Pastel Painting Atelier by Ellen Eagle - Excerpt
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Revel in the luminous and vibrant qualities of pastel with Ellen Eagle’s essential course in the history, techniques, an...
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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 dratswoman, yet she did not hesitate to break through her ine drawing lines with vigorous strokes o pastel, and oten let 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, Caliornia, 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 surace. 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 manuacture o pastel. We are hunters and gatherers, alway s searching out inormation 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 lightastness o pastel sticks to textures and tones o papers, and explain not only how to select these materials but how to use them saely. saely. 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 conused with chalk. In very early writings about pastel, the words paste l and chalk were oten 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 uniorm 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 oten a water-based substance such as methyl cellulose. This is what makes it possible or us to hold the stick. Very sot 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 sot and hard pastels, but within both categories o stick. This is because the pigments themselves vary in texture, and thereore require dierent 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. Manuacturers 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 suraces 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 manuacturers 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 oten 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 dierent in stick orm, in their boxes, than they do deposited on paper, intermingling with other colors. Also, not all sticks eel comortable 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 sot 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 sot pastels is the Rembrandt 225-stick set. Rembrandts all into the category o a harder sot 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 sot,
trums, which are quite sot and whose colors are rich and earthy,
buttery bodies and chromatic brilliance. Because I generally work
and a beautiul, old, no-longer-manuactured, seven-tray Grum-
on a small scale, and with incremental shits o color and value, I
bacher set that I acquired rom the estate o an artist. I use the
am oten unable to use such a sot 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 sot, 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 sot that I cannot layer the pastels o other manuacturers 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 dierences. 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 helpul to build your color
are so beautiul. Even the labels are exquisite. Being handmade,
library with pastels rom various makers, so that you have as ull
Henri Roché pastels are gorgeously sot, 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 sot dark Unisons, and individual sticks o sot
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 manuact ma nuacturers urers can b e combine com bined d
but to texture. Within the category o sot pastels, there are
within a single painting, provided that i you are using vastly
degrees o sotness, rom buttery to gritty. One option or testing
dierent degrees o hard and sot, you work with the harder ones
pastels is to purchase one or two sticks rom various manuactur-
early on and the very sotest ones toward the end.
ers and experiment with them at home. You will nd that each
I nd very little dierence in the degree o hardness among
stick interacts dierently 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 soter 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 manuacturer to manuacturer, and there is,
each pastel test. You’d have all your samplings in one place, and
unortunately, no universal numbering system or pastel sticks.
it would be a great reerence or comparisons and identication
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 Manuacturers create gradations o all their colors. To identiy 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 surace with exquisite delicacy and precision. Others mass in with spirited sweeps o sot 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 suraces, 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 surace. Pastel shavings can be mixed with water to create a watercolor-like body and brushed onto the surace. 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 surace. 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 denition 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 lit pastel and return to the almost-untouched surace. This is wonderully 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 manuac-
Some artists arrange all their pastels by color, mixing
turer. My storage and working palettes are one and the same. The
together all the manuacturers. This enables them to see all o
hard sticks—Nupastels, Cretacolor, and Richeson—are identied
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 sot pastels I use are each wrapped in paper that have numbers on them. Beore 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 identiy 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 helpul to co at the tray’s compartments with rice. In the course o a pastel stick being worn down, its pigment drits 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
signicant 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 oten, 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 manuacturers give their colors decorative names, so
Because I was so surprised by the rapid changes in color,
we don’t always know what classication 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 manuacturers, 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 manuacturers are oten dicult to
slight changes, i any any,, in some o the pastel pigments. The paper,
come by, by, but other manuacturers oer color char ts that list the
however, which was not archival, aded signicantly. 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 manuacturers as permanent.
color, each rom a dierent manuacturer, on a bo ard. I then
To try to clariy 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 dicult 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
Manuacturers usually print ratings o colorastness 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 condence 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, manuacturers sometimes change their ormulations.
mine, and comparing your results with the manuacturers’ 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 manuacturers would
a sunny window. When you complete your painting, rame it
identiy the lightastness 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 inormation.) Keep it away
same inormation 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 perectly sae. The main issue is
transer the pigments and pumice into covered jars when you bring the materials home. They are oten 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, denitely 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 beore 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 oten
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 sot 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 inormation surrounding the physical properties o pastel, you may want to do your own research in order to adopt saeguards 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 surace 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 dierent 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 surace that oers a tooth, including canvas.
muslin, which is less rigid than paper so had to be held in place
Many papers manuactured or purposes other than pastel can
while being marked, the m arks looked dierent yet. I was sensi-
be used or pastel. Many pastelists work on white watercolor paper and tone the paper with watercolor or pastel powder beore
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 surace. 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 oer 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
suraces o vastly dierent 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 manuacture. Some papers are hand-made, some, machine-made. Dierent parts o the world produce papers o dierent 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 suraces 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 surace, 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 sot and hard pastels will wear down quickly on a rough surace and the deposit o color will be uneven. Hard pastels will have to be sharpened oten. Rough suraces are best suited to broad handling o sot pastel. Smooth suraces partner with hard and sot 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 beautiul. You can see how sot and hard strokes register on various textures. In the top row o each image (let to right) are the sot Sennelier, Henri Roché, and Rembrandt. In the bottom row o each image (let 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 dierent a single color looks when stroked on to dierent 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 thereore 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 preer to work on a cool surace. 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. Thereore, 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.
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