Pastel Technique Secrets

2009 Emma Ralph - All Rights Reserved. www.paintingwithpastels.
com

1

Pastel Painting
Secrets
pastels made easy

By Emma Ralph

2009 Emma Ralph - All Rights Reserved. www.paintingwithpastels.com

2

PLEASE NOTE: You Do NOT Have the Right to
Reprint or Resell this e-Book

You Also MAY NOT Give Away,
Sell, Copy or Share the Content Herein

If you obtained this report from anywhere other than
http://www.paintingwithpastels.com or any of its affiliated websites
you have a pirated copy.

Please help stop Internet crime by reporting this to:
mailto:emma@paintingwithpastels.com
2009 Copyright Emma Ralph

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
informational storage or retrieval system without express written, dated and signed
permission from the author.

DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES:
The information presented herein represents the view of the author as of the date of
publication. Because of the rate with which conditions change, the author reserves the right to
alter and update her opinion based on the new conditions. The book is for informational
purposes only. While every attempt has been made to verify the information provided in this
book, neither the author nor her affiliates/partners assume any responsibility for errors,
inaccuracies or omissions. Any slights of people or organizations are unintentional. If advice
concerning legal or related matters is needed, the services of a fully qualified professional
should be sought.


3
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction To Pastels Page 7
How Are Pastels Made?
How Pastels Work
Getting Started

Chapter 2: The Tools You Will Need Page 10
What To Work On
Tools For Blending
Tools For Correcting
Fixative
Other Tools

Chapter 3: The Pastels Page 18
Soft Pastels
Hard Pastels
Chalk Pastels
Oil Pastels
Pastel Crayons
Pastel Pencils
Water Soluble Pastels
Soft Pastels Versus Oil Pastels
Choosing Your Pastels

Chapter 4: Different Types Of Paper Page 26
The Paper
Tint or color Papers
Other Surfaces
Making Your Own

Chapter 5: Setting Up Your Work Space Page 30
Lighting
Indoor Setting
Outdoor Setting


4

Chapter 6: Keeping It Clean Page 32
The Dust
How Toxic Are Pastels?
Is It Safe To Work With Pastels?
Wearing Gloves
Keeping Hands Clean

Chapter 7: Looking After Your Pastels Page 35
Storage Of Your Pastels
Traveling With Pastels
Keep Pastels Clean While Working
Cleaning Pastels

Chapter 8: Techniques Page 39
Blending
Hatching & Cross-Hatching
Shading
Scumbling
Feathering
Pointillism
Dusting
Glazing
Side Stroke
Other Techniques
Some Common Mistakes

Chapter 9: All About Colors Page 47
Primary Colors
Secondary Colors
Tertiary Colors
Color Wheel
Complementary Colors
Split Primaries
Warm & Cool Colors
Colorful Grays & Shadows
Working With Colors
Mixing By Overlaying Colors


5
Chapter 10: Composition Page 51
The Focal Point
The Golden Ratio
The Rule Of Thirds
The Elements

Chapter 11: The Importance Of Value Page 56
Learn The Values
Are The Values Varied?
Too Much Middle Value
Value Relative To Other Value
How To Think About Value
Organizing

Chapter 12: Underpainting Page 60
Underpainting With Pastel
Underpainting With Water Color
Underpainting With Gouache Or Acrylic
Underpainting With Oil Paint
Effects
Experiment With Underpainting

Chapter 13: Using Photos Page 65
Why Shouldnt You Use Photos?
A Reference Photo Not Art
Photos Can Lie
Painting From Other Peoples Photos
Making The Painting Better Than The Photo
Play Around With Photos

Chapter 14: How To Make Pastels Page 69
Cheap Pastel Recipe
True Pastel Recipe
When Pastels Shatter

Chapter 15: Storing/Framing Your Work Page 72
Storing Pastel Paintings
Using Fixative At The End


6
Protection
Without Mat
With Mat
Mounting Board
Framing Your Painting
How To Frame (With Mat)
Protect You Art Without The Expense

Tips Page 79

Different Brands Page 82

Conclusion Page 85

Resources Page 86


7
CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO PASTELS

Hello and welcome to the world of pastels! Pastels are a fantastic
medium due to their simplicity and versatility. To work with pastels all
you need is paper (or another textured surface), your fingers and the
pastel sticks themselves.

Pastels combine the speed and convenience of a drawing medium with
the intense color saturation of paint (this is why pastels are referred to
more often as a painting medium than a drawing medium, and why
this book will refer to paintings rather than drawings). Whether
youre a novice in the artistic world or an old pro in a different
medium, youll love pastels for all sorts of reasons.

In terms of subjects, pastels are great for portrait work, whether its a
preliminary study or the finished article, and theyre particularly good
at allowing the landscape artist to capture fleeting details such as
clouds and skies. Pastels are a very immediate medium; both quick
and forgiving of mistakes.

Among artists, pastels are renowned for their vibrancy, luminosity, and
intensity of color. Theyre also one of the easiest mediums to work
with. You dont need to prepare your surface before you begin, and
you dont need to use chemicals to clean up afterwards.

Historically, pastels suited the Impressionist temperament, due to
their spontaneity, freshness, richness of color relationships, portability
(good for working outside), ability to capture the fleeting light and the
fleeting moment, and ability to capture a sense of physical movement
of light and breeze.

In terms of technique, pastels as a medium are unlike any other. They
lend themselves to blending and layering of colors and tones in order
to build up to the finished image.


8
Be aware that the word pastels refers to a broad range of tools. Soft
pastels are the most commonly used, and are what most people mean
when they talk about pastels, but hard pastels and oil pastels also
exist. Pastel pencils are great for detailed work and are often used in
combination with soft pastels.

Unlike some artistic mediums, pastel painting is a dirty medium that
frequently involves the use of hands and fingers in creating effects on
the paper. In fact, many people liken it to adult finger painting!
Theres also no right or wrong way to use pastels the only important
thing is that you have fun while youre doing it.

HOW ARE PASTELS MADE?

Pastels usually are made from three ingredients: pigment; filler, and
binder. The pigment provides the color, the filler (which is usually clay
or white chalk) provides opacity (i.e. it makes the pastel less
translucent), and can be varied in amount to produce different shades
of pastels, and the binder makes it all stick together. The pigments
used in making pastels are the same pigments that are used in making
oil and watercolor paints.

Pastels are made by mixing these three ingredients together to form a
paste, which, incidentally, is where pastels got their name from. This
paste is moistened and forced through a machine that shapes the
paste into long cylinders. These pastel cylinders are then cut, shaped,
and dried.

In the past, making pastels was a very labor-intensive process, as the
materials from which the pigment was made had to be mixed and
ground by hand. Now ready-made pastels in a huge range of colors
are readily available from any art supply store.

Note that some pastels are made from just one ingredient: pigment.
These 100% pigment pastels are highly regarded, but on the downside
they are soft and expensive.


9
HOW PASTELS WORK

The mechanism of painting with pastels is simple: when a pastel stick
is drawn across a textured surface, such as art paper, it crumbles
slightly, releasing particles of pigment. The grain of the paper (i.e. the
tiny ridges, troughs and bumps on its surface) provides the necessary
grip to hold the pigment particles (this property is referred to as
tooth), and so color is left on the surface. Often loose pigment dust
will also be left on the surface, but this can simply be gently shaken
off.

GETTING STARTED

If youre keen to get started making pastel paintings, youll need to
acquire a set of pastels. Before you go to your art supply store, be
aware that pastels are grouped according to how soft they are. Soft
pastels are better for shading and blending, but hard pastels are better
for fine lines and details. Its useful to have both, but its the soft
pastels that are the more useful of the two.

Your first set of pastels should be in a medium-soft grade. Unless you
absolutely cant afford to, its worth paying a little more for a set that
arent the absolute cheapest available. There is a brief look at a few of
the brands on the market at the end of this book.

If your art supply store carries a lot
of brands and you dont know which
to buy, try a set of Rembrandts.
Rembrandt pastels come in a wide
variety of colors, are highly regarded
among pastel artists, and arent as
expensive as some brands. Theyre
also easy to get hold of; most art
supply store will stock them.

For more information on buying pastels, see Choosing Your Pastels, in
Chapter 3.


10
CHAPTER 2

THE TOOLS YOU WILL NEED

WHAT TO WORK ON

Easels

Aside from the pastels themselves, the most important equipment
consideration for the pastel artist is what to use to support your
masterpieces-in-the-making while you are working on them. An easel
is an obvious choice.

Unsurprisingly, there are a massive range of easels available today,
and an equally wide range of price points you can pay anywhere
from less than $20 up to several thousand dollars.

One useful feature of any easel is that it allows you to take a step back
from your work-in-progress to get a better idea of how it balances.
And, of course, theres nothing like an easel to make you look the part
of the artist!

When choosing an easel, pay attention to how stable it is. Particularly
if you intend to work plein air (i.e. outside) you dont want to risk your
easel falling over and landing your artwork in the dirt. Consider
whether your chosen easel will catch the wind if a breeze picks up.
Also consider, of course, size. If you want to have the option of
producing large pieces, youll need an easel that can accommodate
them. If you dont know yet how big you want to work, buy one size
bigger than you think you might need so that you have room to go
larger as your confidence and ambition grows.

While most easels are designed primarily for painting, one option is a
special-purpose pastel easel. The key feature of these is that you can
tilt them slightly forward, so that excess pastel dust falls off the


11
surface and onto the floor below, rather than running down your
surface and marking areas of it as it does so.

While easels are popular, some pastel artists dont use an easel,
preferring instead to work on a surface that is closer to perpendicular
with the ground, such as a drafting table.

Tables

Drafting tables, such as those commonly used by architects, are
usually taller than normal tables. This is to enable you to work
comfortably standing up, which in turn makes it easy to take a step
back and get an overview of how your work is progressing. If youd
rather sit, get a high stool to go with your table. This is more
comfortable for close, detailed work, so its good to have the option to
sit even if you normally stand (contrary to popular belief, suffering for
your art is entirely optional!).

A useful feature of drafting tables is that they are tilted, or have the
option of being tilted. This allows excess particles to roll off the
surface, and collect at the bottom of the table in the pencil groove,
from where you can easily wipe it off. However, you should work from
the top down when youre using a slanted surface like a drafting table
so that the pastel doesnt mark areas youve already worked on as it is
rolling down your surface.

The simplest option for supporting your artworks while you work on
them is an ordinary, flat table. If you just use a table you already have
then this is obviously the cheapest option. If you feel that you need an
angled surface but dont want to invest in a drafting table, you can buy
drawing boards (see below) that you can simply place on an existing
table. These come with little rubber feet, so that the top edge of the
board is raised.

Drawing Boards

A drawing board is essentially just a large, solid, smooth surface on
which to fix your paper. If you use an easel, youll need a drawing
board as well, but they can also be used on their own. A drawing
board can be as simple as a piece of heavy cardboard, plywood or
Masonite, but wood is the luxury option.


12
Purpose-made drawing boards are of course available from art supply
stores, but a much cheaper option is to make your own. When youre
buying materials for your drawing board, think about what size youll
need, keeping in mind that full-sized pastel paper is 30 x 24in (76 x
60cm).

If youre going to use your drawing board with an easel, ensure that
the easel is sturdy enough to support it.

If you work on paper in a pad rather than loose sheets, a drawing
board is not obligatory, as the cardboard backing of the pad itself
serves a similar function.

Youll need to hold your paper to your drawing board with something;
metal bulldog clips work on masonite, and for cardboard or wood you
have the option to use push pins (one in each corner is best).

If you use a drawing board, a good idea is to put some extra sheets of
paper (newsprint is fine) between the sheet you are working on and
the board, to create a softer and more yielding surface.

TOOLS FOR BLENDING

One of the best things about working with pastels is that its very easy
to blend colors after theyre on the paper. This can be done with just
your fingers or the sides of your hands, but another option is to use a
specific tool. Using a tool will leave you with cleaner hands! Most
blending tools are free (or practically free), and some you can make
yourself.

Stumps And Tortillons

Paper stumps are just paper, tightly rolled so that theres a point at
one end. Tortillons are the same as stumps, but rolled looser. This
makes them more effective for fixing and short blending. Fixing is
pressing the pastel into the paper so that it doesnt smudge, and/or so
that it has a sharper, more defined edge (this is a technique
particularly used in detail work). Short blending is blending colors in a
small area; usually just two colors along the border where they meet.
Tortillons are also used to soften the edge of an area of color, so that a
transition is not as sharp.


13
Tortillons and paper stumps get dirty and worn down quickly with use.
When this happens, just unroll the paper and reroll to a fresh, clean
point.

In addition to blending, tortillons and paper stumps are also used for
highlighting (i.e. removing color from an area of block color to
represent something bright).

Its worth having stumps/tortillons in several different sizes and
lengths (or just make them to size as you need them).

Note that stumps and tortillons work best with pastel pencils. They can
be used with soft pastels as well, but they are of only limited use with
hard pastels, as hard pastels dont blend easily. If you are using pastel
pencils, you can color areas by first using two or more pencils with (for
example) a cross-hatching technique, then using stumps to blend
them together.

Styrofoam

Styrofoam, in the form of packing pellets or similar, is a perfectly
serviceable option as a blending tool, and (if youve ever received a
package in the mail) is free.

Q-Tips (Cotton Buds)

Another blending tool, Q-tips are particularly useful for fine detail
work.


