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Painting with Pastels
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THE NATURE OF SOFT PASTELS
 Pastels
are very soft in texture, and can be easily blended, either with
a finger or a cotton bud. They come in a huge range of vibrant,
strong colours and are water-soluble. Pastels are ideal for creating
quick, Impressionist-style work, and they are used for both drawing
and colouring. It is possible to use the length of the pastel to
make broad slabs of colour, or a sharp corner to draw, as you would
with a pencil. The technique does create a lot of pastel dust,
and finished pictures benefit from being sprayed with fixative
to seal them. Choice of paper is an integral part of pastel technique.
Textured and coloured papers will add interest to your work.
PREPARATION
Pastels create a lot of dust, so it is best to wear old clothes and cover your
work-table with a plastic or disposable tablecloth. Ideally your paper should
be taped onto a drawing board, which can then be angled to suit your posture.
It is a good idea to have a jar of water, a watercolour brush and perhaps a knife
for scraping the pastels with, though none of these are essential. If you are
indoors, make sure you have enough natural light to the front or side of you.
BASIC EXERCISES
 Before
you begin a picture it is best to practise a few basic exercises. A pastel stick
is a very simple drawing tool, yet it is amazingly versatile.
Colour can be applied in broad slabs by using the length of the stick, or in
delicate thin strokes with the tip or corner of the stick.
Colours can be blended with each other using a finger or cotton bud, or you can
apply one colour over the top of another to create texture.
Pastels are compatible with watercolours, and can be diluted with water to create
washes. A stick can be scraped with a knife to create pastel dust, which can
be applied to a picture using a finger as an alternative method of creating a
wash.
Colour can be removed with a soft eraser, to rectify mistakes or create highlights.
One of the most attractive qualities of pastel drawing is the ease with which
colours can be blended.
Practise mixing and blending colours, and also try to achieve gradations of colour,
from a very pale tint to the full strength that a pastel stick is capable of.
Once you are familiar with the way your pastels perform, the next stage is to
begin a composition.
COMPOSITION
 Choosing
subject matter is a very personal thing. If you are inexperienced, avoid complex
compositions. You will become frustrated and abandon the picture! It is better
to tackle a simple scene and do it well. Before committing yourself to paper,
consider the scene from different angles and distances until you settle on the
best viewpoint. Work out which section of the scene you are going to draw and
sketch out the basic lines of the composition with the tip of your pastel. You
can use one pale colour to do this (as in the illustration below) or change colours
according to what you are drawing. i.e. A blue outline for a blue book, a yellow
outline for the lemon etc. Alternatively, you can use a normal graphite pencil.
Do not concern yourself with too much detail at this stage. Correct any mistakes
with a soft putty eraser to avoid scuffing the paper surface.
DRAWING
Whether you are drawing a still-life, a figure or a landscape the same rules
apply. The pictures opposite show how a traditional pastel picture is built up
in stages.
| 1. Simple sketch of the composition, using a yellow ochre
for the land and a pale blue for the sky area. The artist has
made a feature of the dramatic sky by keeping the horizon line
low in the composition. The farm building provides a useful
focal point. |
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| 2. The sky area is blocked in, using blues and pale yellows,
which are blended together with a finger and a cotton bud to
create the fluffy clouds. Touches of crimson and purple pastel
dust are blended into the sky to add interest. A putty eraser
can be used to create highlights. |
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| 3. The basic tones of the trees, buildings and foreground
are blocked in. The artist has blended the distant trees and
fields with a cotton bud to give them a soft- focus look, but
has sketched in the foreground fields and large tree by applying
colour on colour to add more texture and interest. |
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| 4. Finishing touches are added to the large tree and buildings
using a sharp corner of the pastel for detail. The white fencing
was created by scraping off the pastel with a sharp craft knife,
or similar. More texture has been added to the foreground fields
and path by using a sketching, rather than a blending technique.
This contrasts with the out of focus, blended look of the distant
fields. |
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FINISHING TOUCHES
Pastels are very powdery by nature, and it is best to use a fixative spray on
them, once finished, to seal the work. Traditionally they are framed under glass,
with a bevel-cut mount card. This prevents the delicate surface of the pastel
picture from touching the glass. Most professional artists allow a margin around
their work rather than drawing straight to the edge. This space is useful for
testing colours prior to drawing, and also helps the framer to site the mount.
CARE OF EQUIPMENT
Pastels are very easy to look after. Simply keep them in their protective box,
and avoid dropping them, as they break very easily! |
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