
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