Table of Contents

Purpose

In my assignment 3 feedback, my tutor remarked on my comfort level working in Pastels, and the dynamism I was able to bring to the portrait exercises. I had turned to using pastels for some Portraiture exercises as an avenue of examining some challenges I was experiencing in mixing/applying colours in my oil paintings.

Also in the feedback, my tutor suggested a few avenues of experimentation such as combining oil pastels over oil paint to explore texture, and to revisit an exercise where I applied contrasting outline over tonal under painting.

Through this current section the above has been on my mind, as I’ve been querying the differences in my approaches between dry media and wet. This document is to consolidate my self reflection, and research, regarding this avenue of inquiry, in particular as it relates to dry pastel.

Historical Notes

Pastels have been in use since the sixteenth century, by many artists. It appears many artists originally used pastels as a mechanism to create preparatory work ahead of final oil paintings. From what I can find many nineteenth century artists produced finished works, for example Degas (below). The medium appears to have seen a lot of interest at that time.

Jacopo Bassano (Jacopo da Ponte) (1565) Studies for Scourging a Soldier and Head of Christ (detail). [Pastel on paper] 38.3 x 24.3 cm.
Edgar Degas (1888) Woman Combing Her Hair. [Pastel on pulpboard mounted paper] 61.3 x 46 cm.
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is cassat.jpg
Mary Cassatt (1914) Mother and Child. [Pastel on canvas mounted paper] 67.6 x 57.2 cm.

Degas also appears to have combined watercolour and pastels. As Schenk notes, Degas experimented heavily with mediums and layered pastels over top other mediums such as watercolour and charcoal(Kimberly Schenck, 2020). Looking at these works, there is a striking layering creating between the intense colour of the pastel, against the watercolour beneath.

Mary Cassatt was another artist that came up in my research, as having a body of work in pastels. What I found is an interesting range of techniques, from smooth blending, to experimenting with powdered pastel affixed to paper with moisture, as well as direct mark making as seen above in Mother and Child. The powdered pastel technique is interesting, and was apparently an extension of experiments performed by Degas (Marjorie Shelley, 2018).

The Cassatt work, Mother and Child, looks very much like a painting to me: It appears more concerned with tone, colour and form rather than line and contour. I’m continuing to feel like the division between drawing and painting is quite fuzzy. This gives me a bit of confidence with the pastel work I am doing — I was concerned I was going in a ‘wrong’ direction by including this medium in my practice. But if Degas and Cassatt can produce works like the above, and be celebrated for doing so, it can’t be wrong for me to explore pastels as well.

Process Review

A quick overview of how I work with pastels in the creation of works in part 3.

Martin Young (2022) Study of Beatriz I. [Pastel on paper] 45 x 34 cm.
Martin Young (2022) Study of Dwayne. [Pastel on paper] 34 x 45cm
Martin Young (2022) Study of Beatriz II. [Pastel on paper] 53 x 45 cm.

I generally work on my easel, with large paper clipped to masonite boards for support. I always have a small paper sleeve at the base of my surface to collect dust — which I can later turn back into pastels of various greys.

I work very fast. So far most of my pastel work is in timed life drawing sessions. The three above are 10, 15 and 40 minutes, respectively (left to right). The medium lends itself to working quickly, and with big movements with the pigment in contact with the surface for long periods.

As there is no stopping to mix paint, the process of colour selection is faster and is more a process of quick selections and colour tests against neighbouring areas.

Clean erasing is nigh-impossible. The pastel gets into the fibers of the painting, but this also provides an opportunity to create flat blended areas upon which more intense pastel can be added.

