Pastel Painting Atelier by Ellen Eagle - Excerpt

pastel painting atelier ESSENTIAL LESSONS IN TECHNIQUES, PRACTICES, AND MATERIALS

ellen eagle Foreword by

maxine hong kingston

 Wats on- Gup til l Publ P ubl ica tio ns New York

Copyright © 2013 by Ellen Eagle  All rig hts res reserv erv ed. Published in the United States by Wats Watson-Guptill on-Guptill Publications, an imprint of  the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. www.crownpublishing.com www.watsonguptill.com  WATSON -GU PTI LL and the WG and Hor se des ign s a re reg regist ist ere d t rad emarks of Random House, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Eagle, Ellen. Pastel painting atelier : essential lessons in techniques, practices, and materials / Ellen Eagle. — First Edition. 1. Pastel painting—Technique. I. Title. NC880.E23 2013 741.2'35—dc23 2012018761 Printed in China Book design by Karla Baker  Jac ket des ign by Kar la Bak Baker er  Jac ket art : E ll llen en Eag le 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition HALF-TITLE PAGE IMAGE:

Ellen Eagle,  Anastasio, 2010, pastel on pumice board, 8 3 ⁄ 8 x 6 ¾ inches (21.3 x 17.1 cm) This is the frst portrait I did o Anastasio. I selected the very close, rontal gaze because o his sharply intelligent observations. TITLE PAGE IMAGE:

Mary Cassatt (American [active in France], 1844–1926), Woman with Baby, c. 1902, pastel on gray paper, 28 3 ⁄ 8 x 2 0 7 ⁄ 8 inches (72.1 x 53 cm), collection of The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts. Gift of the Executors of  Governor Lehman’s Lehman’s Estate and the Edith and Herbert Lehman Foundation, 1968.301 PHOTO CREDIT: MICHAEL AGEE

Cassatt was a superb dratswoman, yet she did not hesitate to break through her ine drawing lines with vigorous strokes o pastel, and oten let some areas o her paintings less inished than others. IMAGE FACING CONTENTS PAGE:

 Jo hn App le  John leton ton Bro Brown wn,, Old Fashioned Garden , circa 1889, pastel on paperboard, 21 15 ⁄ 16 16 x 18 inches (55.7 cm x 43.7 cm), collection of Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Bequest of Miss Mary Sophia  Walk er, Ac Ac.1 .190 90 4. 4.24 24 Notice the variety o strokes within this painting. They create a multitude o textures, and a depth o space. As do many o Brown’s pastels, this image eatures a buoyant, dance-like composition created by the play o  light on distinct orms.

contents

Foreword by Maxine Hong Kingston

8

Preface

12

Introduction: A Luminous History,, a Lumino us Future History

14

CHAPTER ONE

basic materials  What Is Pas Pastel? tel?

25 26

Building a Collection of Pastels

28

Experimenting with Pastels

30

Storing and Organizing Pastels

32

Examining the Lightfastness of Colors

34

 Address  Add ress ing Ques tion s of o f Toxicity Toxici ty Selecting Paper with Care

36 38

CHAPTER TWO

advanced studio practices

CHAPTER FOUR 

the working process

89

Creating Black-and-White Tonal Studies

90

Establishing Proportion

96

Capturing Gesture

99

 Arti cula tin tingg Co mpos itio n

102

Remembering That First Impression

104

Perceiving Color

106

 Applyin  App lyin g Past P astel el

110

Laying In the Painting

113

Gradating Tone

118

Developing Form

121

Establishing Whether the Work Is Finished

124

Identifying Problems

126

Making Corrections

128

CHAPTER FIVE 43

on my easel

133

Making Your Own Pastels

44

Pigeon Glancing

134

Making Your Own Supports

46

Underwood

142

Organizing Your Studio

48

Keeping a Notebook

52

CHAPTER THREE

 Anastas  Anas tasio io wit withh Pill P ill ow

148

Dried Flowers, Garlic Skins, Fabric, and Threads

154

Bee Balm

160 166

a look at the genres

55

Emily in Profile

Portraiture

56

CHAPTER SIX

Self-Portraiture

66

display and handling

173

Still Life

70

Caring for Pastel Paintings and Drawings

174

Landscape

76

Framing Pastel Paintings

176

The Figure

82

Traveling with Pastel Paintings

178

 Afterw  Aft erword ord

180

Notable Public Collections of  Pastel Paintings and Drawings

182

Index

190

CHAPTER one

basic materials Walking Thomas Gainsboroug Gainsborough, h,  A Lady Walking in a Garden with a Child, circa 1785, black chalk on light brown paper, heightened with white pastel, 20 x 8 11 ⁄ 16 16 inches (50.8 x 22.1 cm), collection o The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Caliornia, 96.GB.13

