Pastel: Where Drawing Meets Painting

Pastel is an easel painting technique that we can emphasize that it brings together the austerity of drawing with the radiant resources of painting. The pastel working technique is very similar to the charcoal technique, because it uses those colored powders bound with a binder in the form of sticks. The antiquity of this technique extends to cave paintings, which were made from similar powders, but the imposition of pastel as a technique occurs towards the end of the 17th century.

Although it is viewed by some artists as a limited means of expression, Edgar Degas completely transformed it when he began using a special fixative (the formula of which remained unknown).

The characteristics and advantages of this technique are multiple:

• It maintains the illusion of freshness;
• The shades are particularly velvety;
• It is a recommended technique for rendering different materialities (nudes, flowers, soft fabrics, etc.);
• It is a matte and non-transparent painting, which can be viewed without those reflections that distort the colors;
• It does not crack, having the advantage that work can be interrupted and resumed after long breaks without any difficulty;
• It is insensitive to light, not changing its colors;
• It can be corrected, deleted without hesitation and fear;

Disadvantages:

• This technique requires a lot of skill and dedication;
• Quality materials are harder to procure;
• It also requires great care in presentation and framing, transportation, display and storage;
• Care must be taken to avoid jolts that may damage the colored powders;

Materials:

The support on which this technique is performed is very important, the most often used being paper, which must have a certain grain, thickness and possibly color. The best paper was considered by the old masters to be that made from rags and textile waste, prepared with primer. Many painters over time fluffed their paper, thus obtaining the desired roughness. Among the papers known today and recommended for pastel painting, we mention Canson and Fabriano paper. This technique can also be performed on cardboard, wood, plywood, canvas.

Colors:

To obtain pastel colors, colored powders were mixed with 5% kaolin, talc proportionally depending on the desired shades. Today they are found in the form of ready-made sticks (round or prismatic), from companies such as: Toison D`or (Czech Republic), Van Dyke (Germany), Talens – Rembrand (Netherlands), etc.

Chalky pastel sticks

It should be mentioned here that pastels come in two types: chalky and oil (in this article we will refer to chalky pastel painting techniques).

Execution techniques:

Pastel does not require a specific execution technique, thus depending on the temperament, craft and chromatic range of each painter. However, we can still distinguish a few working processes:

The first and most handy is the rapid sketching method, by juxtaposing spots and lines, without further intervention, resulting in an expressive and spontaneous drawing;

James Abott Whistler – Pastel sketch

The second method is very similar to the charcoal drawing technique and involves drawing horizontally, with the entire pastel stick on large surfaces, over which you will come back with contours and pictorial gradations;

Andrei Pirogov – the Fauna Manastur series

The third method is the one that best defines the pastel technique and consists of combining the first two methods. This one, however, requires experience and skill in execution. The color modulations are done with a smudge, finger or a rough brush to obtain well-defined surfaces;

Edgar Degas - Ballerinas

The last method is the mixed one, which consists of using pastel colors after the sketch of the painting has been executed in water colors (watercolor, gouache or tempera).

Colette Odya Smith – Pastel over watercolor

Fixing the pastel painting:

Technologists recommend fixing the pastel between work stages, the fixative allowing adhesion of subsequent interventions. The last interventions and accents are not recommended to be fixed, as they lose their softness. Fixation is done by placing the painting horizontally, emitting a uniform jet, from a distance of approximately 70 cm.

Storage and framing:

It is recommended to store the pastel painting only under glass or, more recently, anti-reflective foil with a passe-partout and framed.