14
Color Carvers

A color carver is more or less just a pencil eraser on a paintbrush
handle, but its actually a very useful tool. Color carvers can be used to
fix your pastels (i.e. press them into the paper), and are very effective
at this (better than tortillons), and can also be used to spread pastel
that has been thickly laid on your paper a bit like a paintbrush. Be
careful though, as if you push too hard color carvers act like an eraser
normally would (NB: if you want to erase something, use a kneaded
eraser, not a color carver).

TOOLS FOR CORRECTING

No matter how careful you are, youll definitely need correcting tools.
This is not because youll definitely make mistakes (though theres no
shame if you do), but because pastel, by its nature, doesnt stay just
where its put making clean-ups inevitable.

Kneaded (Putty) Erasers

For corrections and clean-ups, the best tool to use is a kneaded
eraser. Kneaded erasers are made of putty, meaning that theyre soft
and easily pinched into whatever shape you need, including fine points
and thin edges. This allows you to clean small areas of your paper
without affecting whatever is nearby. They can also be used for
blending, and again the ability to shape them easily is useful for this.

Kneaded erasers are particularly useful for fine highlighting, such as
used for individual hairs in portrait work.

Once the point or edge of your kneaded eraser becomes dirty, just
remold the eraser so that you get a clean part again.

Hard erasers are best avoided, as its too easy for them to damage
your paper.

Kneaded erasers can be purchased in any art store. If you cant get
hold of one, a product such as Blu-Tack does more or less the same
thing (its often the case with art supplies that everyday items are
nearly as good and far cheaper than something made specifically for
the task!).


15
Brushes

Paintbrushes are a versatile tool and can be used for both blending
and correction work. Soft and hard brushes are both useful, depending
on the type of pastels you are using (pastel pencils, soft pastels, or
hard pastels) and what you want to achieve.

Soft brushes are usually used to blend or feather one color into
another. Blending with a soft brush will give your blending a
corresponding soft look. The difference between using a tortillon (or
stump) for blending and using a brush is that a tortillon tends to push
the pastel into the paper, while a brush lifts and carries the particles.
This means that brush blending is more gradual than the blending
effect you get with a tortillon.

Along with traditional brushes (i.e. those with bristles), sponge-head
brushes, such as those used for stenciling, are also useful. They can be
used to burnish color onto your paper, and to remove color, for
corrections and highlighting.

A stiff bristle brush, such as those normally used for oil painting, is
useful for getting rid of excess particles in situations where precision
isnt necessary, such as where the particles have drifted onto white
areas of your paper. For this purpose any old brush will do; you dont
need a new brush if it will only be used for corrections like these.

FIXATIVE

Fixative sprays are used to coat finished pastel artworks. Their
purpose is: 1) to fix the pastel particles to the paper, so that they
dont fall off, get knocked off, smudge, or smear when the work is
handled, and 2) to prevent dust from adhering to the surface in a way
thats impossible to remove without removing the pastels as well.

Fixative sprays are readily available from art supply stores, and are
inexpensive.

It must be said that the question of whether using a fixer is a good
idea is an area of some debate in the pastel art world. Many people
choose not to use them. The reasons for this are several. First,


16
fixatives are not 100% effective. Even a pastel work that is well
sprayed with fixer will still smudge to a degree if handled roughly.
Second, spraying pastels with fixer inevitably changes how they look.
Pastels sprayed with fixer look duller than those without, losing some
of their sparkle. Even if its not a dramatic change, its worth
considering this cost before you decide to use it.

Aside from its use on finished works, fixer can also be used while
youre still working on a piece in order to restore the tooth of the
paper. If youve reached a point where the paper just wont take any
more pastel, spray the area with fixer and youll find that you can
continue adding layers.

If you decide not to use fixer, the only alternative if you want to keep
your works pristine is to have them framed behind glass. The
matboard will keep the paper from touching the glass, and the glass
will keep out the dust. Keep in mind that because of the need to
handle it with care, framing an unfixed pastel is difficult, and for this
reason is a job best left to a professional. For more on this topic see
Chapter 15 Storing/Framing Your Work.

OTHER TOOLS

Pastel Sharpening Tools

Often youll want to sharpen your pastels to
a fine edge or point for detail work. You can
easily do this using either a craft knife or
medium grade sandpaper.

If you use sandpaper you can control the
process a little more than if you use a craft
knife. The best way to do it is to glue a
piece of sandpaper (say about 4 x 1in) to a
piece of wood or thick cardboard. Now you
have a flat surface that you can rub your
pastels on to sharpen them.

If youre careful, the pastel dust that comes


17
off when you sharpen with sandpaper can be saved and used for
undertones before you start your pastel painting (apply it with a
sponge brush).

Keep in mind that softer pastels are prone to breaking/crumbling, so
sharpen them with care.

You can sharpen pastel pencils as you would an ordinary lead
(graphite) pencil, using a good pencil sharpener.

Miscellaneous Tools

In additional to using one for sharpening pastels, a utility or craft knife
is also useful for cutting your paper.

A chamois cloth can be used to wet-blend pastels. When clean and dry
they are also useful for removing excess pigment.

This is a strange one, but a small mirror can be useful in reviewing
your work. Turn your back to your easel and look at your work-in-
progress in the mirror over your shoulder. For whatever reason, this is
an effective way of getting a fresh look at your work and seeing where
it needs more work.

Graphite drawing pencils are useful for sketching out your work before
you start to work with your pastels. Theyre made from graphite mixed
with clay, and like ordinary pencils, are graded by how hard or soft
they are. Its useful to have a few in various grades of softness on
hand.

Cont sticks (also known as Cont pencils or crayons) are another
drawing medium. Theyre similar to pastels, but theyre harder and
have a greater pigment density. Theyre also square rather than
circular in cross-section. Their shape and hardness makes Cont sticks
better for detailed and cross-hatching work than pastels.


18
CHAPTER 3

THE PASTELS

One of the great things about working with pastels is the wonderful
variety of colors and brands to choose from. Every conceivable color
and tone seems to be represented. On the other hand, all that choice
can be a little overwhelming!

Further confusing things is that fact that every manufacturer of pastels
labels their colors differentlyand some dont label them at all! Youll
come across boxes of pastels where your only option is to simply look
for the color that you want to use.

Not only that, there are also the different types
of pastel (soft, hard, wax and oil) to consider.
And even within those types, each brand varies
slightly in texture from others that go by the
same name. You wont be able to learn about
those differences other than through trying them
yourself.

Finally, pastel sticks come in different sizes.
Should you want to, you buy your pastels in
half-length, full-length, chunky, thin or jumbo sizes.

As you can see, theres a world of choice for the budding pastel artist
when it comes to buying pastels. Theres no substitute for trying things
for yourself, but this section will provide you with a basic
understanding of the various types of pastels, as this is the most
important distinction.


19
SOFT PASTELS

Soft pastels are the original form of the medium, and are what most
people are referring to when they talk about pastels. They are the
most popular of the types.

Soft pastels contain a higher ratio of pigment-to-binder than other
pastels, which makes the color they produce on paper more saturated
and intense. The higher concentration of pigment also makes them
softer (as the name suggests!) and prone to crumbling. Because of
their unique characteristics, soft pastels perform like and are thought
of more as a painting medium than a drawing medium.

It is very often the rich colors and painterly qualities of soft pastels
that attract people to pastel painting as a medium in the first place.

Some soft pastels are composed entirely of pigment (i.e. no binder or
filler is added). Artists who work with soft pastels generally regard
these as the best, however, 100% pigment pastels are expensive
around US$4-7 per individual pastel stick.

Brands that make 100% pure pigment pastels include Unison,
Sennelier, Schminke and Terry Ludwig. A cheaper (but still good
quality) 100% pigment brand is Nupastel.

HARD PASTELS

In contrast to soft pastels, hard pastels contain less pigment and more
binder. This makes them harder and therefore better for making crisp,
precise marks and lines. Hard pastels are generally used primarily for
preliminary sketching and for detail work. The colors produced by hard
pastels are not as intense as those produced by soft pastels.

Its common for pastel artists to use both hard and soft pastels in one
artwork. This typically follows the following pattern:

1) Hard pastels are used to sketch and layout the artwork;
2) Soft pastels are laid over the hard pastels, filling in and providing
the color; and then
3) Hard pastels are used again for the fine details.


20
Note that while the technique of layering soft pastels over hard pastels
is effective, the reverse is not, as hard pastels will scrape soft pastels
away.

CHALK PASTELS

Chalk pastels are, as the name suggests, a chalk-based medium. They
contain less pigment than other types of pastels, create a lot of
dust/mess when used, and are significantly less expensive than soft
pastels. Chalk pastels are mentioned here for completeness, but as
they arent much better quality than blackboard chalk, theyre best
avoided. Even if theyre cheap, theyre usually not worth it.

OIL PASTELS

Oil pastels use oil as a binder rather than gum. This makes oil pastels
dust-free, but gives them a soft, almost buttery texture. It also makes
them highly sensitive to temperature so much so that they typically
soften when they are being used just from the heat from your fingers.

Like soft pastels, oil pastels produce very vibrant colors. They also
have the advantage of versatility, in that they can be used on canvas,
paper and board equally effectively. They can be also be applied
thickly, impasto style (this is the style of oil painting where the paint is
laid on so thickly that the knife- or brush-strokes are visible).

Oil pastels can be used with turpentine like oil paints, to produce a
wash or glaze, and they also combine well with other mediums, such
as oil paints and watercolors.

PASTEL CRAYONS

Pastel crayons are half-way between soft and hard pastels. They are of
medium hardness, which means they can be used both for the
painting-type techniques commonly used with soft pastels, and for the
fine lines and detail normally associated with hard pastels.

Pastel crayons are a compromise, but their advantage is versatility and
durability. This makes them a favorite among pastel artists who want


21
to work outdoors and need a robust medium that is compact and can
be transported easily. One downside is that they arent available in as
large a range of colors as soft pastels.

PASTEL PENCILS

Pastel pencils are like a hybrid of pencils and crayons; they have the
consistency of a soft crayon encased in wood. Pastel pencils are
perfect for detail work and can be blended to an extent. Most pastel
artists will want to acquire a set of hard pastels or pastel pencils for
fine work.

WATER SOLUBLE PASTELS

Water soluble pastels are something of an ingenious invention, as they
can be used both wet and dry. Dry, they can be used to draw with.
Then you can brush over the drawing with water to create watercolor
effects.

Water soluble pastels are also available in the form of pastel pencils.
The range of colors that water soluble pastels are available in is rather
limited, however.

SOFT PASTELS VERSUS OIL PASTELS

While soft pastels are the most popular type of pastels, oil pastels
clearly have their advantages, and artists who use soft pastels are
often curious about what oil pastels can offer. As such its worth
discussing the relative pros and cons in some detail.

One advantage of soft pastels is that you can get by with a looser
coverage of them on your surface. It takes longer to fill an area of
your surface with oil pastels, and this can make the difference between
finishing an 18 x 24in piece of work inside two hours, and struggling to
finish an 11 x 14in paper in the same time. This is particularly
significant when youre working outside and have only limited time to
finish a piece.


22
Also, soft pastels are water soluble, which means that large areas of
color can be easily blocked in using a wet brush. A similar effect with
oil pastels requires the use of turpentine. The water solubility of soft
pastels also makes cleaning up after using them much easier.

An upside to oil pastels is that theyre dust free. Anyone who has used
soft pastels knows that loose pastel dust is a continual annoyance
when using them. It comes with the territory, but that doesnt mean
its not annoying, particularly when it marks an adjacent area of color
on your surface. Oil pastels are also not prone to smudging like soft
pastels are.

Oil pastels can be used on a wider range of surfaces than soft pastels.
This is because they arent as sensitive to tooth (again, tooth refers to
the ability of the paper to grab and hold particles of pigment). This can
open up many new creative possibilities. On the other hand, because
oil pastels are slightly translucent, surfaces which are other than white
in color can make colors appear dull.

The sensitivity of oil pastels to heat means that they must be handled
with more care than soft pastels. For example, they cant be left in a
car during hot weather. They have even been known to melt and fall
apart while in use if its a particularly hot day and youre working
outdoors.

A final difference between soft pastels and oil pastels is how they act
when used for layering. When used for layering, oil pastels tend to
collect a lot of the color that is already on the surface. This
necessitates cleaning the tips frequently during use, and usually at the
end of the session as well.

Overall, while differences exist between soft pastels and oil pastels,
the artist can use them both in the same way, and the results are
generally indistinguishable from one another. For artists who dont like
dust and dont want to work large, oil pastels may be the better
choice.


23
CHOOSING YOUR PASTELS

If you are ready to buy your first pastels, the first thing youll need to
decide is whether to start out with a set or buy them individually; all
the major manufacturers of artist-quality pastels sell their wares both
individually and in ready-made sets.

Buying A Set

Buying your first pastels in a set has the advantage of convenience
you dont need to make any decisions about what colors to select, you
can just pick a brand and accept the manufacturers wisdom about
what colors are important enough to include in the set.

If you do buy a ready-made set youll inevitably find over time that
there are some colors you use a lot and some you hardly use at all.
Greens and blues tend to go more quickly than bright reds and
oranges, for example. However, you can always replace the ones you
use up individually, and the ones you dont use very often wont go
anywhere unlike paint, pastels never perish.

