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Janet Everitt-Forte |
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The Beauty of Soft PastelsI have found the medium of soft pastels well suited to the broad color strokes of painting and the linear qualities of drawing. The first time I saw the pure, rich colors in a set of pastels, I had to acquire them. I was immediately “hooked” on pastels. These sticks of color suit my spontaneous desire to paint at a moment’s notice with no need to mix paint or clean up afterward (aside from a quick washing of my hands.) Soft pastels are as pure a painting medium as can be found. They are made with pure pigment (the color component) and gum tragacanth to bind them into sticks. Their name refers to paste, since they are formed by the ground pigment mixed with water and the gum tragacanth added in to give enough strength to hold the paste in a stick shape once it has dried. Their name definitely does not apply to them being light tints, (which is the definition many think of when they hear the word pastel), since all colors, pure, or grayed, or lightly tinted, are available today.
The beauty of soft pastels, other than the obvious beauty of their vibrant colors, is that they are so versatile. The methods of applying soft pastels are many. Application techniques range from total coverage of the paper’s surface with pastel to soft touches of color lightly glazed across the “tooth” of the paper (called scumbling) leaving much of the paper showing through. Pastels may be painted in small strokes with the end of the stick, broad strokes using the side of the stick, ground into powder and smeared onto the paper, or stroked on and painted over with mineral spirits, water, alcohol, or acrylic medium. The use of fixative on the pastels can be an additional tool, since it darkens the pastel and causes less light to refract from the irregularly shaped particles of pigment deposited on the support. Using pastels, watercolors, ink, or pure pigments, the support (paper, canvas, or board) may be tinted lightly all one color. The subject may be loosely painted in abstract shapes in deep complementary colors or colors that most nearly correspond to those of the “local” color. By choosing a colored paper, more variants are introduced. Combining varying techniques of application with the large array of colors and the many different types of supports available today opens the door to a world of possibilities, aiding the artist in visually interpreting a scene.
I find soft pastels so perfect for my way of painting. They do not require drying time, there are no brushes to be cleaned at the end of a painting session, there are no odors from linseed (or other) oils, and they do not dry to a different color as other mediums do. Plus, the colors remain the same as long as they are not over-exposed to sunlight or heavy moisture. How perfect! Now that I have run-on about soft pastels should I go on to discuss hard pastels? There is not much more to say about these, except that they are usually square-edged, have additional binder and sometimes shellac added to allow them to be sharpened into points and hold sharp edges. |
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...Janet Everitt-Forte |