I have never known an artist who does not love the tools o his or her trade. My

The artist created this work as a study for an oil painting. He did it out-of-doors and probably carried minimal supplies with him. In his portrait of Carolyn, Fourth Duchess of Marlborough, in which she is elegantly seated, his use of color is similarly restrained. Therefore, I suspect he enjoyed the concise approach to the art of quick outdoor pastel studies.

discovered are envisioned. I suspect that the ebullience o discovery is particularly

students are always on the hunt or a new stick o pastel and a new surace. When they bring a fnd to class, they can’t wait to show and tell. Excitement ripples through the studio as the potential eloquence o a new product or an o ld one newly

acute or pastelists because o the relative mystery surrounding the history and manuacture o pastel. We are hunters and gatherers, alway s searching out inormation to add to the pot, helping to rescue our beloved pastel rom neglect. Uncovering a act here and there brings us new insights into the accomplishments o our predecessors and into our own promise. In this chapter, I wish to shed light on some o the mysteries o pastel. I will introduce you to the physical properties o our materials, rom the constitution and lightastness o pastel sticks to textures and tones o papers, and explain not only how to select these materials but how to use them saely. saely. I will also address organization and record keeping, to help you avoid becoming overwhelmed by the sheer numbers o tints and shades that most pastelists fnd themselves alling in love with and bringing home to the studio.

what is pastel? Pastel is sometimes conused with chalk. In very early writings about pastel, the words  paste l and chalk were oten used interchangeably. This is unde rstandable, since the two mediums are changeably. similar in many ways. Chalk is a naturally occurring material. It is solid, so can be used in the orm in which it is ound, taken directly rom the earth, or it can be shaped into uniorm sticks. Similarly,, pastel sticks are composed primarily o powdered pigSimilarly ments mined rom the earth. Sources or pastel pigments include plants, minerals, soils, shells, bones, and ossils. The main distinction between pastel sticks and chalk is that the ormer requires a binder in order or it to maintain a stick orm; i the pastel stick is a tint or shade, it will contain an extender as well. Naturally occurring pigments typically require some kind o  binder in order or them to be used to make art. These binding vehicles—the oil in oil paints and the water-soluble gum arabic or honey in watercolor—suspend the pigments. With pastel sticks, the binder is oten a water-based substance such as methyl cellulose. This is what makes it possible or us to hold the stick.  Very sot past els o the t he highest high est quality qu ality are almost pure p ure pigment, containing only minute amounts o binder. The proportions o pigment to binder vary not only between sot and hard pastels, but within both categories o stick. This is because the pigments themselves vary in texture, and thereore require dierent amounts and types o binder. Each stick has to be cohesive enough to be held in the hand, yet crumbly enough to yield its granules when drawn across the support. The development o a single stick o pastel requires a great deal o experimentation to achieve the proper balance o the constituents. Manuacturers pride themselves on the qualities o texture and color unique to their products, and generally do not divulge their recipes.

TOP:

These pure pigments were mined in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The pigments that make up pastel sticks also comprise the color in oil paint, watercolor, acrylic, gouache, and tempera. BOTTOM:

This fossilized pine cone contains pigment. Great care must be taken when removing the pigment from its shell, so as to prevent foreign matter  from infiltrating the pastel stick.

In pastel, white extenders, such as talc or kaolin, are added proportionally to create light gradations o color (tints). Black pigment is added to create a range o dark values (shades). Being almost pure pigment, with no need or varnish, and containing minimal binder, pastel color is highly permanent. Pastel paintings created in the seventeenth century that have been well cared or display their brilliant chroma today. The intensity o pastel’s color is due to the interaction o light refected by the irregular, bumpy suraces o the stick’s granules. The method o abricating pastel sticks has remained basically the same since its inception. Pastel makers nely grind the pigments and mix them with the water-based binder and talc to create a paste—hence the word  pastel . They then press the materials to remove excess water, roll them into sticks, and set them to dry. Cold or damp weather conditions sometimes require the sticks to be placed in a dryer rather than air-dried. Some manuacturers create pastels by machine, some by hand. Pastel sticks are the most common orm o pastel available today. Many o my students also like to use pastel pencils or details, but they tell me they break easily when sharpened. I have never ound the need or them. PanPastel is relatively new to the market. It is made o pigment with so little binder that it remains in powder orm and is packaged in shallow cups. Because it is not a solid stick, it is swiped and applied with sponges and brushes.