Action Items / Self-Critique

  • Comparing my work vs Degas and Cassatt, I can see that I avoid heavy use of line in the build up of colour tones. I like the nervous energy in Cassatt’s Mother and Child, and think I should experiment with this type of application of pastel.
    • Interestingly, my quick oil pastel study has similar hatch marks to Degas’ Woman Combing Her Hair, and appear to serve similar purposes around optical blending.
  • Can I take any of this back to oil painting?
    • Dry brushing over textured surface could produce similar outcomes to dry pastel on textured paper.
    • Layering the way I do in pastel may inherently be slower, as I’d need the oil paint to tack up before I could add another layer. This has implications on wiping down areas that don’t work, or are mistakes.
    • Pastel (oil pastel in particular) makes me think in terms of quick small impressionist application. How could I bring similar to paint? I need to get comfortable with having enough paint on my palette, in the right tones, so I can bring that fast-moving application. I think I resort to blending paintstrokes out of frustration of not getting to the colours I want — This is worth noting and actively working against.
  • I can see why my tutor directed me to Rachel Jones (link) and their use of oil pastel/oil stick over oils. I do like the way that the paint sticks, and pastels, break into very physical chunks above the surface of the painting. That really appeals to me — it creates shadows and areas of light. How to give this more dimensional quality so that it is independent of the forms created by within the paint and would move based on the lighting in area around the painting itself.
    • An interesting cross over from the world of the real into the painting’s imagined space.
    • I would need to work very large for this to be effective.
    • The particular forms that Rachel Jones creates do not directly appeal, and I would need to think carefully about what specifically i want to create in terms of form/texture with the oil stick/pastels. What specifically would they bring to a particular work? rather than just coping someone else’s technique by rote.

Material Observations

Dry Pastel

  • Pastel is fragile, much like willow charcoal. I need to keep in mind the conservation/protection aspects that will impact the longevity of any work I create in this medium.
  • Pastel has very different relationship to light, than oil paint, due to its granular nature. Although smooth colour mixes can be quite challenging, the colours produced seem to be brighter than the same colours produced with oil paint. I believe this is due to the action of linseed binder in oil paint — a ‘wet’ powder will usually look darker than a dry powder.
  • Without using a linseed binder, I likely can’t layer dry pastel over oil paint. Though I wonder if I mixed chalk into the oil paint if I could create sanded surface on which to then do pastel work?
  • Pastels are generally purchased premixed, however creating your own isn’t terribly difficult. I’ve done ti a few times, from commercial pigments (dioxazine purple, anthroquinone red, prussian blue, ultramarine blue, and many earth pigments) as well as found pigments (my Bronte brown, vivianite, etc., made from sourced ochre rocks). Making oil, or even watercolour, paint is significantly easier and faster, admittedly.
  • Pastel has different effects depending on the surface you’re using. Smooth paper (such as in my portrait works in section 3) is easier for blending and creating solid colour while textured papers allow easier layering.
  • Fixatives can be used, but always darken the pastel in my experience — even in light passes. It can, however, also create interesting texture where it causes pastel particles to clump when over-applied.

Recipes

Dry Pastel

My own pastels. Anthroquinone Red, Dioxazine Purple, Violet Hematite, Ercolano Red, Luberon Orange, and Anthro Red+Dioxazine Purple mix.
  • Dry pastel, at is most basic, is powdered pigment, chalk or kaolinite, and a binder such as methylcellulose or gum tragacanth. Water or alcohol is used to mix the ingredients, then allowed to dry
  • Hardness of a pastel is determined by the quantity of binder, and the tendency of the pigment to concretion.
    • Many earth pigments (Verona Green Earth, Cassel Earth, as examples from my experience) will turn too hard to work with even with just the application of water without binder.
  • Some pigments don’t react well to water.
    • Pthalo blue is hydrophobic., Mixing with alcohol & binder then reground before adding water to form the pastel, is an easier method with this pigment.
    • Ultramarine, or marble dust, is very slippery when added to water. Significant chalk or kaolinite needs to be added or else shaping the pastel is exceptionally hard.
  • Colour gradients are easiest to make by making pure-colour pastels, with binder and chalk, then mixing measured amounts of those pastels while wet. This allows for very accurate colour ratios.

Oil Pastel

  • I have not yet created any oil pastels but the process is fairly straight forward:
    • Melt 3 parts beeswax (or a vegan alternative), to 1 part oil together, add pigment powder until you get a stiff paste. Pour into a mold, and let set.
    • Ensure you’re working in a well ventilated area.
    • Choice of oil is important: It will differentiate between creating something like an oil stick or creating an oil pastel (which doesn’t dry).
      • Non-drying Oils: Mineral oil, …
      • Drying oils: Walnut oil, linseed oil, safflower oil, …
    • Many recipes I’ve seen mix drying to non-drying oil at 1:3.
  • I’m intrigued by the possibility of creating my own drying oil sticks for a large work. I’d need to find effective molds, and work large as the sticks would not be very precise.

Bibliography