• Pastels •
“Pastels are made from the same pigments used for oil paints. Instead of oils, a
binding agent is added to the pigments to create a chalk like stick, which is applied
to a textured surface, usually paper. Available in many vibrant colors, pastels maintain
their just painted look indefinitely, unlike oils, which can crack and darken over time.
(“It’s an unfamiliar medium to a number of people, and I ’d like to do my part to help
change that,” says Sierak.) ”
Pastel
paintings and sketches are created by stroking the sticks of dry pigment
across an abrasive ground, embedding the color in the “tooth” of the paper,
sandboard
or canvas. If the surface is completely covered with Pastel, the
work is considered a
Pastel painting; leaving much of the surface exposed produces a Pastel
sketch.
Techniques vary with individual artists. Pastel can be blended or used
with visible
strokes. There is no drying time, and no allowances need to be made for
a change in
color when dry, unlike oil paint or acrylics.
A
Brief History...
Pastels,
originated in the16th century, and still exist today, as fresh as the day
they were painted...no restoration needed, ever! “Pastels”
does not at all refer to
pale colors, as is commonly thought, but comes from the French word “pastische”
because the pure, powdered pigment is ground into a paste, with a small
amount of
gum binder, and then rolled into sticks. The infinite variety of colors
in the Pastel palette
range from soft and subtle to bold and brilliant.
Its
invention is attributed to the German painter Johann Thiele. A venetian
woman
artist, Rosalba Carriera, was the first to make consistent use of
Pastel. Chardin did
portraits
with an open stroke, while LaTour preferred the blended finish. Thereafter
a
galaxy of famous artists . . . Copley, Delacroix, Millet, Manet, Renoir,
Toulouse-Lautrec,
Whistler, Hassam, just to list the more familiar names, used Pastel as
finished work
rather
than preliminary sketches.
Edgar Degas was the most prolific user of
Pastel, and its champion. His protege,
Mary Cassatt introduced the Impressionists and Pastel to her friends in
Philadelphia
and Washington, and thus to the United States. In the spring of 1983, Sotheby
Parke
Bernet sold at auction two Degas Pastels for more than $3,000,000 each!
Both Pastels
were painted about 1880. Today, Pastel paintings have the stature
of oil and watercolor
as a major fine art medium. Many of our most renowned living artists have
distinguished themselves with Pastels.
Note: Pastel must never be confused
with colored chalk. Chalk is a limestone substance impregnated with
dyes. Pastel is sometimes combined with watercolor, gouache, acrylic, charcoal
or pencil to create a "mixed
medium" painting.