Ready-made boxes of pastel sticks range in size from just six sticks to
large boxes containing the entire range (150+ sticks). If youre just
starting out, look for a happy medium of about 30.

As mentioned in the introduction, a good brand which is not too
expensive and which is available almost everywhere is Rembrandt. A
set of Rembrandt pastels would get any novice pastel painter off to a
great start.

Buying Individually

Buying your pastels individually allows you more control over what
colors you have. Also, if you start small (10 sticks is enough novice
pastel painters often make the mistake of buying too many colors at
the outset), it may be a cheaper approach, as youll only be paying for
the colors you like and will use.

If youre serious about pastels, a set of between 30 and 40 is about
how many youll eventually need to have a good range of colors (see
below), but you can add to your first 10 one at a time according to
your needs and build up to this kind of number slowly.


24

Here are some suggestions for your first 10 pastel sticks. These are
aimed at giving you a set of mid-tones (for more information on
colors, see Chapter 9 All About Colors)

Warm red (scarlet lake, permanent red, or poppy red);
Cold red (carmine, alizarin crimson, or madder lake);
Orange (mid orange or permanent orange);
Cold yellow (lemon yellow);
Warm green (permanent green or phthalo green);
Cold green (blue green or turquoise);
Cold blue (cerulean blue);
Warm blue (French ultramarine or ultramarine deep);
Cold violet (ultramarine violet or blue violet); and
Warm violet (red violet or quinacrindone violet).

Adding To Your Collection

Once youve been using soft pastels for some time and youre sure you
want to continue with pastel painting, it will be time to get some hard
pastels to go along with your collection of soft pastels. As discussed
above (Hard Pastels), harder pastels are better for your initial
sketching and for detail work.

Also, if you know that you want to focus on a certain type of subject,
such as portraits or landscapes, youll probably want at some stage to
buy a targeted selection of pastels just for that purpose. The leading
manufacturers sell targeted selections in sets, or again you can buy
the sticks individually.

Finally, and again once youve been using pastels for a while and feel
comfortable with the medium, its worth sampling a few different
brands of pastels other than the one you started with. Characteristics
such as hardness differ between manufacturers, and you might find
that theres a particular brand which suits your personal style better
many pastel artists find that they prefer one brand over the others.
The cheapest way to do this is to buy just a couple of sticks from each


25
manufacturer, mix them into your collection, and see what you think
of them over time. If do you find a brand you like better, you can then
just buy its pastels one at a time to replace your existing pastels when
they are used up.

If you dont have an art supply store near where you live, you should
be able to buy pastels online very easily.

One last thing: whenever you buy pastels, pay attention to how light-
fast (this is the property of not fading over time) the pigments that
they contain are. Its possible that you (or your descendants!) will still
want something you painted today to be as bright and colorful in 30
years time, 50 years time, or more, so take the time to investigate
any claims the manufacturer makes about the light-fastness of their
pastels.


26
CHAPTER 4

DIFFERENT TYPES OF PAPER

Secondary in importance only to the pastels themselves is the pastel
painters choice of painting surface, of which paper is by far the most
popular choice (theres more on alterative surfaces below). It doesnt
end there however, because when it comes to pastel painting, paper is
not just paper! Different papers differ in tooth; texture; color; tint;
toughness; archival quality; flexibility; availability, and cost.

Tooth is an important variable, as tooth determines how much pastel
the paper can hold before it is choked with pigment and cant hold
any more. A paper that doesnt have much tooth might only be good
for sketching, while one with ample tooth will be necessary if you plan
to do a lot of layering. For this reason more tooth is generally better,
though sometimes strong tooth will make it harder to record fine detail
on the paper.

THE PAPER

Pastel artists are spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing a paper.
There are numerous manufacturers of pastel papers, and most make
several kinds of paper with different levels of tooth and different
textures.

Some papers have a velvety texture, which gives your work a very
smooth finish. However, these tend to be low in tooth. At the other
end of the spectrum youll find papers that are akin to sandpaper-in-
disguise in fact, some artists actually just buy (fine) sandpaper to
paint on! It tends to be hit-and-miss, but can give a strong impact,
and it even comes with a background color. Just dont try to blend
pastels with your fingers when working with sandpaper; you might
lose your fingerprints.

Rough-surfaced watercolor paper is a good choice, providing enough
tooth in a surface that is still gentle.


27
Weight is another consideration. Weight basically determines how
robust the paper will be in the face of rough treatment. If your style is
to work, rework, and blend your pastels, then of course you should
consider a heavier paper. Similarly if your paper is going to get wet at
some point, then heavier is better. Paper of at least 175gsm would be
a good starting point here.

Specialty pastel paper is of course widely available. It comes in a wide
variety of colors, from neutral and pastel to intense and dark colors.
You can buy it in pads or single sheets. Pads come in 9 x 12in and 12
x 18in, while single sheets are usually 18 x 24in or 19 x 25in. Three
good brands are Canson Ingres, Mi Teintes, and Strathmore
charcoal/pastel paper.

TINT OR COLOR PAPERS

When choosing a paper for your pastel paintings, give special
consideration to the color. The tint of your paper will significantly
affect the mood or the atmosphere of your work. This is first of all
because pastels never totally cover a surface there will always be
slight gaps where the background shows through. Its also because the
color of the paper will subtly affect the colors that are laid down on top
of them. The paper is a base coat, if you like.

As you can see by the above examples the same pastels are used on
both white and black paper, giving a very different result in color.

Briefly, a red-brown paper might be a good choice if you want to give
your painting a warm glow, and to make light yellows and creams
really vibrate. On the other hand, pale blue or gray paper will help
establish a subdued mood thats perfect for something like a winter
landscape.


28
OTHER SURFACES

While paper is the chosen surface for most people, pastels can in fact
be used on any surface that has the requisite properties. The surface
must be dry and smooth, but with enough tooth to catch and hold the
pastel pigments.

If you want to try something different, archival textured panels
designed for use with aqua and oil media fit the bill.

MAKING YOUR OWN

If you have the time, making your own surface for your pastel work is
not difficult. Youll need a ground mixture composed of binder, grit,
and (optionally) toner, and youll a need a substrate (this is the
surface that the ground mixture will be adhered to).

When choosing a substrate, youll want to consider both the archival
properties and the strength of your material. Heavy cardboard and
hardboard are favorite choices. If you want to use a thin material,
such as paper, apply some binder to the back of it so that its less
likely to buckle or warp. Watercolor and printmaking papers made of
100% cotton-rag are good choices, or for something rigid, try wood-
fiber hardboards or Gatorboard (seal the surface of both of these with
binder before you use them).

Grit is, of course, is the important part of your ground mixture and
what will provide your substrate with tooth. Either pumice or
Rottenstone powder are usually the grits of choice. Pumice comes in
varying degrees of coarseness: 2F; 3F, and 4F are the most widely
used. Experiment to see what works best for you. Pumice can be found
in most hardware stores and many art supply stores. Marble dust
(calcium carbonate), also available at most art supply stores, can be
used when a softer grit surface is desired.

The binder is what makes the grit adhere to the substrate. Acrylic
polymer is the best choice, being strong, flexible, and quick drying.
Acrylic gesso produces a white surface (good for underpainting
techniques), while acrylic painting medium produces a clear one. You
can use the binder either undiluted, or mixed with a little water to
make it thinner and smoother.


29
If you want to, you can add toner to your mixture of binder and grit in
order to change its color. You can add any acrylic color you like, or mix
colors together to get exactly what you want.

Once you have your ingredients, begin by mixing a cup of binder with
3 tablespoons of grit. You can thin this with water, but remember that
if you add too much water the grit might not adhere properly. Test
your mixture and add more grit and/or binder to suit your needs.

Some artists apply their grit mixture to the substrate with a brush,
incorporating the texture of the brush strokes into the finished work. A
smaller brush will give more texture, whereas a larger one will give
you a more even application.


30
CHAPTER 5

SETTING UP YOUR
WORK SPACE

If you have the room, your pastel painting will benefit from a space in
your home thats dedicated to it. Your workspace doesnt have to be a
large area, as long as its big enough that you can leave your supplies
out between sessions without them getting in anyones way. Youre
much more likely to sit down and paint when inspiration strikes if you
dont have to unpack and set up your materials first. This also makes it
practical for you to sit down and work for just a few minutes at a time
a good way to fit a little art into a busy lifestyle.

What your workspace looks like will depend a lot on whether you
decide to work on an easel, a drafting table, an ordinary table, or
something else (for more, see What To Work On, above). Dont forget
that if your drawing board or other support isnt angled, loose pastel
dust will accumulate on it, and if it is angled, pastel dust will run down
it and collect at the bottom, or fall off and onto the floor. If youre
working in a carpeted area, youll definitely need to protect it with a
dustsheet, no matter what other system you use for catching the dust.
A sheet of canvas or an old shower curtain work well and are
inexpensive.

In your workspace youll need space for your easel or other support,
and room for your materials. Keep your pastels in a tray, or better yet,
a trolley, so that you can easily move them into the best position while
you work. You will of course need your chosen support, and a chair or
stool (unless you always work standing up).

Optional but helpful extras are a shelf for reference books, a chest you
can store materials and paper in, and a source of ventilation, such as a
window or a fan.

Try to keep your workspace neat and tidy even if its big enough that
you dont really need to. Most people find that a neat workspace allows
them to concentrate better there is less to distract you.


31

LIGHTING

The importance of lighting in your workspace cant be overstated its
so important it gets its own heading! Ideally, you want adequate
natural light falling on both your painting surface and on your pastel
sticks, to enable you to accurately evaluate colors on the page and as
you reach for them. If natural light isnt a possibility, or there isnt
enough of it (and also for when you want to work at night), youll need
to add artificial light. Its important that your artificial light is the right
color, so use color-corrected fluorescent bulbs these provide a white
light that mimics natural light. Avoid incandescent bulbs, as they are
yellow toned. To put the bulbs in, lamps on flexible arms that you can
move into the perfect position are best.

OUTDOOR SETTING

Working outdoors makes a nice change if you usually work indoors,
and of course its virtually a necessity if you want to do landscapes.
However, it requires a little planning ahead so that you arent caught
short in the great outdoors without something you need. The best idea
is to make a list of what you need to remember to take with you, leave
it in your gear bag, and check it before every outing to ensure that
you have everything listed.

Your list might look something like this:

Drawing board (NB: use
something lightweight, such as
foamboard)
Paper
Pastels, Charcoal, pastel pencils
Easel (again, a lightweight one)
Bulldog clips
Baby wipes
Plastic tray for pastels
A can of fixative spray
Sketchbook and a pencil
A plastic bag large enough to
cover your drawing board (use
it to cover your work at the
end of the day to protect it on
the journey home)
Disposable (latex) gloves
A stool
A bag large enough to put it all
in


32
CHAPTER 6

KEEPING IT CLEAN

Theres no two ways about it: working with pastels is messy. Every
time you draw a pastel across your paper, some of the pigment will
catch and hold, and some will crumble off the pastel but just sit on the
surface of the paper as pastel dust. This is an unavoidable fact of life
for the pastel artist. Exactly how to get rid of that pastel dust without
it causing a mess, without breathing it in, and without it marking
adjacent areas of your surface, is one of the main headaches that
pastel artists need to deal with. Luckily, there are plenty of good
options for doing so.

Of primary concern for most pastel artists is ensuring that the dust
does not mark adjacent areas of color; if you arent careful then (for
example) adjacent black areas and white areas will turn each other
gray.

THE DUST

There are a number of different strategies of dealing with the
inevitable pastel dust created by working with pastels. Some people
periodically blow on their paper to remove dust, but a better method is
to face your paper towards the ground and gently tap/shake it. This
method doesnt spread the dust like blowing can, and also wont create
as much airborne dust for you to breathe in.

To catch falling dust particles while you are working at an easel, a
method many swear by is to make a V-shape out of newspaper, and
tape it to the bottom of the easel. Alternatively a wet paper towel does
the same job, and has the advantage that dust will stick to it. Or, if
your easel can do this, you can tilt your surface forward so that its
facing slightly towards the floor, and just also the dust to settle on
your dustsheet on the floor.


33
You also might want to consider buying an electronic air purifier (one
with an ionizer) for your workspace. The ionizer discharges negative
ions which attach to pastel dust in the air, making it easier for the
purifier to trap them. This means less airborne dust, making cleanup
easier and also lessening the amount of pastel dust that you will inhale
while you work (see below).

HOW TOXIC ARE PASTELS?

Whether or not your pastels are toxic will depend on their specific
ingredients, and this depends on their brand and when they were
made. Certainly in the past some pastels contained cobalt, chromium
or cadmium, all of which are toxic substances. Most manufacturers
have removed these from their pastels, though some pastels still
contain them. If youre in any doubt about the pastels you work with,
consult the manufacturer of your pastels directly for more information.

IS IT SAFE TO WORK WITH PASTELS?

Pastels are unlikely to cause any significant health concerns even if
dust from those containing toxic metals are inhaled or otherwise
ingested. On the other hand, why take chances? For safetys sake, and
simply for your own comfort, you should avoid inhaling or ingesting
pastel dust as much as possible. This means keeping your pastels
away from food, shaking your paper to dislodge dust rather than
blowing on it, and (particularly if you have asthma or other respiratory
ailments) wearing a surgical mask while you work. As noted above, an
air purifier is a good idea, as is a well ventilated workspace.