Both hard (top) and soft (bottom) pastel sticks contain minute amounts of  binder.

building a collection of pastels  When you go to th e pastel pas tel depar d epartmen tmentt o your y our art a rt supply su pply store, you will oten see pieces o paper lying around, or anchored to a shel, with pastel scrawls o varying thicknesses and colors. These are the marks o pastelists who have come in to test sticks. It is a smart practice, because colors look dierent in stick orm, in their boxes, than they do deposited on paper, intermingling with other colors. Also, not all sticks eel comortable in any given hand.

oxide reds

burnt siennas

red  vi ole ts

permanent reds

raw siennas

blue  vio let s

oranges

burnt umbers

green grays

ochers

raw umbers

blue grays

olive greens

prussian blue

blacks

light blue greens

cobalt blue

I use pastel only in stick orm, and the ollowing suggestions relate to both hard and sot pastel sticks.

In my sets, the colors above are the ones I reach for most frequently. If  you prefer to buy individual sticks, and you work primarily in portraiture, you might begin with a similar selection.

full sets and individual sticks I personally eel that because we never know what colors we will see in our subjects, it is important to have as many colors as possible available or use. Procuring a large prepackaged set o  pastels can be nancially daunting, but it is a onetime purchase, making the replacement o requently used sticks necessary only rom time to time. On the other hand, many artists eel that it makes a great deal o sense, especially i you are concentrating on one genre, to build a collection o individually selected sticks. You can buy multiple sticks o the colors you use requently instead o spending money on a set that m ay contain co lors you will rarely, rarely, i ever, touch. For instance, I see a lot o greens, blues, and violets in my sitters’ fesh tones, but not as many as landscape artists see in their subjects.

hardness and softness

I find I use these colors frequently in portraiture.

My basic set o sot pastels is the Rembrandt 225-stick set. Rembrandts all into the category o a harder sot pastel, so they do not wear down that quickly, and I use them throughout the

The company states that they are almost pure pigment with min-

course o the painting, rom beginning to end. I also use Art Spec-

ute amounts o binder. This accounts or their exceptionally sot,

trums, which are quite sot and whose colors are rich and earthy,

buttery bodies and chromatic brilliance. Because I generally work

and a beautiul, old, no-longer-manuactured, seven-tray Grum-

on a small scale, and with incremental shits o color and value, I

bacher set that I acquired rom the estate o an artist. I use the

am oten unable to use such a sot pastel as Sennelier. However,

 Art Sp ectru ms, Grumba Gr umbachers chers,, and my Unisons Un isons more sparin gly;

when I have a large area, even within a small painting, or which

because they are so sot, they abrade too quickly or my purposes

I want a steady value, I open my box o Senneliers. I used them

when used directly on the pumice board. I layer them on top o 

liberally in the background and nightgown in Self-Portrait in Blue,

the Rembrandts.

which appears on page 68. I generally use Senneliers in the nal

 Also in my colle collection ction is the 525525-stick stick set o o  Sennelie Sen nelie r. Senneliers are renowned or their exquisite range o shades and tints.

moments o painting, because they are so sot that I cannot layer the pastels o other manuacturers on top o them.

I have recently added a set o Henri Roché La Maison du Pas-

next. Even when they have the same names there can be substan-

tel to my collection. When I rst opened the box, I could hardly

tial dierences. For instance, Art Spectrum green grays are worlds

bear to close it again—the proportions and colors o the sticks

apart rom those o Rembrandt. It is helpul to build your color

are so beautiul. Even the labels are exquisite. Being handmade,

library with pastels rom various makers, so that you have as ull

Henri Roché pastels are gorgeously sot, yet the granules tena-

a range as possible.

ciously hold to my board. In addition to my ull sets, I have sets o airly hard dark Giraults and sot dark Unisons, and individual sticks o sot

textures

Schminckes and Rowneys.

 When tryi trying ng stick s tickss out, out , yo u wil l be respon responding ding not only o nly to color, c olor,

 All t he colors co lors rom all a ll the t he manuact ma nuacturers urers can b e combine com bined d

but to texture. Within the category o sot pastels, there are

within a single painting, provided that i you are using vastly

degrees o sotness, rom buttery to gritty. One option or testing

dierent degrees o hard and sot, you work with the harder ones

pastels is to purchase one or two sticks rom various manuactur-

early on and the very sotest ones toward the end.

ers and experiment with them at home. You will nd that each

I nd very little dierence in the degree o hardness among

stick interacts dierently with each support. I you like the eel

the Nupastel, Holbein, Richeson, and Cretacolor hard pastels. It

o the pastel and the way it glides onto your support, you can

is the quieter sound o the stick on the board that distinguishes

expand your collection accordingly. Another possibility is to bring

Richeson as ever so slightly soter than the others.

