What is Pastel Painting

The word “PASTEL” comes from the paste made of pure, powdered color pigment, bound together with a minimum of resin or gum, and molded into stick form. If this same powdered color pigment were bound with an oil medium, it would be oil paint. Because pastel sticks are formed with a minimum of resin or binder, usually just enough to hold the stick together, it is generally the most pure form of pigment that can be applied to a painting surface (generally paper) giving pastel paintings a vivid, luminous appearance.

How Long Have Pastels Been in Use as a Painting Medium?

Dry pigments made from natural materials were used for painting by early cave-dwelling humans long before historical records were kept. But in their present form, pastels were established as a painting medium in the 16th to 18th centuries. Many artists used pastel crayons to color their sketches or create studies for larger oil canvases, such as the studies by Federico Barocci (1535-1612). The type of "three crayons portrait" made from life with the use of black crayon, sanguine and pastel crayon at one or two sittings arose in France. Special attention was paid to the head and face. The works by Daniel Dumoustier (1574-1646) and Claude Mellane (1598-1688) who created entire galleries of their contemporaries’ portraits are examples of just such drawings. They may be called predecessors of pastel painting as an independent art.

In the second half of the 17th century pastel was growing into an autonomous genre. At the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, the ideal in pastel were official portrait compositions resembling oil works. The golden age of pastel is associated with the name of Rosalba Carriera (1674-1757), whose elegant portraits were popular in Paris. In 1703 Carriera began working with pastels after a fellow artist had introduced her to the medium. Chalk had long been used for sketching but it was only in the late fifteenth century that pastels or chalk compressed into crayon -- like sticks -- in many colors, became widely available to artists. Carriera is known to have ordered specially composed pastels, especially in the flesh tones. Impressed with the subtlety and speed of the new medium, Carriera explored their formal possibilities and developed a virtuosity previously unseen. As Witney Chadwick points out in Women, Art, and Society, "Carriera's loose, painterly technique with its subtle surface tonalities and dancing lights revolutionized the medium of pastel. Dragging the side of a piece of chalk across an under drawing in darker tones, she was able to capture the shimmering textures of lace and satin, and highlight facial features and soft cascades of powered hair." Her innovations were further perfected by Maurice Quentin de la Tour who became the greatest pastel portraitist of the eighteenth century. De la Tour, in turn, inspired Mary Cassatt. They were followed by Watteau, and some 2500 other pastellists, who helped to insure pastel as a viable finished art form by 1780. The medium was carried far beyond the earlier methods by Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, La Trec and many others; continuing into this century.

The crispness and perfection of pastel paintings currently residing in museums worldwide testifies to the viability and longevity of pastels as an art medium. Because pastels have no oils, they do not yellow nor breakdown as can oil paintings and have very little need of restoration.

What Do I Need To Get Started?

If you’d like to try pastel painting, we’d recommend a few basic supplies before taking the plunge headfirst. There are many different manufacturers of pastels, each with slightly different color palettes and with different hardness/softness scales of the pastel sticks themselves, which will give different effects with each stroke. Most pastel makers have created “starter sets” that will do quite nicely for a beginner. Use half-stick sets for a less-expensive start. Here’s a list of a few basic supplies:

Charcoal	24 or 36 assorted soft pastels	easel
Kneaded eraser	smooth drawing board	artists tape
Pastel paper	Tortillon or stump for blending	paper towels

Most artists start with a sanded or textured pastel paper, although some prefer watercolor paper or printer’s paper. Try a sample of each to learn which you prefer. Lightly sketch your composition with charcoal. Many artists create an underpainting of harder pastels, sometimes in complementary colors, oftentimes in tones slightly darker than the desired finished piece. Build the pastel painting gradually using softer and lighter-colored pastels. Most pastel paintings are created “dark to light” as in oil paintings and also “thin to thick” in building layers of different pastels.

Where Do I Find Supplies?

We've all been frustrated by not knowing where we can find some of our favorite pastel materials. Here is a listing of some of the best out-of-town dealers offering full lines of pastels and papers. Some stores have a base price for shipping and you may want to put together an order with friends.

If particularly looking for Art Spectrum Materials, the pastels, paper and primers are carried at Artisans, Dakota Rochester, McCallisters, Meiningers, and NY Central. Italian carries pastel sets, only, plus paper and primers. Jerrys carries the pastel materials as well as the oils. For more information, you can contact the importer:

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