WEARING GLOVES

Theres no way you can work with pastels and not end up with colorful
hands. To make life easier at cleanup time (and if you have to run to
answer the phone), wear a pair of disposable latex gloves while you
work. The medical ones made come in boxes of 100 and are very
cheap.


34
KEEPING HANDS CLEAN

Wearing gloves may mean less washing up at the end of your session,
but whether or not you wear gloves, your hands will still collect color
(this is particularly the case with softer pastels), and you want to avoid
transferring this from pastel to pastel. To clean your hands/gloves
when switching from one pastel stick to another, keep something to
wipe them near where you are working. Baby wipes do a good job, as
does ordinary paper towel that youve moistened beforehand with a
little water. To make it really easy to access, put your paper towel in a
plastic bag and tie one handle to your easel.


35
CHAPTER 7

LOOKING AFTER YOUR
PASTELS

Pastel sticks are unfortunately prone to cross-contamination. Two
pastels that come into contact will inevitably discolor each other.
Ideally of course, you want to keep your pastels as pristine as
possible. Otherwise you might find yourself reaching for a green
pasteland getting a green pastel mixed with blue and a little red.

In order to keep your pastels from exchanging pigment, you need to
exercise care in the way you store and carry your pastels, and in the
way you handle and clean them while working.

STORAGE OF YOUR PASTELS

As noted above, whenever pastel sticks bump together they exchange
colors. This is exactly what you dont want, and this is why you want a
storage box that doesnt allow your pastels to touch or to move around
once they are stowed. Luckily, there are plenty of cases on the market
that fit the bill. Though pricey, a proper pastel storage box with
individual foam slots for each stick is hard to beat.

Youll be able to find pastel storage boxes like this at your art supply
store, or alternatively look in the classifieds section at the back of an
art magazine. Before you buy, make sure that the pastels you have
will fit the slots or wells in the particular box that youre considering
sometime the larger pastels (such as those made by Schmincke and
Unison) wont.

If custom-made isnt your thing, youre in luck there are MANY other
options for a container to store your pastels in, almost all of which are
cheaper than something designed for the job. Try any or all of the
following:


36
1) Fishing tackle boxes;
2) Toolboxes;
3) Cutlery trays (good if you want to leave your pastels out where
they can be seen);
4) Desktop drawer units;
5) Pencil boxes; and
6) Plastic pen trays.

Note that for most of these options youll need to line their
compartments with some thin foam so that your pastels have
adequate cushioning.

If none of these options appeal, you could make a box as a D.I.Y.
project. Anyone with a modicum of carpentry skills should be able to
make a pastel storage box with relative ease.

NB: Once you have a case remember to always segregate colors (like
goes with like) when you pack them away, to minimize the effects of
any contamination.

TRAVELLING WITH PASTELS

If you work (or plan to work) plein air, youll need a case that holds
your pastels firmly and doesnt allow them to move around, but is light
and small enough to carry (along with the rest of your gear) to your
chosen location.

While there are readymade travel cases available (Dakota Art Pastels
make a carry case they call The Universal Travel Box which does a
good job), theres no reason why a toolbox or tackle box wont do the
job if it has the necessary features.

KEEP PASTELS CLEAN WHILE WORKING

It wont take you long to realize that the tips of your pastels get dirty
pretty easily. Every time you layer one color on top of another on your
surface, the stick you use second will collect a smear of the color thats
already on the paper.


37
So that you can periodically clean the tips of your pastels, keep a piece
of paper towel near where youre working, resting on a flat surface.
Then, whenever your pastels become contaminated, you can just draw
them across the paper to clean off the other color.

Also, group your pastels into similar hues in your tray, trolley or pastel
box. Not only does this lessen the problem of cross-contamination of
colors, it makes it less likely that you will inadvertently grab the wrong
color when you reach for a new stick (many a promising artwork has
been ruined because the artist made this mistake!). A side benefit is
that organizing your pastels makes it easier to keep track of what you
have, and what perhaps might need replacing soon. (NB: Organizing
your pastels by value rather than hue also has its advantages; for
more, see Organizing, below under The Importance of Value.)

CLEANING PASTELS

Youll need to clean the tips of your pastels while you work, but youll
probably also want to give your pastels a more thorough clean
between sessions. Youll be pleased to know that cleaning pastel sticks
is very easy. All you need to do is to drop them into a bowl of semolina
or ground rice, then put a lid or plate over the top and give the bowl a
shake. Now all you have to do is pour out the contents into a sieve
that youve placed on top of another bowl or a bin. The dirty semolina
or ground rice will drop through, and you can pick your now freshly
clean pastel sticks out of the sieve.

If you prefer, you can actually store your pastel sticks in a container of
ground rice full-time; that way theyre getting cleaned every time you
put them away. Aside from keeping them clean, the rice will also
cushion the sticks if you need to transport them somewhere. If you
really want to get fancy, you can put your pastels in a mesh bag first,
then put them into a container and pour the rice in. Now when you
want to use them you can just pull the bag out, and voila! The rice
(and dust) stays in the container.

Another popular cleaning method is to take your tray of dirty, dusty
pastel sticks out into an outdoor area, place a piece of fine wire mesh
over them, and use a vacuum to suck up the accumulated dust (NB:
ensure that your vacuum has a micro-filter so that the pastel dust
doesnt just blow out of the vacuums exhaust).


38
CHAPTER 8

TECHNIQUES

Its natural to start off using pastels like you would a pencil: making
lines with just the tip of the stick. Theres nothing wrong with this
technique, and in fact many pastel artists continue to use their pastels
in just this way. By varying the pressure and direction of the stroke,
and by varying the size of the pastel being used, you can do a lot with
this technique.

Should you want to try different techniques however, you certainly
wont be stuck for options, and some of them allow for very interesting
effects. Below are descriptions and notes on the popular techniques.
You will probably notice that many of them sound the same, and youll
be right many of them are very similar. Pastel painters combine and
recombine these techniques in endless personal permutations that
defy neat definitions. It doesnt matter. The only important thing is
that you get ideas of things that might work for you.

Good pastel paintings will often incorporate a number of different
techniques to achieve the finished look. So that you know what to use
when, practice different techniques and study the results. This will help
you recognize the best use for them. In time youll have your own
repertoire of favorite techniques, and be able to deploy them at the
right times by instinct.

BLENDING

Blending pastels simply means rubbing two
adjacent colors into one another, and its one of
the most commonly used techniques in pastel
painting. Why? Well with oil and acrylic paint, you
can mix colors before you apply them to the
canvas, but pastels are a little different the only
way to mix them is to blend them together after
theyre already on the paper.


39

In pastels, one of the main uses for blending is shading.

Be aware that too much blending of colors robs pastels of some of
their lively, textural quality. Its best for this reason to blend colors
with a light touch, and to consider avoiding it altogether when you are
working on the final layers of your piece.

As noted above (Tools for Blending), there are many different tools
you can use for blending colors, from Q-tips to tortillons to your
fingers. Its more a matter of personal preference that anything else,
so just pick a method and see how it works for you.

HATCHING & CROSS-HATCHING

As you may be aware if youve done any drawing,
hatching is simply drawing a series of short, fine,
parallel lines. In pastels its best done with a hard
pastel stick or pastel pencils, as these are better
at making fine lines than soft pastels. Cross-
hatching is of course the next step drawing a
second set of lines on top of and at right angles to
the first.

Both hatching and cross-hatching are usually used
for shading. The thickness and spacing of your
lines will of course affect how dark or light that area of your surface
appears. The lines should always wrap around objects in your
paintings to give the illusion of shape, and adjacent objects should
have lines going different ways for contrast.

One of the best times for hatching and cross-hatching is during the
initial blocking-in of a painting, as it allows you to experiment without
taking much time or fully committing you.

SHADING

Shading with pastels is done by blending, hatching, or cross-hatching
refer to those sections for more.


40

SCUMBLING

Scumbling is the rather odd name given to the
technique of lightly dragging the side of a soft
pastel over a layer of pastel of another color
that is already on the surface. This results in a
broken covering of the new color over the old,
giving a textural, uncontrolled, painterly
effect. This technique has many creative
applications. For example in a landscape
painting you could use scumbling to give the
impression of a mass of distant trees, or a
patch of grass in the foreground.

FEATHERING

Feathering is a way of gently drawing together
multiple layers of pigment by softening and
subduing their color and contrast using a
charcoal stick. First put down the layers of
pigment usually three or more then take a
charcoal stick and lightly stroke over the top of
the layers using the side of the stick. What this
does is slightly darken and reduce the contrast
of the pigment youve already put down,
bringing their values closer together (for more
on value, see The Importance of Value,
below).

The best uses for feathering are when you
want to portray something thats distant, such as a mountain range in
the background of your landscape, or something that has muted
quality, such as the surface of a pond.

Its important not to press too hard with the charcoal stick when
feathering, as this can leave marks rather than just a thin soft layer.


41
Extra soft thin vine charcoals sticks are the type most often
recommended for feathering, but if you already own a different type
give them a try and see if you like the result.

POINTILLISM

Pointillism involves making lots of dots of color on your surface. It is
perhaps more of a style than a technique, as paintings that use it tend
to do so exclusively, rather than mixed with other effects.

Pointillism relies on the fact that when someone looks at the dots, they
perceive a greater range of tones that are actually there; in other
words a kind of blending that happens in the mind of the audience
rather than on the surface! Vincent van Gogh is the most famous artist
to have used pointillism.

This is a technique that requires a lot of work, but the finished effect is
worth it, often suggesting reflected light.

STIPPLING

Stippling is not as intense as pointillism and can
take on many forms. It can be as loose or as
tight as you like. You can use small dots or
dashes and can be distributed even or uneven. It
can be used to create shadowing.


42
DUSTING

An alternative to scumbling is dusting. This is
the simple technique of holding a pastel stick
of contrasting color above an existing block of
color, and scraping it so that dust falls down
onto the paper (obviously, you want your
paper facing up). When youre happy with the
look, you use a pastel knife to push (or fix)
the dust into the paper.

GLAZING

Glazing adds a soft veil of color to an area of
your painting. The effect is to either
harmonize the colors in that area, or to give
an impression of light or color.

Glazing is done in a similar way to scumbling.
First build up several layers of color, and then
gently cover the area with a wash of color,
using the side of a (preferably large) pastel.
Unlike scumbling, the idea is to add a thin,
even coating.

You can use glazing to warm up or cool down
an area of your painting, or to add a color. Glaze water to suggest a
reflection of the sky, or glaze the table in front of a still life to suggest
a faint reflection in the varnish. Use glazing if part of your scene is
warmly lit up by the sun, or use it to lighten a distant feature of a
landscape that you have made too dark.


43
SIDE STROKE

A side stroke is just what it sounds like
using the side of a pastel to make sweeping
strokes of color. Half a pastel stick is just the
right size for this, so peel the paper wrapper
off a pastel stick and break it in half!

Side strokes are great for filling areas of your
paper with color. Broad side strokes are
suggestive of movement and yield a quieter
effect than a lot of short, linear strokes. Press
hard to get a more intense color; press softly
to allow the paper to be visible through the
pigment.

OTHER TECHNIQUES

Blocking in

This refers to the technique of using side strokes to put down broad
but thin layers of color. This is done as a preliminary stage, before
adding detail to the painting, in order to give an overall impression of
what the finished work will look like.

Graduation

No, not what you do when you finish school! Graduation in pastels
refers to when colors transition gradually from one to another. This is
done by using adjacent side strokes of graded color and then blending
them where they meet.

Scraffito

Scraffito is layering one color over another, and then scratching it to
reveal some of the color beneath.


44
Frottage

This is the technique of laying your paper on a textured surface and
then side stroking over the texture with a pastel (just like doing a
rubbing, in other words). The texture will show through to a greater or
lesser degree, depending on the sort of pastel used (hard or soft) and
how hard you press.

SOME COMMON MISTAKES

Overworking

Remember, theres no artwork so good that it cant be ruined by
overworking it! For this reason, a good rule of thumb is not to ever
finish a painting, because the point where you think its finished is
likely to be where everyone else perceives it as overworked. Other
ways to avoid overworking a painting are:
1) Always purposely leave some of the paper blank;
2) If you have the major elements down, take a break, put it out of
sight, come back to it two days later and see if you still think it
needs more;
3) Every time youre about to add more pigment, ask yourself does
it really need this?;
4) Get a second opinion before you decide somethings not finished;
and
5) Work on more than one painting at once and frequently switch
between them.

Any and all of these will help you avoid overworking a painting.

Repetitive application

While you might favor one technique or one stroke a lot in a certain
painting, dont use it exclusively. It will usually improve the work if
you vary the techniques or strokes used at least to a degree,
particularly in the focal areas of the work. Lack of variety can easily
make a painting very uninteresting to look at, so experiment a little
while keeping in harmony with the overall feel of the painting.


45
Making mud

Whatever you do, you want to avoid the dreaded muddiness in your
paintings. Muddiness is just what it sounds like muddy-looking colors
on your surface and it never looks good.

Muddiness occurs when you layer warm colors over cool ones, or vice
versa, without fixing the existing layer first. Overworking, including
over-blending, is another cause. A third cause of muddiness is trying
to make corrections without removing whats wrong first. The fourth
and final cause of muddiness isusing a brown pastel when you can
use something else (using a brown pastel = instant mud!).