small pieces o your papers to art supply stores and sample the sticks there. Good art supply stores encourage this. They know

colors

that pastelists are selective about their colors and textures. You

Colors vary rom manuacturer to manuacturer, and there is,

each pastel test. You’d have all your samplings in one place, and

unortunately, no universal numbering system or pastel sticks.

it would be a great reerence or comparisons and identication

I have never seen exact replicas o color rom one brand to the

when you are ready to buy.

might even make a small sketchbook o various papers, and label

gradations Manuacturers create gradations o all their colors. To identiy the gradations, each stick is labeled with a number. Generally, the lowest number is assigned to the darkest shade, the middle number to the pure pigment (with no white or black added), and the highest number to the lightest tint. In Rembrandt pastels, or example, the darkest is labeled three, the pure tone is ve, and the lightest is anywhere rom seven to twelve. (Rembrandt pastels run on the light side.) To start your collection, I recommend you select the darkest, the purest, and the lightest grade o each color you select, so that you can attain a ull range o values in your paintings.

Colors of the same name vary among manufacturers. Compare the permanent red lights on the left (Rembrandt) with those on the right (Grumbacher). Likewise, compare the green grays on the left (Art Spectrum) with those on the right (Rembrandt).

experimenting with pastels Pastel invites experimentation. There are no limits to the medium’s expressive potential. Some artists stroke it onto the surace with exquisite delicacy and precision. Others mass in with spirited sweeps o sot pastel. Some use it in a sketchy, suggestive manner, maintaining areas o paper untouched by pastel. Others use a ull palette o color, ully modeling with incremental tones into highly resolved studies o orm and light, covering all or most o the paper. Some artists avor intensely colored statements. Others use color in a quieter manner. Pastel can be used as the sole medium or, on water-riendly suraces, it can be combined with gouache, watercolor, or tempera. Pastel itsel can be applied wet; you can dip the stick into water and apply the resulting gouache-like consistency onto the surace. Pastel shavings can be mixed with water to create a watercolor-like body and brushed onto the surace. Rubbing or denatured alcohol can be used in place o water when you wish the liquid to evaporate more rapidly. rapidly. Pastel ca n be applied dry and then worked into with a wet brush. (I you work in this

I created this nebula-like shape by moving pastel powder around the paper with my fingers.

manner, it is best not to use a delicate watercolor brush i you are working on a rough surace. Also, the water should be distilled, since the distillation process removes mineral impurities, such as calcium and iron, that could otherwise embed in your sticks and scratch your support.) Pastel can be used on top o oil paint i the paint is greatly diluted with turpentine. Pastel can also be placed on top o monoprints, lithographs, and etchings. New products, such as PanPastel cakes, are widening the denition o the medium and a series o sponges have been introduced or their application. Diane Townsend makes a pastel that includes pumice right in the stick. Many o the new papers make it possible to lit pastel and return to the almost-untouched surace. This is wonderully liberating, and encourages the pastelist to take risks in color selection and application methods. Take a close look at the three manners in which the red pastel was applied on the left side of this image. First, it was applied linearly; next, it was applied linearly and then massed with a finger; and finally, it was applied linearly and then manipulated with a wet brush. The same sequence was utilized for the three columns of orange pastel on the right side. These marks were made on Art Spectrum paper.

sharpening pastels I have sets of Nupastels, Cretacolor, and Richeson. These are hard pastels, and I sharpen them to a point. The points allow me to make tiny mar ks. To To sharpen them, I hold the pastel horizontally and at a sl ight angle, resting the end I wish to sharpen (i.e., the end opposite the number) on a table. Using a single-edge razor blade, I make a downward motion, rotate the stick, and repeat, gently shaving the tip of the pastel stick to a point. I gather the shavings for later use. (See Making Your Own Pastels on page 44.)

As I sharpen my hard pastel, I rotate it so that I achieve a centered point.

Thes e marks we were ma made on on Ri Rich es eson Un Un is ison pa pastel pa paper.

Thes e mark s were ma made on on Wa Walli s pa st stel pa paper.

storing and organizing organ izing pastels p astels I maintain my sets o pastels as they were boxed by the manuac-

Some artists arrange all their pastels by color, mixing

turer. My storage and working palettes are one and the same. The

together all the manuacturers. This enables them to see all o 

hard sticks—Nupastels, Cretacolor, and Richeson—are identied

their stock when searching or a color they need. There are storage boxes made expressly or pastels purchased individually. individually. They

by a number that is stamped into the stick. The sot pastels I use are each wrapped in paper that have numbers on them. Beore I use a new set, I make a chart o the layout o the boxed sticks,

come with two or three drawers, each o which has dividers. As your collection grows, fat les also become an option. Really Really,, any

noting the color and number. This list helps me keep track o  what I have and what I need to replace as the sticks wear down.

shallow drawer in which you can lay out your sticks in a single layer will work.

