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PASTEL PRIMER

Learn more about
pastel painting here!

Painting © by Jen Evenhus
PSA-MP, NPS-DP, PSWC, KA

 

Pastel painting is enjoying a renaissance in artistic and public popularity after a long period of neglect. Once relegated as a drawing medium of little consequence, today, works in pastel command some of the highest prices for contemporary art. Considered one of the purest of painting mediums, pastel is as colorful and vigorous as any method of painting.

PASTELS ARE NOT CHALK! They are pure pigment, the same used in making all fine art paints. It is the most permanent of all mediums when applied to conservation grounds and properly framed. Pastel has no liquid binder that may fade, yellow, crack or blister with time or exposure to light, as with other mediums. The name pastel comes from the French word pastische, meaning pure powdered pigment ground into a paste with a small amount of gum binder. The paste is rolled and dried in stick form with an infinite variety and value range of colors. Pastels from the 16th Century exist today, as fresh and alive as the day they were painted!

Pastel artworks are created by stroking sticks of dry pigment across an abrasive ground designed for pastel, imbedding color in the "tooth" of the ground. If the ground is completely covered with pigment in a painterly fashion, the work is considered a pastel painting; leaving much of the ground exposed produces a pastel drawing. Techniques vary with individual artists. Pastel can be blended or used with visible strokes. The medium is favored by many artists because it allows a spontaneous approach. There is no drying time and no mixing of colors is needed.

Pastel can be traced back to the 16th Century. Its invention is attributed to the German painter Johann Thiele. A Venetian woman artist, Rosalba Carriera, was the first to make consistent use of Pastel. Chardin did portraits with an open stroke, while LaTour preferred the blended finish. A galaxy of famous artists followed . . . Watteau, Copley, Delacrox, Millet, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Vuillard, Bonnard, Glackers, Whistler, Hassam, William Merrit Chase . . . and more recently, well known artists such as Daniel Greene, Sally Strand, Albert Handell, Jane Lund, Doug Dawson, Dianah Randolph, Deberah Deichler and Richard Pionck, to name just a few, have employed pastel with marvelous results.

Edgar Degas was the most prolific user of Pastel, and its champion. His protégé, Mary Cassatt, introduced the impressionists, and Pastel, to her friends in Philadelphia and Washington, and thus to the United States. In the spring of 1983, Sotheby Parke Bernet sold at auction two Degas Pastels for more than $3,000,000 each! Both Pastels were painted about 1880. To the right is "Three Ballet Dancers" by Degas.

The Pastel Society of America (PSA) was founded in New York in 1972 to promote and independently display pastel works of art as a unique and serious art medium. In response to the growing public and artistic popularity of pastel, many local pastel societies have since been formed throughout the country, including the Northwest Pastel Society (NPS) in Seattle, Washington, and the Pastel Society of the West Coast (PSWC), Roseville, California.

 

My love of pastels comes from their immediacy. They don't dry on the palette. I can grab a color without mixing for an hour. I simply mix on the page! The brilliant colors of pastels allow endless possibilities. You can be as detailed or as abstract as you want. You can make a 'mess' and create a masterpiece all on the same page.

We can 'draw' with pastels, or 'paint' with pastels. Pastel is an 'easy' medium for beginning artists who want to experiment with color, form, and composition. Even children achieve wonderful results with pastels. Won't you try? Comments and questions welcome. jennifer@evenhusfineart.com

 

Interested in getting started with Pastels? Here's what my students should have on hand:   Student Supply List