46
CHAPTER 9

ALL ABOUT COLORS

Heres a quick refresher on the wonderful world of colors in painting:
there are just three primary colors red, yellow and blue. Theyre
called primary colors because you can make almost all the other colors
by mixing them together in different ways, and because in their purest
forms, they themselves cant be made by mixing other colors.

Black and white also cant be made by mixing other colors together.
Does that make them primaries too? No, because unlike the primary
colors, black and white arent themselves used in mixing to create
colors (just shades and tints of colors see below).

As a subject, colors and their various names, definitions, and
relationships can get quite complex, but learning as much as you can
about color will pay big dividends in your painting.

A quick word about terminology: the word hue here refers to a pure
color; one to which no black or white has been added. Add black or
white to a hue and you get a shade or a tint. For more on this, see
The Importance of Value, below.

Ok! Lets continue.

PRIMARY COLORS

As noted above, the primary colors are red, yellow
and blue. Primaries cant be made by mixing colors.
Mix two primaries together and you get a
secondary color.


47
SECONDARY COLORS

Secondary colors are those made by mixing together
any two primaries. Red and yellow make orange;
yellow and blue make green; blue and red make
purple.

TERTIARY COLORS

Tertiary colors are the six made by mixing one
primary and one secondary color together, and they
fall between the primary and the tertiary colors on
the color wheel (see below). While the three primary
and three main secondary colors are represented by
one well-known name per color, thats not really the
case for tertiary colors. However, there are some typical names, such
as aquamarine (which is a mixture of green and blue), and indigo (a
mixture of purple and blue).

COLOR WHEEL

A color wheel is an arrangement of primary
and secondary hues in a specific, circular
pattern. A color wheel allows us to quickly
and easily remind ourselves of certain
relationships between colors (for example,
complementary colors discussed further
below). For this reason its an invaluable
visual aid.

If you really want to get a firm understanding of the color wheel, you
should make your own. Choose the purest primary pastels you have.
Draw a circle and divide it into twelve wedges. Begin at the top wedge
and color it in red. Then count four spaces clockwise and color that
wedge yellow, then four more spaces and color it blue. Then fill in the
secondary colors by combining your primary colors. For example, one
step clockwise from red should be a layer of red, then a layer of


48
yellow, then another layer of red. The next wedge should be two
layers each of red and yellow, and the one after that, two layers of
yellow and only one of red. Work your way around the wheel using this
recipe, and by the time youve finished, youll have a really good grip
on exactly what a color wheel shows us.

COMPLEMENTARY COLORS

Each primary and secondary color has a complementary color, and its
the one thats opposite it on the color wheel. So for example: reds
complementary color is green; blues is orange, and yellows is purple.
Tertiary colors also have complementary colors, but with tertiary
colors its more about a range of colors than something exact. Ochre is
mostly red-yellow, so its complementary colors would be those colors
that are generally opposite, on the blue-green side of the wheel.

So why are they important? Well, complementary colors tend to
intensify each other when they are placed side-by-side, for example on
an artists canvas or art paper. This is obviously a really important
property for the painter to be aware of. You should keep
complementary color relationships in mind when youre selecting what
colors to use in various areas of your paintings. If you want to draw
attention to a certain area of your work, use complementary colors
there.

Its possible and in fact very effective to make a picture entirely with
just two complementary colors. However, its a good idea to make one
of the two colors dominant; as if they are 50/50 the effect will be so
intense that itll be too hard on the viewers eyes!

WARM & COOL COLORS

The concept of warm vs. cool is a way of categorizing colors where
the hues from blue-green through to blue-violet on the color wheel are
cool, and the hues from yellow through to red are warm.

The reason for this categorization is that warm and cool colors differ in
how we perceive them. You may already know that cool colors tend to
recede in a painting, while those which are warm in temperature tend
to thrust themselves forward. Painting is all about trying to make two
dimensions look like three, and so applying this knowledge to your


49
work is crucial, as it will help you immensely in creating illusions of
space and depth i.e. illusions of three-dimensionality.

Also, warm and cool colors differ in how we react to them. Warm
colors are vivid, energetic, and evoke warm emotions such as feelings
of love or comfort. Cool colors are calm and distant, and evoke cooler
emotions such as feeling soothed or even sad. If you want your
painting to have a certain feel, think about these properties of warm
and cool colors when you select the pastel sticks you are going to use.

COLORFUL GRAYS & SHADOWS

In everyday parlance, gray is a pretty imprecise word. We use to
describe any of the wide variety of different grays that occur in nature.
Once you start to pay attention, youll quickly realize that in fact, no
two grays are alike. A gray stone in direct, warm afternoon light will be
an apricot-gray, while the areas of the same stone that are in shadow
might be a cooler blue-gray.

Similarly, shadows falling on things that are themselves different
colors will not be black, but a dark shade of a color.

So: when you are trying to depict gray objects and shadows in your
paintings, stay away from plain gray and plain black. With observation
youll see that theres more to the blacks and grays that occur in
nature, and you should seek to replicate this in your work.

WORKING WITH COLORS

Working effectively with colors often means achieving color harmony.
Using harmonious colors will lend an impact and sense of unity to your
paintings thats almost impossible to achieve by any other methods.

Happily, using harmonious colors is also very easy: a color scheme
that uses only colors which are adjacent on the color wheel (blue-
green, green, green-yellow, and yellow, for example) will almost
always create a harmonious, serene, and comfortable feel.

Using only adjacent colors will of course limit your palette, but that can
be a good thing. Better to work with a limited palette of harmonious
colors, than an unlimited palette of colors that clash horribly!


50
If youre skeptical about the benefits of using a harmonious color
scheme in your paintings, try examining the work of the Old Masters
with an eye to color harmonies. Youll find that the limited palette of
harmonious colors formula is one that they employed regularly and to
great effect.

MIXING BY OVERLAYING COLORS

Its a unique feature of pastels that you can layer
one color over another in a way that still shows some
of the color underneath. Because the surfaces used
with pastels are textured, even a heavy stroke will
leave some hints of the color beneath showing. Or
you can use a cross-hatching, scumbling, or dusting
technique (see above under Techniques) that will
leave even more of the existing color showing.

However you do it, layering will allow you to make areas that simply
vibrate off the page with color. You can also use layering to create
some interesting color effects play around with layering and youll
quickly find your favorites.

Remember that while soft pastels will layer over hard pastel marks
without disturbing them, hard pastels will make grooves in soft pastel
areas.

NB: If youre concerned about disturbing an existing layer of pigment
when you layer another over the top, spray the existing layer with
fixative first.


51
CHAPTER 10

COMPOSITION

What is composition? Composition refers to how the various objects or
elements in your painting are positioned, and how they relate to one
another. Good or strong composition can be rather intangible, but
when you look at a painting that is well composed, it just feels right.
Another way of saying this is to say that a painting with good
composition is aesthetically pleasing enough that it captures and holds
the viewers attention. Similarly, a painting with bad composition just
feels wrong (or at best, uninteresting).

So as artists, how do we ensure that our paintings always have good
composition? Eventually it will become second nature to you, and you
will instinctively know how to compose the elements in your paintings
in pleasing way. However, if youre just starting out, there are a small
number of compositional rules that artists have identified over the
centuries. Observance of these rules has been shown time and again
to lead to a good, aesthetically pleasing composition. All of them are
easy to follow.

THE FOCAL POINT

The focal point of a painting is the place within the frame that draws
the attention of the viewer. Hopefully, its where you planned for it to
be! If you arent careful, the actual focal point in your painting might
be somewhere in the frame you didnt mean for it to be, stealing
attention away from what you wanted to focus on.

Another way of thinking about the focal point is to say that the focal
point is (or should be) what the painting is about. So for example in a
portrait, the painting is about a specific person, and so you want the
focal point to be their face (or even more exactly, their eyes, as this is
the part of a face that we tend to spend the most time looking at).

The best advice is to decide at the outset what the focal point of your
painting will be, and build the rest of the painting around it. Doing it
this way should allow you to avoid inadvertently putting other


52
elements in the frame which steal the viewers attention away from
your intended focal point.

Another way to ensure that the focal point is where you want it to be
is to place it in one of the areas of the frame that naturally draw the
viewers attention. The golden ratio and the rule of thirds can help
here (see below).

THE GOLDEN RATIO

The golden ratio is a mathematical rule that was recognized by the
Ancient Greeks. And what is the golden ratio? Well, imagine a line that
is divided into two unequal sections. When the ratio of the small
section to the big section is the same as the ratio of the big section to
the entire line, then the lengths of the two sections are in the golden
ratio. In numbers, this works out to a ratio of approximately 1-to-
1.618.

So whats the use of the golden ratio? Well applying it to art seems to
produce aesthetically pleasing results. The Ancient Greeks applied it to
architecture, but it works equally well in the two-dimensional world of
painting. If it sounds worryingly complicated, dont worry, because
when applied to painting or drawing theres an easy way to ensure
your composition observes the golden rule. You just need to use a
ruler and pencil to divide up your surface before you begin to lay down
color.

Heres how you do it:
1) Start with your rectangular sheet of drawing paper. Connect
either of the sets of two opposing corners with a diagonal line.

2) From the diagonal, connect one of the remaining corners to the
diagonal by a line that is perpendicular to the diagonal.


53
3) Through the point on the diagonal where the perpendicular line
meets it, draw two lines, one horizontal and one vertical that
divide the canvas into four unequal sections. The ratio of the
largest of these sections to the overall canvas is a golden ratio.

Now that you have one intersection point, you can see where the other
three would go, one in each corner of the frame. What now? Just place
the focal point of your painting at or near one of these four points. You
should find that doing so has the effect of giving your work a pleasing
balance.

THE RULE OF THIRDS

Like the golden ratio, the rule of thirds is another rule of composition
that helps you to decide where to put your focal point. Its very
popular in photography, but is also applicable to painting (after all, its
been around a long longer than photography has!).

The rule of thirds is simple to apply: just divide the area of your
surface into six equal sections with two imaginary horizontal lines and
two vertical ones.


54
The rule of thirds says that focal points should be placed at or near
any of the four points where the lines intersect, and that horizontal or
vertical lines in the frame should follow one of the imaginary rule of
thirds lines.

The four intersection points created by the four rule of thirds lines are
sometimes called power points, shown in this diagram by green dots:

Now that you know the rule of thirds, take a look at some paintings,
drawings or photos that dont observe it. Youll notice how jarring it is
when a line, for example a horizon, divides the frame equally into two,
or when a focal point is placed in the dead centre of the frame away
from the four points where the imaginary lines intersect.

THE ELEMENTS

In addition to paying attention to where your focal point lies, you
should also think about your compositions in terms of the number and
shapes of the elements within the frame.


55
For whatever reason, an odd number of elements is usually more
pleasing than an even number.
You should also use a variety of shapes in your paintings, and vary
their size and their distance from one another. Too much order,
regularity and symmetry in a painting rarely leads to a pleasing
composition.

With regard to the distance between the elements in your paintings,
avoid kissing elements. Kissing in this context means just touching,
and it creates a weak, connected shape. Ensure instead that the
various elements in your frame are either definitely separated, or
definitely overlapping.

Finally, dont forget to vary your compositions from one painting to the
next. Even if your compositions are good, it will stretch and stimulate
you to vary where you place your horizon and where you place your
focal point. Also remember to switch between portrait (vertical) and
landscape (horizontal) orientations once in a while for something
different.


56
CHAPTER 11

THE IMPORTANCE OF VALUE

Value or tone (the words mean the same thing) is a property of a
color. It refers to the lightness of the color, which depends on whether
or how much black or white has been added to it. Maroon, for
example, is a dark value of red (i.e. it has had black added to it), while
pink is a light value of red (it has had white added to it).

As mentioned in an earlier chapter, a color that has had no white or
black added to it is called a hue. Add black to a hue and you get a
shade; add white to a hue and you get a tint. Add the same amount of
black or white to two different hues and you get two shades (or tints)
that are equal in value.

One of the most important things to realize about value is that its
highly relative. In a painting, how its perceived for one color is heavily
influenced by the values of the other colors in the painting. For
example, a color that looks light in one painting, where its surrounded
by colors with darker values than it, will look much darker in another,
where its surrounded by colors with lighter values than it. Its all
about context.

Why is this important? Its important because for best effect, the
values in your paintings must contrast. In other words, a range of
values should be represented. This will give the objects in your
paintings three-dimensional form, and the overall effect will be a
painting with depth. The alternative a painting with only mid-tones
will often look flat and dull in comparison.

LEARN THE VALUES

To learn about value, try the following exercise:

Take a piece of paper and draw a column down the centre.
Divide the column into seven boxes.
At one end, color the box in completely black, and at the other,
color it in white.


57
Take a pure blue pastel, and in the box next to the white, color it in
white, then a little blue, then white again.
Color the next box with blue then white then blue again; the next
just blue; the next blue then black then blue again; the next black
then blue, then black then blue again.

Now you have a scale of values from pure white to pure black. Stand
back from the paper at least five feet and take a look. From a distance
you should be able to see not a stepped progression, but a gradual
change from white, through blue, to black.

Another way to get a sense of how values compare is to squint. Yes,
you read that right! Often it isnt immediately obvious whether two
colors share a similar value, even when they are side-by-side.
However, if you squint, its easier to determine whether they are the
same value, as colors of the same value tend to be difficult to
distinguish from each other when you squint. If you can easily tell the
difference between the two colors, then most likely they are different
values.