Making a list sounds like a lot o work, but I have ound that it saves me time and rustration when all I want to do is paint.

I you choose to o rganize your pastels in this manner, I

 As I work, I sepa rate the t he sti cks I am usi ng and s et them the m down on paper towels. When I co mplete a painting, and requently during the course o the painting, I replace all the sticks in their original slots, guided by my charts. This allows me to immediately identiy which sticks need to be replaced. It also helps me

recommend arranging the sticks by color amilies and labeling the drawers by color names. I, in storage, the sticks touch one another, it is also helpul to co at the tray’s compartments with rice. In the course o a pastel stick being worn down, its pigment drits and settles onto other sticks, obscuring the true colors. The

become amiliar with where the sticks reside so I can easily reach

rice absorbs some o the foating pigment, reducing discoloration. I have plenty o room in my studio to lay out every stick I

or them in the course o working, instead o having to hunt. I

own, but I would nd so many choices at any given moment to be

buy multiple sticks o single colors that I use requently and keep them in storage so that I am never without a color I need.

overwhelming. When I don’t nd nd the colors I need in my sets rom Rembrandt, Nupastel, and Roché, I then bring out my other sets.

This is my chart of the arrangement of sticks in Sennelier’s boxed set of  dark colors. I make number/color charts for all of my sets—Henri Roché La Maison du Pastel, Rembrandt, Grumbacher, Nupastel, Richeson, et cetera. Some of my students write the stick number right into the groove in which they are packaged instead of making charts. These very simple steps eliminate almost certain chaos in organizing the pastel collection and knowing which sticks need to be replaced when they wear down.

I maintain my sets as they were boxed by the manufacturer. They sit on typewriter tables, which are easy to move around the studio. This allows me to arrange the tables around my easel according to my location in relation to my model stand.

examining the lightfastness of colors Pastelists ace much mystery about the permanence o their col-

placed the whole package on a south-acing windowsill. A ew

ors. Some pigments are prone to ading when exposed to direct

days later, I compared the protected and exposed areas o co lor.

light. I have learned that carmine reds are particularly vulnerable,

To my astonishment, the e xposed patch o carmine showed

whereas vermilion is stable. Some yellows are stable, and some

signicant ading within days. One o the reds did not change,

are not. Earth tones, such as umbers, ochers, siennas, and green earth, are said to do very well. But oten, there is more than one

and all the others appeared to have darkened. The darkening could have been caused by ading o the lighter pigments within

pigment in one stick, and one o the more vulnerable pigments

the stick, or a darkening due to some recent wet weather. In some

may ade, causing another within the stick to become more obvi-

cases, light can ade paper, especially when dyes have been used

ous. I have been told that cadmium colors are sensitive to humid-

to create the paper color, making the pastel appear darker than

ity,, causing them to darken. ity

the artist intended.

Some manuacturers give their colors decorative names, so

Because I was so surprised by the rapid changes in color,

we don’t always know what classication their hues all into.

I did another test. This time, I made patches o teen colors

Those are best avoided. I have read that titanium white improves

across the spectrum, rom seven manuacturers, again covered the

the working properties o some pigments, but I have also been

bottom halves, and set them in the same s outh-acing window. window.

told that it can accelerate the ading o certain other pigments.

 When, ve months mo nths later, l ater, I revie reviewed wed the resul results, ts, I detec detected ted very ve ry

The ingredients used by some manuacturers are oten dicult to

slight changes, i any any,, in some o the pastel pigments. The paper,

come by, by, but other manuacturers oer color char ts that list the

however, which was not archival, aded signicantly. The colors

constituent pigments o each stick.

in my rst test were clearly impermanent. In the second test, I

I home-tested a selection o reds by making six patches o 

selected pastels designated by the manuacturers as permanent.

color, each rom a dierent manuacturer, on a bo ard. I then

To try to clariy i the pastel color had changed, I looked at sev-

covered the lower hal o the board with another board, and

eral without the context o the paper. It was dicult to discern

I covered the lower half of each block of color and set it in a south-facing window for five months. It was difficult to detect change in the pastel, but the paper had clearly faded. Faded paper will make the strokes of pastel appear differently than the artist intended.

any change in the pastel colors. But, o course, I would never

varnishes. Clear evidence o this is ound in the intensely hued

hang a painting or store my pastels in direct sunlight.

