Painting with Pastels by Carolyn Grant

Painting with pastels - some tips from Richmond artist - Carolyn Grant

Tips for using pastels
Pastels are, to me, the easiest medium to work with. All you essentially need is some paper, a board to rest it on and your pastels. There’s no paper stretching, canvas preparing, colour mixing and brush cleaning to worry about. All you need to do is sketch, be creative and have fun!
	Paper - You can use almost any type of paper from cartridge to sandpaper. There are many specialist pastel papers on the market that are usually coloured and textured and are all very good. It’s a good idea to experiment with different ones to see what effect they have and which ones you prefer. I like the effects of working on watercolour paper and also the density of a picture drawn on sanded pastel paper.
	Pastels - There are several types of pastels - oil pastels, wax pastels, chalk pastels (hard and soft) and pastel pencils for intricate work. However, the most widely used type of pastel, and in my opinion the easiest to use, are soft chalk pastels. I found that buying a boxed set initially gave me a good selection of colours to work with and a base to add to, as I required other colours.
	Techniques - It is always a good idea to spend some time making marks on your paper to familiarize yourself with your pastels. You can make varying marks by using the side or the end of the pastel stick, using more or less pressure or by using your finger to smudge or blend the pastel. Experiment also with using cotton buds to smudge smaller areas and kitchen towel to remove large areas of pastel. When painting a picture I have always tended to work from the top downwards to prevent too much accidental smudging as I am drawing.

Fixative – 'To fix or not to fix?' that is the question. Some artists always use a spray fixative, I never do. The fixative will darken the colour of the pastel and I have found that after sketching the light flesh tones of a portrait on dark pastel paper and then spraying it with fixative, the flesh tones end up looking blotchy and darker. However, it always comes down to personal choice in the end.
See Carolyn's exhibition page for more information about her work.

AiR