Finally, you can see how values compare by using a monochrome
filter. A monochrome filter is simply a piece of plastic in a primary
color. The most common monochrome filters are dark red. The idea is
that you look at an object you want to paint (or at your work-in-
progress) through the filter, and the color of the filter reduces all of
the colors in your work to varying values of red (if what you want to
look at is red, try a strong blue filter instead). This enables you to
easily compare them without the distraction of seeing their hue.

ARE THE VALUES VARIED?

As noted above, its generally important that your
paintings encompass a range of values. To test
whether your work-in-progress does this there are
a couple of methods. One way is to make a
thumbnail sketch of it using only white (for the
lightest values), black (for the darkest ones), and
gray (for the mid-tones). Youll know your values
are varied if theres white, black AND gray in your
sketch.

Another way to test if your values are varied is to make a black-and-
white photocopy of your painting, and if there is a range of shades of
gray in the copy. Similarly you can take a photo of your painting with a


58
digital camera, load the photo into an image editing program, and
convert it into a grayscale photo. Again, this will show you whether the
tonal range is too narrow.

If you think the values in your work-in-progress arent varied enough,
try adding some values that are closer to the ends of the tonal
spectrum.

TOO MUCH MIDDLE VALUE

The most common problem with paintings that dont have enough
tonal range is too many mid-tones. To avoid this, consider whether
your light values are light enough. Pure white may be going too far,
but you usually want to get as close to it as possible.

Also consider whether your dark values are dark enough. Black is also
usually going too far however, unless youre painting an indoor scene.
If you do use black, give it depth by blending a color into it (red will
make black deeper, while blues and yellows will give it luminosity).

To make striking paintings you often need to push contrasts, so above
all dont be afraid to make your darks darker and your lights lighter.

VALUE RELATIVE TO OTHER VALUE

As noted above, exactly how light or dark a value appears depends on
what other values are near to it. In the following picture, both the
right and the left vertical bands are a consistent tone, yet they seem
to change tone depending whether they are against a light or a dark
background.


59
So how does this information affect the way we paint? For one, it
affects our choices if we want to use a contrasting tone. While contrast
is important, you wont need as light a value next to a dark value as
you would need next to other light values. A very light tone will
probably be too much for a painting that is dark overall, and vice
versa. Whats important is not overall tonal range, but relative tonal
range.

HOW TO THINK ABOUT VALUE

Above all, you should start to think of tonal range, and of how the
different tones in your painting are arranged, as elements of
composition. In other words, its something that needs to be a
considered choice, and not something that is left to chance. Do this
and your paintings will benefit immeasurably.

ORGANIZING

Once you experimented with and learned about values in your
painting, you should consider reorganizing your pastels according to
their value rather than their color. When your pastels are organized by
color first, you tend to think in terms of colors while you work. When
your pastels are instead organized by value, it helps you to think in
terms of value while you work, and as we have seen, this is in many
ways a more important consideration that color.

Try dividing your pastels into six value divisions. These will be
effectively three levels of dark values, and three levels of light values.
Then, within each of these divisions, arrange your pastels by
temperature cool colors on one side, and warm on the other.

When you finish, youll have your pastels organized in a way that
makes you think about their first and second most important
characteristics (value and temperature), and that helps you to easily
choose between colors or the same or of contrasting value and/or
temperature. The actual color of your pastels is then relegated to
third place in the pecking orderwhich is exactly where it should be.


60
CHAPTER 12

UNDERPAINTING

As the name suggests, underpainting is coloring an area of your
surface that you later intend to cover (though not necessarily totally
obscure) with a different pigment. For most pastel artists it comes
after preliminary sketching, and before the final work begins.

You dont have to do underpainting, but as it gives a foundation for
what is to follow, sets the mood of the work, and can make the
finished article look richer and brighter, it is recommended. It may
also help you plan better how you are going to achieve your goals for
the finished work. It also allows you an opportunity to see and correct
any errors in your composition before you start to apply your top
layers. Finally, underpainting can be something that provides you with
a cue that you respond to when you begin to add your top layers of
pigment.

As some of the underpainting will show through the overpainting,
exactly how to carry out underpainting is not a trivial decision. As for
most things in pastels, there are a variety of different ways to do your
underpainting. You might simply use pastels, either dry or wetted with
water or alcohol for a more painted look. You could use another
medium, such as watercolor, gouache or thinned oil paints. You might
use a range of colors, or just black and white. You might use only
multiple values of one hue. How you go about your underpainting
depends on your personal preference, and on how much impact you
want the underpainting to have on the finished work.

A word of warning: if you underpaint with something wet, always
ensure that it has totally dried out before you start using pastels on
top of it.

UNDERPAINTING WITH PASTEL

A common and simple way to underpaint with pastels is to cover the
paper with side strokes of a pastel stick, then to blend these strokes
together. This produces a soft, ethereal background.


61
You should use bright, pure pastels for underpainting, as particularly
dark or light tones can produce a cloudy effect. Its best to use
brands that produce sticks which are 100% pigment (Sennelier is
one), as these give the most brilliant results.

Once you have laid down the pigment, a common variation is to then
brush it with a stiff brush loaded with water or alcohol. This gives a
wet effect similar to watercolor or oils, but (as noted above) should
only be done if the surface can take liquids without crinkling. Its best
to apply only thin amounts of pastel when underpainting, as too much
will create a paste when wet. When you wet the pigment, start with
the lighter areas first, and be careful with the darker areas they can
easily contaminate the lighter areas if you arent. Also, test pastel
brands before using them for wet underpainting. Some manufacturers
add inert substances which can be water-resistant or gummy when
wet.

After you finish your underpainting with pastels, its a good idea to
lightly spray your paper with fixative. This prevents later work from
disturbing the underpainting and resulting in a muddy look.

UNDERPAINTING WITH WATER COLOR

Underpainting with watercolor works well providing your paper can
take it. If you already use watercolor paper as your surface, no
problem! Otherwise, check first.

Applying a watercolor underpainting is easy: just paint freely with a
large brush. As far as what colors to use, this is very much a matter of
personal choice. Some artists find that underpainting with the same
color that will go on top of it, but a darker value, lends an extra
vibrancy to the top layer. Others experiment with contrasting
underpainting and find particular combinations that work for them.

UNDERPAINTING WITH GOUACHE OR ACRYLIC

Along with watercolors, gouache and acrylic work for underpainting
too. The advantage they hold over watercolors is that with them its
possible to get a layer thats truly opaque. Watercolors are always
somewhat translucent.


62
If youre underpainting with gouache or acrylic, apply them thinly, or
you risk filling in the tooth of your paper and rendering it incapable of
holding pastel pigment.

You can mix gouache and watercolor together if you want to achieve a
specific color and/or value, but again, check first that your paper can
take as much water as you intend to put on it without crinkling.
Remember also that you can always just buy a paper thats the color
and value you want rather than starting with white and having to use
underpainting to achieve it.

UNDERPAINTING WITH OIL PAINT

If its your preference, its perfectly possible to underpaint with oil
paint. However, you first need to make sure that your surface is able
to take oil. Most papers wont, and so youll need to prep them first by
applying a coat of acrylic gesso.

Youll want to thin the oil paint to the consistency of weak tea with
turpentine or mineral spirits (try Gamsol by Gamblin, or Turpenoid by
Weber) before you apply it. Oil paint that is too thick will take a long
time to dry, may destroy the tooth of the surface, and may interact
negatively with the pastel that follows.

Keep in mind that mineral spirits can soften adhesives.

The advantage of underpainting with oil paint is that its much easier
to apply and to control, as you mix and wet it on a separate palette.
When you wet pastel thats already on your surface its much more
difficult to control.

EFFECTS

Here are four different underpainting effects that you might find
useful:

Monochromatic underpainting

Its pretty common for underpainting to be done in monochrome. Here
just one color is used, but in a range of values, depending on the value
the artist plans to make that area of the painting when doing the
overpainting. This allows you to work out and fine-tune the tonal


63
values you want in your finished artwork without the distraction of
different colors.

Contrasting color temperatures

Another idea is to use contrasting color temperatures in your
underpainting. You would do this where you plan to paint something
thatll either be mostly warm or mostly cool colors when its finished
(for example a winter landscape).

The idea behind using contrasting color temperatures is that where the
underpainting is visible through the overpainting, it will give the
overpainting a sparkle due to the fact that the colors are
complementary (see above Complementary Colors for more).

Colors similar to those in the final painting

Underpainting with similar (or the same) colors as youll use for your
overpainting will make the colors in the finished product brighter.
Obviously, this is an effect thats best used when youre painting a
bright, colorful subject.

Random colors

If you want to throw caution to the winds, just pick a small number of
colors and underpaint with them at random. The underpainting will
show through the overpainting at various places and provide an
interesting twist. Doing this is a good way to discover new
combinations of underpainting and overpainting colors that work well
together.

EXPERIMENT WITH UNDERPAINTING

Just as for everything else in pastel painting, the only real way to
understand exactly the effects of different types of underpainting is to
carry out your own experiments.

You can just incorporate this experimentation into your normal
painting, but if you want to speed the process up, heres how to do it:
pick a subject matter that youve painted before and are already
familiar with, and do a series of nine small paintings varying only the
underpainting.


64
For the first painting, underpaint the entire surface with pure white (or
alternatively simply choose a surface that is white to begin with). Do
the same for mid-gray, and then black. This will show you the
importance of value in underpainting.

Next try different color temperatures. Underpaint the entire surface
with a mid-value warm color, like a dull orange (or again, just select a
surface that is that color to begin with). Then try a mid-value cool
color, such as a gray-blue violet. Finally, try one where you underpaint
different areas of your surface with either a warm or a cool color (try
ultramarine blue and burnt sienna).

Next, do a painting where you match the underpainting to the colors of
the overpainting, but using consistently lighter values. Then do one
where you underpaint with the complementary colors of the
overpainting.

For the last of your series, underpaint with random colors.

Doing this series of nine paintings (and comparing the results) will
allow you to see the effect of different ways of underpainting.
Hopefully, it will also show you that there is really no right or wrong
way of doing it, only choices and consequences.


65
CHAPTER 13
USING PHOTOS

As subject matter for your paintings, you have an obvious choice of
painting what you can see in front of you, painting what you can see in
your head, or painting what you can see in a photo that you have. This
chapter discusses the pros and cons of the last of these painting
from a reference photo or photos.

Theres little doubt that photographs can be a great reference tool for
artists. If youre painting a landscape but you dont have time to finish
it, or the sun is setting, or the light changing, you can take a photo,
take that back to your studio, and use both the photo and your
memory to finish the painting.

Similarly if youre painting a portrait of a live model, a photo is a great
reference to use to finish the painting. It means that your model
doesnt have to sit for the entire length of time it takes you to finish
the piece; you can get the initial life drawing down and then finish it
later at your leisure.

So far so good photos can be very helpful for any artist, and this
includes people who work with pastels. But is this the whole story?

WHY SHOULDNT YOU USE PHOTOS?

Many artists dislike the idea of painting from a photograph. The
reasons differ, but one of them might be that because photography is
an artistic medium too, it feels wrong to simply attempt to replicate
with a different medium what can already be seen as a finished
artwork in its own right.

Some say that another reason not to paint from photos is because
painting from a photo is inherently limiting; that it doesnt allow for
the necessary freedom of expression and creativity that makes
painting enjoyable and produces good work. On the other hand, its
difficult to see how painting from a photo is all that different from
painting anything else that you can see in front of you (a landscape, a
bowl of fruit, or a person).


66

Perhaps the best advice is use photos when you feel like it, but to also
paint from what you can see, what you can remember, and what you
can imagine as well.

A REFERENCE PHOTO NOT ART

One thing that is not debated in the artistic world is the utility of
photographs as reference points, and as sources of inspiration.

There are more or less two different ways to use reference photos.
One is to take a photo of a subject (a person, for example) that you
want to paint, and using the photo later when you are ready to paint
to remind you of what the subject looked like. If this is what youre
doing, rather than trying to take one perfect photo of a subject, its a
better idea to take five or six, and to vary the camera settings and (if
possible) your viewpoint. Youll find that having multiple reference
photos allows you to get a better feel for the subject and to paint a
looser, freer representation of it.

The other way to use reference photos is more of a bits and pieces
approach, where you take many photos of different examples of a
subject or theme, or just of things that interest you visually, then later
use parts of each to stimulate a painting which doesnt look much like
any one of the photos in particular. You could think of this as sort of
like using a camera as a high-tech sketchbook.

It must be said that some artists scorn reference photos completely,
and believe that you should only every use a sketchbook and pencil for
these sorts of purposes. The reality is however, that most of us dont
paint for a living, and so we dont have the kind of time that it would
take to sketch everything we see that we think we might later want to
paint.

PHOTOS CAN LIE

Any photographer will tell you that photos arent the exact replication
of reality that many people believe them to be. How a subject looks in
one particular photo depends on a multitude of factors, including the
type of camera, the settings used, the focal length, any post-
processing done to the photo, and so on. Besides which, a photo


67
depicts only one static moment in time: one time of year; one time of
day, and one kind of light.

These are all the more reasons that you should feel free to use artistic
license when you paint from a photo or photos. Create what you want
to create, rather than exactly whats depicted in your reference photo.
Hey, its not reality anyway!