pastel paintings that populate the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and in

Manuacturers usually print ratings o colorastness on the labels or in inserts in the set. But there is currently no industrywide standard or the ratings, so a three-star rating or one brand

those that I return to again and again in the low-lit galleries o the Metropolitan Museum o Art in New York. The surest route to condence in the permanence o your

may be the equivalent o a two-star rating in another. It eels as

color is to make your own pastels, using pigments that are time-

though the only bit o knowledge about the makeup o pastel that

tested and proven permanent. (See Making Your Own Pastels on

is clear is that very little is clear. And to make matters more com-

page 44.) Short o that, I recommend making a home test like

plicated, manuacturers sometimes change their ormulations.

mine, and comparing your results with the manuacturers’ color

 A com mitte mitteee within wi thin ASTM, the Americ A merican an Society So ciety or Testing and Materials, has been working or several years to establish

chart ratings.  When you work w ork in i n you r studio, stu dio, keep y our pastels p astels away rom

industry-wide testing standards by which manuacturers would

a sunny window. When you complete your painting, rame it

identiy the lightastness o their products. Such testing standards

securely and install it on an inner wall, away rom the tempera-

are in place or oil paints, watercolors, acrylics, and colored pen-

ture and humidity variations o outer walls. (See Framing Pastel

cils, and it is very important that pastel painters be granted the

Paintings on page 176 or additional inormation.) Keep it away

same inormation so that we can make educated decisions about

rom direct sun and fuorescent light. I you are going away or a

our materials.

period o time, cover the painting. Note the moisture guidelines

The good news is that with proper care and attention to environmental conditions discussed elsewhere in this book, the integrity o pastel color and its supports are as sustainable as other mediums—or even more so, due to the lack o yellowing

in the chapter about raming and exhibition.

addressing questions of toxicity In the course o my research, I have encountered many opinions about the risks o using pastels. This is what I have gleaned: I 

I you make your own pastels and gesso-pumice boards,

handled properly, pastels are perectly sae. The main issue is

transer the pigments and pumice into covered jars when you bring the materials home. They are oten sold in plastic bags,

the inhalation o pigment dust, which, in vulnerable people, can

which can easily puncture and send particles foating into the air.

cause an asthma attack or other respiratory problems. To minimize these risks, and maintain peace o mind, discard your pastel

 When you y ou are handlin handlingg the powdere powdered d pigme nt, denitely de nitely wear a

shavings as you create them. I you want to use the shavings,

particle lter mask. In terms o each constituent o the pastel stick, there is much

store them in a covered jar. When you want to loosen excess pas-

concern about certain pigments. Cadmium is known to destroy

tel powder rom your painting, don’t blow on it. Instead, tap the

the liver and kidneys, but only i you ingest it. Pigments contain-

board outside the border o the image or on the back. Don’t eat

ing chromium and cobalt are also o concern. From what I have

ood in the studio. It is best to not drink in the studio, either, but

been told, cadmium pigments (unlike other orms o cadmium,

i you must, keep your liquids in a covered cup or glass. Always

such as that ound in batteries) are not absorbed into the skin.

wash your hands beore eating. Remove the pastel dust rom the

Taking precautions mentioned earlier will minimize risk o health

ledge o your easel and the studio foor. I do this with a wet paper towel, so as to not stir the powder up into the air. Put your sticks

problems. Regarding the other components o pastel, extenders oten

away when they are not in use or cover them.

consist o calcium carbonate, which is nontoxic. Calcium carbon-

 Additi onal precau  Additional precautions tions are possib p ossib le: I know s evera everall pastelpas telists who wear a particle lter mask when they work. Some artists

ate appears in numerous products that are ingested. I have ound

have skin allergies to their materials and so wear latex gloves

canth, which are binders, is dangerous.

while working. I you have a cut on your hand or wrist, be sure to cover it with a bandage. Some artists equip their studios with

I do want to say that I have been working with pastels almost daily or teen years. My physical examinations report clear

exhaust systems.

lungs. In the past, I took ew o the above precautions, but my

nothing to indicate that either methyl cellulose or gum traga-

good lungs may be partially due to the light touch with which I work and the relatively hard pastels that comprise much o my paintings. I you apply your pastels with excessive gusto and work with sot pastels, and even i you work as I do, I suggest you do all you can to minimize the accumulation o pastel powder and maintain a clean studio. In light o conficting inormation surrounding the physical properties o pastel, you may want to do your own research in order to adopt saeguards that meet your personal standards.

