My decades-long experiences and reasons for using different painting mediums ... oils, pastels and occasionally watercolor, but not acrylics
Pastels
I used to almost exclusively paint in pastels, after giving up on watercolors because they fade so easily.
The most frequently used pastels by many artists, are chalk, made of pure ground pigment with minimal binder, not subject to fading, though there are other drawbacks.
Pastels are most often formed into sticks, large or small, thin or fat, round or square, soft or hard and in between (much like pencils go from soft to hard). Different types and brands of chalk pastels are good for different purposes.
Some of the softer ones are almost 3/4" to an inch thick. They are good for covering broad expanses, but their corners and edges can also be used to dab on bright spots or lines of colors.
The most frequently used pastels by many artists, are chalk, made of pure ground pigment with minimal binder, not subject to fading, though there are other drawbacks.
Pastels are most often formed into sticks, large or small, thin or fat, round or square, soft or hard and in between (much like pencils go from soft to hard). Different types and brands of chalk pastels are good for different purposes.
Some of the softer ones are almost 3/4" to an inch thick. They are good for covering broad expanses, but their corners and edges can also be used to dab on bright spots or lines of colors.
Others, like NuPastels (what I'm using in the photo at right) are only 1/4” wide, and the sticks are square and on the hard side. They are good mostly for fine details, edging clouds, doing blades of grass or an animal's fur, for instance. There are also pastel pencils, and there are oil pastels, a whole different animal that you can thin with turpentine. I use a variety of chalk pastels.
The bay painting at right has made use of something fairly recently developed that I am trying out called Pan Pastels for the base background colors. These are compacted pastel powder without binder available in a plastic, lidden pans that you apply with mid-size or small sponges, much like cosmetic sponges. After painting the background colors with Pan Pastels, I moved to softer stick pastels, then started edging the clouds with gold using NuPastels. The foreground marsh grasses will also receive highlights using nuPastels and possibly pastel pencils, depending on what colors I need.
One of the drawbacks of pastels is that colors don't really blend like oils or watercolors. You have to have many colors. I've got hundreds at this point, some favorites, some not.
I layer pastels to create certain effects. Something I like is that layering pastels doesn't take as long as glazing in oils. Even though they can take as many work hours to complete, they can be finished much more quickly because they don’t require days of drying between colors.
The bay painting above is the first painting where I’ve also tried a new technique: brushing alcohol on darker colors that you don’t want to bleed through when you put more detailed, lighter colors on top. The alcohol dries quickly and entirely sets the pastel. You can run your hand over it when dry in a few minutes and not disturb it. I like this technique very much. I used it on the marsh grasses in the foreground before starting highlights.
The bay painting at right has made use of something fairly recently developed that I am trying out called Pan Pastels for the base background colors. These are compacted pastel powder without binder available in a plastic, lidden pans that you apply with mid-size or small sponges, much like cosmetic sponges. After painting the background colors with Pan Pastels, I moved to softer stick pastels, then started edging the clouds with gold using NuPastels. The foreground marsh grasses will also receive highlights using nuPastels and possibly pastel pencils, depending on what colors I need.
One of the drawbacks of pastels is that colors don't really blend like oils or watercolors. You have to have many colors. I've got hundreds at this point, some favorites, some not.
I layer pastels to create certain effects. Something I like is that layering pastels doesn't take as long as glazing in oils. Even though they can take as many work hours to complete, they can be finished much more quickly because they don’t require days of drying between colors.
The bay painting above is the first painting where I’ve also tried a new technique: brushing alcohol on darker colors that you don’t want to bleed through when you put more detailed, lighter colors on top. The alcohol dries quickly and entirely sets the pastel. You can run your hand over it when dry in a few minutes and not disturb it. I like this technique very much. I used it on the marsh grasses in the foreground before starting highlights.
Despite their positives, pastels have some negatives. One of the reasons they're not as popular as other mediums is they're extremely messy, are unpleasant on your hands, and when you blend a lot as I do the pastel dust gets not only on the floor or a tray beneath the painting but in the air.
I wear a mask when working with them to prevent physical problems like sinus headaches and taking in toxicities. Many of the pigments are toxic (as are many of the pigments in oils). I blend a lot, so by the end of a day's work I'm told I look like a Smurf. The dust gets everywhere.
Chalk pastel paintings can also be damaged easily, permanently, by water and other liquids (except alcohol) touching them. They have to be framed under glass for protection.
Framing a pastel is expensive. When framing, they need to have a “gully” created between the painting and the glass. Often this is done with matting that is held away from the pastel surface by a "separation bar," which creates a gully between the painting and the matting. A separator bar can also be put under the edge of the glass and frame molding to separate the painting from the glass without a mat.
Because chalk pastels can powder off if not handled gently, upright. Framed pastels should always be transported face up. They should have anti-reflective, museum quality (conservation) glass to preserve the paper or board they’re on. I use a blower to remove excess chalk before taking a pastel to my framer. Most pastel artists don't spray their pastels because the spray can mark them and darken colors.
I switched to predominatly oils when I became allergic to the pastel dust I was breathing. Now, thanks to the pandemic, I’m used to wearing a mask, so wear one when painting with pastels and don’t worry about it, but I still don’t paint with them as much as oils. I prefer the durability and rich lustre and detail possible with oils.
And that's my take on pastels. There are still effects you can get with them that you can't get with anything else, so I've never completely moved away from them.
I wear a mask when working with them to prevent physical problems like sinus headaches and taking in toxicities. Many of the pigments are toxic (as are many of the pigments in oils). I blend a lot, so by the end of a day's work I'm told I look like a Smurf. The dust gets everywhere.
Chalk pastel paintings can also be damaged easily, permanently, by water and other liquids (except alcohol) touching them. They have to be framed under glass for protection.
Framing a pastel is expensive. When framing, they need to have a “gully” created between the painting and the glass. Often this is done with matting that is held away from the pastel surface by a "separation bar," which creates a gully between the painting and the matting. A separator bar can also be put under the edge of the glass and frame molding to separate the painting from the glass without a mat.
Because chalk pastels can powder off if not handled gently, upright. Framed pastels should always be transported face up. They should have anti-reflective, museum quality (conservation) glass to preserve the paper or board they’re on. I use a blower to remove excess chalk before taking a pastel to my framer. Most pastel artists don't spray their pastels because the spray can mark them and darken colors.
I switched to predominatly oils when I became allergic to the pastel dust I was breathing. Now, thanks to the pandemic, I’m used to wearing a mask, so wear one when painting with pastels and don’t worry about it, but I still don’t paint with them as much as oils. I prefer the durability and rich lustre and detail possible with oils.
And that's my take on pastels. There are still effects you can get with them that you can't get with anything else, so I've never completely moved away from them.
