What are soft pastels? Many of my paintings are done with soft pastels, which is an odd name for these sticks, since soft pastels aren't truly soft or always pastel in color. Soft pastels are similar to pieces of chalk visually. They are made from the same pigments as oil paints with a binder added to allow them to be formed into sticks.
and finally... the painting begins on a specially textured paper or board that will "grab" the pastel. Below is a beige pastel/charcoal paper taped to a drawing board. I loosely sketch in the shapes with a hard pastel, then lightly add the very dark and very light areas using the side of the pastel. I'll gently add other layers of color before using the pastels more heavily in some areas.
You can see that I use a lot of pastel sticks. The paper towel area in front of the painting is where I place the pastels I've used so that I can quickly find them again. A large case holds many more whole pastels (see background of previous photo.) The bowl to the left of the painting holds smaller pieces of pastel. You may have noticed that both the bowl and the case hold a layer of something that looks like sand in them - it's cornmeal, which cushions the fragile pastels and helps to keep them clean.
How do you make a pastel painting? First I sketch an outdoor scene that appeals to me, or carefully set up a still life. In this case it's a birthday bouquet of sunflowers that I want to paint quickly before they begin to droop! The art cart becomes a still life table, and I add simple lighting to give that great contrast.
and then... I do a quick sketch of comparable dimensions as the planned final piece. Then I add values (dark, medium and light tones) with Prismacolor gray pens. If the colors need to be worked out, too, I'll do a color sketch on a fresh sheet with soft pastels. This seems like a lot of busy work, but it's better to do the sketchbook drawings now than to try to backtrack on the final painting.
After taking a few photos of the art piece, I add a wide mat and a pleasing frame to ready it for an exhibit or the studio wall. The next step is towards my favorite chair with a cup of hot tea to celebrate a work well done.
and when the painting is done...
I take a few photos of the art piece, and add a wide mat and a pleasing frame to ready it for exhibit.
Soft pastels come in colors from light pastel to very deep darks, plus white and black. Soft pastels do come in varying hardnesses. Some are mould-made and have squared edges; these are typically the hardest. The softer pastels are rounded in shape and hand-rolled, and some can be almost creamy when stroked on the paper.