257–264

CERULEAN BLUE *** : PHTHALO BLUE

265–269

BROWN LAKE ***

PYRROL RED, AZO CONDENSATION BROWN, IRON OXIDE YELLOW, IVORY AND ANILINE BLACKS 270

PINK LAKE ** : ANTHRAQUINONE LAKE

272–274

PINK LAKE **

ANTHRAQUINONE LAKE, QUINACRIDONE RED 281–282

PURPLE BLUE - 0 : COBALT BLUE,

ANTHRAQUINONE AND TRIARYLMETHANE VIOLETS 283–285

PURPLE BLUE *** : ULTRAMARINE BLUE,

MANGANESE AND COBALT VIOLETS 287–296

PRUSSIAN BLUE *** : PRUSSIAN BLUE

297– 301

CAD YELLOW LIGHT *** : AZO YELLOWS

303–308

SCARLET LAKE ** : AZO RED

309–315

MADDER VIOLET - 0

RHODAMINE LAKE 331–336

BLUE VIOLET *** : MANGANESE AND DIOXAZINE VIOLETS,

ULTRAMARINE BLUE 339–346

BRIGHT YELLOW ***

DIAZO CONDENSATION RED, AZO YELLOW

Some manufacturers, such as Sennelier, make their pastel stick ingredients available to the consumer. This is the information found on Sennelier’s pastel set insert. Such information greatly helps direct the purchase decisions of the pastelist who is concerned about toxicity. The numbers in the left column identify the colors. The stars are lightfastness ratings, three being the most lightfast.

The main health concern for pastelists is the inhalation of airborne particles in the studio. Some very simple steps toward minimizing risk include transferring pumice and pigments, which are sold in plastic bags, to a covered container for storage at home. I also keep small pastel pieces that have broken or been used down, and pastel shavings, in sealed containers. The shavings you see in the lower right will be further ground down before shaping them into new sticks.

selecting paper with care My frst exposure to the charms o paper was at my mother’s

to you, papers you want to commune with. The surace you work

clothing pattern making studio—the dining room table. I loved to watch my mother pin warm white cotton muslin to shapes o 

on is meant to be loved. When you carry the papers home and

smooth tracing paper on which she had marked symbols to guide

Once dented or olded, the damage cannot be removed. It will

her scissor cuts. Her notebooks were made o slightly yellowy, heavy cotton paper in which the weave was visible. Her notes, her

always be visible in your painting. When you clip your paper to your backing board to work, be sure the paper i s held taut and

pencil marks, looked dierent on the notebook paper than on the

smooth so it can ully receive your pastel stroke.

store them, be sure not to dent or inadvertently old the paper.

tissue paper, though they were made with the same pencil. On the tissue paper, the line was slender and light in tone. On the

 Art Supply. S upply. What a gorgeous selecti selection on they the y have. have . Pastel Past el can be

notebook paper, paper, the line was thicker and grainier looking. On the

used on any kind o surace that oers a tooth, including canvas.

muslin, which is less rigid than paper so had to be held in place

Many papers manuactured or purposes other than pastel can

while being marked, the m arks looked dierent yet. I was sensi-

be used or pastel. Many pastelists work on white watercolor paper and tone the paper with watercolor or pastel powder beore

tized early on to texture.  A pastel past el painting pai nting’’s physical phy sical well- being and durabili du rabili ty begin beg in with the relationship o pastel to surace. The kind and quality o  paper we select is o equal importance to that o our pastel sticks.

I recently perused the paper department at New York Central

beginning the painting. Visiting a fne paper dealer can lead to unexpected paper possibilities, which, in turn, might lead you to discover a new, new, personal way o applying the medium.

 A nonarchival nonarch ival paper that t hat has ha s been toned with imperm impermanent anent dye

Bringing quality papers home to try out can be costly, and

will ade i exposed to light. At the Metropolitan Museum, the pastel works o Degas in which much paper is exposed are exhib-

you don’t necessarily need a ull sheet to determine whether or not you wish to work with it in the uture. Some stores oer small

ited in low light.

samples. Perhaps some riends would like to chip in on a ew

The character o the paper must be well matched to the artist’ss subject, pastel sticks, and application methods. As with m y ist’

selections and divide the paper. You can all report your fndings,

mother’s papers and pencil, the nature o our marks is determined

Own Supports, on pages 46–47, you can also create your own

by this interaction. In this section, I list some o my observations

suraces o vastly dierent textures, even within one “canvas.”  And you y ou can make the th e board whateve whateverr size and tone to ne you want.

about paper and pastel interactions, but I recommend you go to

enhancing your trials. In addition, as I describe i n Making Your

an art supply store and bring home papers that eel and look good

Sabertooth, which is 100 percent cotton, has a texture that remains visible when the pastel is rubbed into the surface with finger or  torchillon.