PAINTING FROM OTHER PEOPLES PHOTOS

Dont forget that reproducing a photo in a painting may be a breach of
copyright, unless of course you have the permission of the person who
took the photo. Of course this is unlikely to be a problem unless you
sell or exhibit the artwork, but its worth knowing just in case. To avoid
copyright infringement, paint only from your own photos or from
copyright free photos. Or, use photos for inspiration, rather than
making a recognizable copy of them.

MAKING THE PAINTING BETTER THAN THE PHOTO

If youre painting from a photo or photos, you have a choice to make
about how faithful to the photo (and therefore how realistic) your
painting will be. Some people like to make photorealistic paintings of
things; others prefer a looser treatment, and will change things in
order to make what they believe will be a stronger painting.

Of course, the vast majority of the time you can feel free to improve
on reality to your hearts content. Where this may change is where
either your subject is recognizable (e.g. the Eiffel Tower), or you give
your painting a name that identifies it as a painting of something
specific (e.g. Niagara Falls). Then you leave yourself open to the
complaint that youve painted an inaccurate representation of
something.

Even if you are painting something highly recognizable, its hard to see
the harm in altering reality; its just artistic license. Be that as it may,
you still may want to consider beforehand whether it would bother you
if someone complained that youd depicted the something incorrectly,
and if you think that it would, stick to the facts when you paint.


68

PLAY AROUND WITH PHOTOS

Dont forget that if you have a digital camera (or a film camera and a
scanner), you can play around with your photos on your computer
after youve taken them. This can help how you use them in your
painting. For example, you can crop a photo down to just the part you
want to paint, or you can cut and paste parts of various photos into
one file so that you can play around with different compositions. Its
worth learning how to use some image-editing software (try Picasa,
which is a free download) so that you can do these kinds of things.

I did this painting from a colour
photo which was of the full body
done in black through to white
pastels focusing on the face only
made it very different from the
original photo.


69
CHAPTER 14
HOW TO MAKE PASTELS

As weve learned, pastels are composed of just three ingredients:
pigment; filler, and binder. While pastels are certainly easy to buy, its
not complicated to make them at home, and doing so will certainly
save you a lot of money.

Be aware that while making your own pastels isnt complicated, it will
definitely take you at least a few tries before you get everything right.
Dont give up! And make notes as you go so that when you hit on
exactly the right recipe, youll be able to repeat it again in the future.
Hopefully youll find the process fun.

Below are two recipes for making pastels. The first uses cheaper
ingredients, while the second will give you a better-quality result.

CHEAP PASTEL RECIPE

Ingredients

A quarter of a cup of rolled or crushed oats (this will be
combined with the water to make the binder).
A quart (just over a liter) of water (preferably distilled so there
isn't any chlorine in it).
Two tablespoons of powdered tempera or poster paint (for
pigment).
Half a cup of unscented talcum/baby powder (for filler).

Step 1: Put the water in a saucepan and put it on the stove to boil.
Once the water is boiling add the oats, mix them in, and leave to boil
for five minutes.

Step 2: Take the saucepan off the stove and pour the mixture through
a fine sieve to strain out the oats. Keep the water and discard the
oats.

Step 3: In a bowl, mix the talcum powder with the powdered paint.
Once theyre mixed together, add a teaspoon of the strained oats


70
water and mix it in. Eventually you should get a consistency similar to
dough, which sticks to itself but not to your fingers.

Step 4: Roll your dough into a tubular pastel shape, and then cut
them into sections (the length and thickness are up to you).

Step 5: Place your pastels on absorbent paper and leave them to dry
at room temperature for at least 24 hours.

Tips:

If your pastels are too crumbly, this means your binder was too
weak. Next time, add more oats to the water.
If your pastels are too hard, your binder was too strong. Break
up the pastel in a bowl, add a little more filler, pigment, and a
teaspoon of water, and re-mix.
An alternative binder is diluted wallpaper paste.
You can create tints of a particular color by adding more filler or
white pigment.

TRUE PASTEL RECIPE

Ingredients

Gum arabic or gum tragacanth (this is the binder).
Distilled water.
Pigment.
Chalk or kaolin/China clay (this is the filler).

Step 1: In a bowl, Dissolve the binder in the water in the ratio 1:20
(i.e. one part binder to 20 parts water).

Step 2: In a larger bowl, mix the filler and the pigment in the ratio 2:1
(i.e. two parts filler to one part pigment).

Step 3: Slowly add the binder liquid to the filler/pigment and mix until
it has the consistency of dough or putty.

Step 4: Roll out and dry as described above.

Tips:

Gum arabic makes a harder pastel than gum tragacanth.


71
Damar resin mixed with plenty of white spirit or turpentine can
also be used as a binder.

WHEN PASTELS SHATTER

Fragments chip and break off pastel sticks all the time. Should you just
vacuum up or throw away these fragments? No! You should collect
them, because its relatively easy to make the fragments into a fresh
new pastel stick. Heres how:

Step 1: Remove any bits of label that may still be sticking to the
pastel pieces.

Step 2: Either sort the fragments by color or if you want to create a
new color mix them, following the rules of color theory.

Step 3: Break or grind the pastel pieces up as fine as you can. A non
porous pestle and mortar is the best tool for this (make sure to clean it
thoroughly afterwards), or just use a bowl and the back of a spoon.

Step 4: Add one or two teaspoons of distilled water to the ground-up
pastel (NB: dont use straight tap water as this may contain chlorine
which will bleach the pastel pigment or other chemicals or minerals
that may interact with it).

Step 5: Mix into a thick paste with a palette knife or your fingers.

Step 6: Roll the paste up into a tubular pastel shape using your
fingers (if its too wet, remove some of the excess moisture with a
piece of absorbent paper, such as paper towel).

Step 7: Leave to dry at room temperature for at least 24 hours.

Tip: If youre using pieces of extremely soft pigment, using skimmed
milk instead of distilled water will make your new pastel slightly
harder.


72
CHAPTER 15

STORING/FRAMING
YOUR WORK

Unframed pastel paintings are notoriously fragile. You cant store them
touching anything (apart from glassine paper see below), and you
also need to be careful of dust, which can be impossible to remove
without also removing pigment. Whats the solution? Luckily, there are
some safe ways to store your finished works, or if all else fails you
can always frame them.

STORING PASTEL PAINTINGS

One very helpful product for storing pastel paintings is glassine paper.
Glassine paper is a translucent tissue paper that is very thin, very
smooth, air and water resistant, and can be manufactured so that its
pH neutral. Its also anti-static, so it wont attract particles of pastel.

Interleaving glassine paper between your pastel paintings will protect
them from exposure, rubbing together and exchanging pastel, and
having something spilled on them.

Its a good idea to also interleave something like a (pH-balanced) foam
core board between your paintings along with the glassine paper, so
that the weight of the paintings is evenly distributed.

USING FIXATIVE AT THE END

As discussed above (see The Tools You Will Need), the use of fixative
spray is somewhat controversial. Its universally agreed that a good
use for fixative is during the painting process (to restore tooth so that
more layers can be added), but using fixative on a finished work to
prevent smudging is thought by many pastel artists to be a bad idea.
The reason is that fixative affects the way that light refracts off of
pastel pigments, making them darker and duller.


73

As you can see fixative does darken the
color changing the paintings
appearance.

With Without

If you want to test using fixative for yourself, try it first on one of your
failures before trying it on one of your triumphs, and follow these
guidelines:
1) Test the spray pattern on a scrap of paper before directing it
towards your painting;
2) Spray lightly, quickly, and evenly (you can add a second coat if
the first wasnt enough);
3) Watch out for nearly-empty cans, as theyre more likely to
splatter;
4) Wear a mask, and always spray fixer outside or in a well-
ventilated area; and
5) Turn the can upside down and spray to clear the nozzle each
time you finish using it.

After youve applied the fixer, consider re-working your highlights so
that at least they remain bright.

An alternative way of using fixative on a finished work is to spray it
from the back, allowing it to soak slowly through to the front. This
causes less change to the appearance of the pastels than spraying
from the front.

Even those who advocate the use of fixative would agree that framing
a painting behind glass, rather than relying on fixative, is the ultimate
option for protecting and preserving it.

PROTECTION


74

While pastel paintings are fragile, pastel pigment itself ages very well.
Unlike liquid paints, pigment, if treated well, retains nearly all of its
color and brilliance even after hundreds of years. If its treated well, it
wont fade, crack, or discolor.

So treat it well! This means avoiding exposing your pastel paintings
to direct sunlight, and storing them face up (unless theyre hanging)
and away from heat or humidity. For the ultimate in protection, frame
your work behind glass, with or without a mat.

WITHOUT MAT

Traditionally pastel paintings have been framed with a mat, but it is
becoming increasingly popular not to. This has the advantage of being
cheaper and easier, and (some believe) makes the finished effect look
more like an oil painting and less like a print or a poster.

When framing without a mat, its crucial to use spacers around the
edge of the glass so that the paper and the glass are not touching.
Frametek make a type of spacer that is a clear acrylic rectangular-in-
cross-section tube with one sticky side these are very effective.

WITH MAT

Most people still frame their pastels with a mat board. A mat board
ensures the painting doesnt touch the glass, and its also another
element of the artwork.

If you choose to use a mat youll need to decide what color. The choice
is up to you, but there are a few things you should avoid, such as
choosing a mat thats the same color as the frame you want a
contrast between mat and frame. Also, consider a mat that is mid-way
in value between the wall and the average value of the painting, so
that there is a transition in value between wall, mat, and painting.

Finally, if the painting is going to hang with a group of paintings on the
same wall or in the same room, its a good idea to use the same mat
for all of them. This will harmonize and draw together the group.


75
When selecting a mat, its worth paying extra to get one that is 100%
acid free. Mats that are not 100% acid free can, over time, turn
yellow, and the acid can damage the paper that they touch.

As a rule of thumb, use at least a 3 inch wide mat for smaller
paintings, and a 4 inch wide mat for larger ones. A mat thats too
narrow will give your work a pinched look.

If youre using a mat theyre less essential, but consider using spacers
between the paper and the mat. They wont be noticeable, and theyll
create a small gap between paper and mat that any loose pigment
dust can fall down into (this is preferable to it collecting at the bottom
edge of the mat where it will be visible). An alternative is to use a mat
that has been cut with a reverse bevel. Again, this prevents pastel
dust from showing.

MOUNTING BOARD

Youll need to mount your painting if you use paper as opposed to a
rigid surface such as hardboard. As a mounting board, 100% acid free
foam core is a good choice. An acid free board is essential, as they
wont turn yellow or damage your surface over time. Once youve cut
it to size, dont forget to mark out the area that will be visible through
the mat, and use it as a guide when youre adhering the painting to it.

To stick your painting to the mounting board, use heat release
adhesive tape. It adheres firmly and releases without water. Use the
tape only at the top of the painting and use a T-hinge that allows the
painting to hang freely behind the mat. This allows any of the
materials involved to expand and contrast freely without causing any
problems. For more information see Resource section below.


76
FRAMING YOUR PAINTING

Framing your work is a way of protecting it, but also its a way of
showing it off. Choose the right frame and itll enhance your art as well
as keeping it safe; choose the wrong frame and itll distract the viewer
from the artwork. Frames are available in every conceivable
combination of materials, colors, and profiles, so you wont have any
trouble finding the perfect one. If you cant decide, go with a simple
wood or metal frame, as these almost always look good.

Before you commit to a frame, check that its rabbet size (i.e. the
depth of the frame) is sufficient to accommodate the mat and glass
package. The depth required is normally at least ! inch (measure to
be sure). Also, choose a size that is 1/16 to 1/8 inch larger than the
mat package to allow some room for expansion.

For glass, single strength is fine. Though anti-reflective glass is an
option if glare is likely to be a problem where it will be hung, it does
have a tendency to dull the painting. You can choose a glass that has
UV protection if you want to; this might be worthwhile if the work will
be hung in a sunny room. Dont use Plexiglas or acrylic, as static
electricity can pull pastel off the paper.

HOW TO FRAME (WITH MAT)

Unfixed pastels are not easy to frame, and so for best results, pay a
professional framer to do it for you. If you want to do it yourself
though, here is how to go about it.

First, assemble all the various components. Youll need your painting,
the frame, the mounting board, spacers, the mat, the dust cover for
the frame, a clean flat workspace, white cotton gloves, and some
adhesive tape. You may also need either a mat cutter or a utility knife
and a metal straight edge.

Before you begin, visualize the order of the elements in a finished,
framed painting, from front to back: first the frame; then the glass;
the mat; spacers; the (already mounted using a T-hinge) painting; the
filler board (if you have one); and finally, the dustcover. Visualizing
this will help ensure that you get the order right.

Also, put on your white cotton gloves before you begin. This will stop
you getting fingerprints on the glass.


77

Step 1: Take the back off your frame, and set your mounted painting
down on top of it. You might find that it needs to be trimmed before it
will fit in the frame. If so, tape some glassine paper to it to protect it,
and then carefully trim it to the right size using either a mat cutter or
a knife and straight edge.

Step 2: Fix the spacers in the corners of your mounted painting, in
positions where they will be hidden by the mat.

Step 3: Take your mat and lay it on top of your mounted painting so
that its resting on the spacers. Position it carefully. Remember that
the beveled edge should face towards the painting rather than away
from it.