textures The textures o paper are created by their constituent materials and methods o manuacture. Some papers are hand-made, some, machine-made. Dierent parts o the world produce papers o dierent natures because the ingredients used to make them are indigenous. Papers may be made rom shrubs, bark, inner tree pulp, cotton rag, and more. I delight in the thought that my pastel stick, created rom earthen products, returns its particles to suraces made o wood pulp, hemp, and other o earth’s bounties. Dust to dust. The texture o the paper abrades the granules o pastel rom the sticks, and holds them there. The rougher the surace, the

The slight texture of Richeson Unison is apparent in straightforward pastel strokes, but greatly reduced when pastel is rubbed in. It was created particularly to be used with Richeson’s Unison soft pastels, but every stick I tried, both soft and hard, registered beautifully.

aster and greater the abrasion. Both sot and hard pastels will wear down quickly on a rough surace and the deposit o color will be uneven. Hard pastels will have to be sharpened oten. Rough suraces are best suited to broad handling o sot pastel. Smooth suraces partner with hard and sot pastel or smooth passages o color and incremental changes. The tooth o a smooth paper will ll up more quickly than will a rough one, limiting the number o layers possible, but I nd the boards I make can take virtually endless layering. The selection o papers shown opposite, right, and on page 40 begins with the roughest and ends with the smoothest o those I have tried. They are a ll beautiul. You can see how sot and hard strokes register on various textures. In the top row o each image (let to right) are the sot Sennelier, Henri Roché, and Rembrandt. In the bottom row o each image (let to right) are hard Holbe in, Cretacolor, and Nupastel. The same six pastels were used on each

Wallis is a very sturdy paper that can take a lot of water. At the time of  this writing, it comes in two colors only, white and what is called Belgian mist, but you can prime it with watercolor or pastel powder to create a base color for your painting.

paper. Notice how dierent a single color looks when stroked on to dierent color papers.

The texture of Art Spectrum disappears when pastel is rubbed on. This quality, all-purpose paper registers lines crisply. It is the paper I recommend to my students who are studying portraiture.

Sennelier La Carte is a strong-bod strong-bodied ied paper with a slightly sandy feel due to its cork and vegetable flake coating. It holds dry pastel beautifully, and, according to the company, is lightfast. It is not meant for wet pastel.

Rightly described by the manufacturer as having a velvety surface, Clairefontaine Pastelmat comes in a variety of tints. It is beautiful for detail work, and for the company’s own PanPastel powder.

The weave of paper fibers in Fabriano Tiziano is apparent in the pastel strokes and remains when pastel is rubbed. Because of this, it may be better suited for loosely expressive work than work in which the strokes of  color have to be seamless.

A printmaking paper made of 100 percent cotton, Rives BFK has more of a blotter feel than the other papers. It takes water very well. I love the touch and extremely light raw umber–like tone of this paper, as well as the deckled edges.

Widely available and inexpensive, Canson comes in a wonderful range of  tones. It is most appropriat appropriate e for relatively brief painting projects, because the tooth fills quickly. It must not be exposed to light for long periods of  time.

With an almost perfectly smooth surface, Pastelle Deluxe is made exclusively for New York Central Art Supply and is available through their  catalog. It comes in a variety of tints.

tones Because I am so ocused on the subtlety o fesh tones, I generally select a neutral, coolish, middle-tone ground upon which to build my color. But I recommend you try whatever approaches interest you. A warm ground will contrast with, and thereore emphasize, the cool tones in your subject. The converse is, o course, also true. Unless you work with many or very thickly applied, layers, the ground color will maintain its presence in the nished work, imparting a warm or cool glow throughout the image. Sometimes I want a very warm background in the painting, but I still preer to work on a cool surace. I create the warms with my pastel application. Regardless o the temperatures, my middle-tone ground also allows me to set up my value range, rom dark to light, rom the start. I my ground was very dark, I would be orced to make my dark pastel strokes extra dark just to be able to see them. Then when I was ready to add middle tones and lights by calibrating them against the darks, I would be making them too dark as well. I would then have to spend a lot o time making adjustments, just trying to get to step one—setting up the overall value relationships. Thereore, I recommend a middle-tone, neutral ground. For urther discussion on this topic, see Making Your Own Supports on pages 46–47.

16 Ellen Eagle, Nicole Nicole,, 1999, pastel on pumice board, 7 7 ⁄ 8 x 5 3 ⁄ 16 inches (20 x 8.1 cm)

I remember making the decision to draw a very distinct edge along the lower cheek and chin. I loved its interplay with the cool light misting across the warm flesh.