Step 4: Lay the glass on top of the mat. Again, position it carefully so
that everything lines up. The weight of the glass should hold what is
beneath it in place. Have a good look at the mat under the glass. Is
there any dust on it? If there is, remove the glass and thoroughly
clean the mat.

Step 5: Fit the frame on top of the glass, mat, and painting. Get your
fingers under the whole package, and (gently!) flip it over so that it is
face-down on your table. Now you can fit the filler board (if you have
one) and the dustcover, and turn the clasps to lock the whole package
into place. And voila! Youre finished.

PROTECT YOUR ART WITHOUT THE EXPENSE

Heres a way to easily and cheaply protect your pastel paintings so
that you can transport them. Youll need foam core, archival photo
corners, a craft knife, a pencil, and adhesive tape or glue.

Step 1: Place your painting on the foam core and cut around it,
leaving at least a 3in border on all sides.

Step 2: Mark the corners of your painting on the foam core, then
attach two photo corners to the foam core where the bottom two
corners of your painting will go, using the pencil marks. Fit your
painting into the corners, then attach the top two corners and fit the
painting into those as well.

Step 3: From the foam core you have left, cut out four 2in strips.
Using your adhesive, stick these onto the larger piece of foam core
around the edge (trim them to fit so you have a continuous border).


78
There should be 1in of clearance between these strips and your
painting all the way around it.

Step 4: Now your artwork is in its box and almost ready for
transportation. All you need to do is place a piece of tissue paper over
the top of the box, and then place another piece of foam core on top.
Attach it with masking tape so that it makes a lid you can remove
easily later.

Step 5: Your painting is ready for transportation. Remember to
transport pastel painting resting on their backs, so as to minimize the
effect of vibrations shaking pastel particles loose.


79
TIPS

Pastel painting is an intricate world, and inevitably theres a lot of
helpful advice that defies categorization. So this chapter is full of tips
on a wide variety of subjects. You might consider highlighting anything
that you think sounds useful for ease of later reference.

When youre working, move your whole arm, not just your wrist.
This encourages a looser, bolder technique.

When using your fingers or hand to blend, youll need to
regularly clean them to avoid cross-contamination of colors.
Baby wipes are ideal for this.

For cleaning pastel dust off your fingers, keep a ball of Blu-Tack
near your easel. Just rolling it around in your hands for a few
seconds will clean off the dust. If you find that your Blu-Tack is
going hard, keep it in a piece of cling-wrap.

Dirty paper stumps/tortillons can be cleaned for further use by
unwinding a layer at the tip. Or, remove the tip using a pencil
sharpener.

Pastel doesn't always wash out well, so dont work in clothes
that youre fond of. Pick out a few old t-shirts/ sweatshirts and
designate those to work in.

When you finish a painting, give it a couple of taps from behind
so that excess pastel dust falls off.

Like most things, youll improve fastest if you paint every day.

Spend plenty of time looking at your work as you paint. Stand
back from it to get a better perspective and to see it as a whole.

To catch pastel dust while you work, use
mat board or heavy card bent to form a U
shape. Alternatively, place a 4in wide piece
of aluminum foil at the bottom of your
easel, held in place by the drawing board.
Remove it periodically and empty the built-
up dust.


80
1o proLecL your carpeL, place a vlnyl LablecloLh wrong slde up under your easel. ?ou'll
flnd LhaL Lhe dusL sLlcks Lo Lhe cloLh, buL sLlll washes off easlly.

use a vacuum cleaner (wlLh a narrow aLLachmenL) Lo suck up Lhe pasLel dusL from Lhe
ledge of Lhe easel.

Annoyed because you've [usL flnlshed framlng your work and now you noLlce pasLel dusL
on Lhe maL lnslde Lhe glass? nexL Llme, Lry uslng an anLl-sLaLlc glass cleaner on Lhe lnslde
of Lhe glass before you begln.

asLel sLlcks are prone Lo breaklng, and because lL's dlfflculL Lo palnL wlLh a plece of
pasLel LhaL's Loo shorL, you wonder whaL Lo do wlLh all Lhe pleces. ?ou !"# buy speclal
pasLel holders, buL Lhey are expenslve.

A much cheaper opLlon ls Lo buy a packeL of dlsposable razors (8lC lus Lady Shaver
work perfecLly buL probably so would a loL of oLher Lypes). AfLer Lhey've gone blunL,
break Lhe head off of Lhe handle, Lhen Lrlm off Lhe
curved parL aL Lhe Lop of Lhe handle and Lhe flanged
parL aL Lhe boLLom of Lhe handle wlLh a knlfe. Sand
Lhe ends wlLh some sandpaper Lo smooLh Lhem. now
you'll flnd LhaL your pasLel pleces flLs perfecLly lnslde
Lhe boLLom of Lhe handle where Lhe flange was. lnserL
Lhe plece of pasLel for a snug flL. 1he lnslde of Lhe
handle has llLLle 'flngers' LhaL hold Lhe pasLel really
well.

When you're done [usL pull Lhe pasLel back ouL and
you are ready for Lhe nexL color. 8ecause Lhey're so cheap, you could have one for each
pasLel lf you wanLed Lo.

8efore Laklng Lhe wrapper off your pasLels, wrlLe down Lhe color and lLs name/brand on
a separaLe plece of paper. now you have an easy reference gulde for when you need Lo
replace a pasLel.

When you go Lo buy new pasLels, conslder buylng a half-sLlck collecLlon as a way Lo Lry
ouL new colors or a new brand. 1hese are offered by many makers and are usually aL a
dlscounL Lo full-sLlck prlces. Cr, shop for new pasLels wlLh a fellow arLlsL and agree Lo cuL
each plece ln half.

When you need a color LhaL ls half-way beLween Lwo of your sLlcks, break off pleces of
boLh, grlnd Lhem carefully LogeLher, add waLer Lo creaLe a Lhlck pasLe, knead, form lnLo
a sLlck, and leL dry. volla!

uL a secLlon of Lhe weekend newspaper beLween your paper and Lhe drawlng board for
some 'glve' LhaL wlll help you Lo avold a hard llne or sLroke.

Clvlng ob[ecLs you palnL sofL edges suggesLs roundness, whlch helps creaLe form.


81
keep some maL boards cuL lnLo L" or u" shapes ln a varleLy of slzes, and puL over your
palnLlngs once ln a whlle as you work. 1hls wlll help you Lo see whaL Lhey'll look llke
when flnlshed so you can ad[usL Lhe composlLlon, and crop lf needed.

1ake your work-ln-progress off Lhe easel once ln a whlle and look aL lL ln anoLher
locaLlon where Lhe llghLlng ls dlfferenL. very ofLen, your palnLlng wlll look qulLe
dlfferenL, and you'll see someLhlng you wouldn'L have noLlced oLherwlse.

lf you need a $%"&&' flne polnL on your pasLel penclls: sharpen Lhem normally, Lhen rub
Lhe polnL on sanded paper or a regular nall flle or emery board. ?ou'll be able Lo geL a
polnL llke a needle ln no Llme.

8emember Lo leave a margln of aL leasL 3/8ln (1cm) around Lhe edges of your palnLlngs
ln case you laLer wanL Lo mounL Lhem.

When you've flnlshed a palnLlng, buL sLlll need Lo Lweak a few areas, use a maul sLlck. A
maul sLlck resLs agalnsL Lhe edges of your easel, maklng a brldge over your work for you
Lo resL your hand on, and allowlng you Lo avold any chance of smudglng whaL you've
already done.

lf you are wearlng gloves and wanL Lo change Lhem qulckly for dlfferenL colors, Lry
rubblng Lalc over your hands before puLLlng Lhem on.


82
DIFFERENT BRANDS

There are many different brands of pastels on the market today and
you will try lots of them and end up sticking with the ones that you
find the best for your style of painting.
To start you off here is an overview of some of them.

Soft Pastels
Reeves Soft Pastels
These pastels are made by Winsor and Newton a respected student
quality brand. They come in a wide variety of colors and in sets of 12,
24 or 36. Perfect for color blending and suitable for use on textured
paper or card. Because they are very affordable you can use them to
experiment to your hearts content.
Rembrandt Pastels
These pastels are great if whether youre a beginner or not. They are a
little harder than some of the softer pastels and have a high degree of
lightfastness. Good for the layering technique as their texture allows
them to be applied over existing layers without moving the colour.
Rembrandt are often used as an underpainting or base coat for the
softer pastels.
Caran dAche Artist Soft Pastels
This is a reliable brand of quality pastel. Made with minimal binders
they are, however, a little more consistent in texture than other
brands. Quite a forgiving pastel with good covering control, perhaps
not as soft as the handmade ones, but do last a little longer. Once
again another good choice for beginners as they allow mistakes to be
painted over, scraped, or erased with a kneaded eraser.
Mungyo Gallery Soft Pastel
These extra soft pastels are ones that I tend to use a lot (the
squares). They come in round or square " or full sticks. Can be


83
purchased separately or in box form and are not expensive. The
colors are fade resistant and I find they blend really well.
Sennelier Soft Pastels
These are very soft pastels with no fillers and just enough binder to
hold the pigment together. They probably have the largest range of
shades of colors on the market and come in full and " sticks, although
they are rather expensive. They are prepared by hand without
compression and air dried to prevent brittleness. Sennelier Soft Pastels
would be one of the finest soft pastels available.
Art Spectrum Pastels
These are made in Australia and are consistent with an excellent range
of colors. All Art Spectrum pure pigment pastels are free from heavy
metals, asbestos or other toxic substances. Another plus is that they
are available in two sizes.
Schmincke Soft Pastels
These are an extra soft pastel with high concentration of pigments and
a minimum of binders. The softness of the pastels permits a beautiful
dense application, and the pigment concentration results in great color
intensity. Excellent colour range, however, can be expensive.
Unison Handmade Pastels
These luxury pastels are for the serious pastellist expensive. I
personally have not used them, but know artists who have.
Apparently they are superb to use. They have been gently hand-rolled
and air-dried, and the stick is as much an organic sculpture as it is a
tool. The pure pigment colour results in intense, vibrant application
that is not muddied by the blending of colors. I will have to try one.

Hard Pastels
Prismacolor Nupastel Color Sets
NuPastels are stronger than ordinary soft pastels, which means less
breakage and easier cleanup. Use them to create broad strokes and
fine lines. They are a hard pastel that seem similar to Cont. They
have a creamy texture which is good for blending.


84

Van Gogh Hard Pastels
These are an affordable pastel and well suited to the beginner or
hobbyist. You will need a firm, toothy paper as they hard quite hard
and dont layer as well as soft pastel. They dont crumble and a good
for linear work. Would suggest you purchase just a few colors and try
them. Van Gogh pastels are from the makers of Rembrandt pastels
Faber-Castell Polychromos Pastels
These are a hard pastel not as hard as the Cont but they do need
a firm paper. The colors are all first class with high pigment density
and have a great resistance to fading.
Cont Crayons
Cont are a very popular brand. The colors are dark darks and bright
primaries. They are a very hard pastel, needing a firm paper, and
they are good for fine work. I use them for my sketching as they
produce little dust. The colors work well on dark paper.
Faber-Castell Pitt Pastel Pencil
These are an easy-to-use pencil and ideal for smaller size pastel
drawings, hatching and linear work. The leads are tough but soft and
smooth to use. Use them for the finer points of your painting and, as
you can usually buy them separately, it means you can purchase the
colour/s that you need.


85
CONCLUSION

There is no right or wrong way to build up your picture from the first
stroke to the last. Some artists start by laying down the darker values
first, others start with the eyes (when doing portraits), others, like
myself, have a very basic sketch then work from the top down, others
go from side to side or diagonally. It also depends on what the
painting is a landscape, a portrait, in the studio or outdoors. Once
you begin, just go with the passion and spirit in you as you work with
the pastels.

Dont worry about what others may or may not say about your style
and dont paint for sale. Dont worry - these are the only donts!

Look around you, right now, and see what arouses your interest. Its
amazing what simple household items can be turned into inspiring art.
Take a camera with you when you go out and take LOTS of pictures.
Its the beauty of digital you can load them up on the computer and
discard what isnt encouraging.

The beauty of pastels is that they are very forgiving and they are there
to be played with. So, go and have fun.

I hope you have gained a good working insight into the world of
pastels and it has inspired you to pick up your pastel stick and begin.

http://paintingwithpastels.com


86
RESOURCES

It is well worth going into a forum to talk to other artists. Artspan is a
current active forum where youll learn a lot and can ask questions.

Forum:
Artspan forum
http://www.artspan.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=45

Further Info:

For more information about hinges and how to make them - referred
to in Chapter 15 Storing/Framing Your Work.
http://www.expressobeans.com/wiki/index.php/Museum_Mounting

Art Supplies:

You can shop online with confidence at Jerrys Artarama store which
has a good range of pastels and equipment.
http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-3668777-10633624

Videos to Watch:

Painting a winter wonderland watch as she paints
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yanQTcCxXnc&NR=1

How to draw with oil pastels also other pastel lessons on this site
http://www.ehow.com/video_2381517_draw-oil-pastels.html

Pastel Technique Secrets

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Оригинальное название

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Pastel Technique Secrets

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

2009 Emma Ralph - All Rights Reserved. www.paintingwithpastels.

Вам также может понравиться