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jan@colbeckart.co.uk
www.colbeckart.co.uk

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What
are Pastel Paintings?
Pastel paintings
are made with the exciting versatile medium of soft pastel. Soft pastels are
pure pigments that have been mixed to produce the required colour, this is then
mixed with a binder, called gum tragacanth and a small amounts of china clay
and or kaolin, and formed into sticks. This is the purist colour as an artist
can obtain - not even oil paints can match the brilliant intensity and purity
of colours.
I use a wide variety
of pastel brands, my favourite … desert island ones … are Unison
Colour handmade pastels made in England by artists John and Kate Hersey. With
their subtlety and intensity of colour and fluency and responsiveness of touch
they are a joy to use.
A Brief History of Soft Pastel
The earliest examples
of pastel can be traced back to ancient cave dwellers (3000 years ago) who used
white chalk and earth colours, ochre's and umber's and charcoal from charred
wood to create pictures on cave walls - first art galleries
The first coloured
pastels appeared in Italy via French artist, Jean Perreal (Master of Moulins)
around 1499, who travelled with court of Louis XII when they invaded Milan.
Leonardo da Vinci noted he had met Perreal who told him about a 'new techniques
to paint with dry colours' the first colours da Vinci used were black, sanguine
(iron oxide), dark sepia, blue, white (chalk) and are seen in some fine portraits
by this 'master'.
However the history
of soft pastels centres around France and Venice with the 18th Century portrait
painters, Venetian Rosalba Carriera and the French Maurice Quentin de la Tour
using pastels to create fine portraits. These and other 18C artists described
them as being a direct link between hand and 'canvas' , there was no need for
pre-drawing colour could be applied straight away, and - built up with no waiting
times for it to dry between layers - unlike oil. These artists used pastels
to create paintings, using pastel as painting - not drawing - medium. These
paintings are very like oils with intense stumping and blending creating similar
effects to the brush work in oil paintings and are often confused with oils
of a much later date as their colours are still so brilliant and intense.
Many of the Impressionists
were inspired by these works, such as Watteau, Renoir and Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
especially, who popularised the medium by experimenting using different techniques
- linear strokes on top of blended pastel, and many more.
Today there has been
a massive revival in the old techniques of pastel painting, artists love them
for their immediacy and brilliance and trueness of colour, art lovers treasure
them for the brilliance and freshness.
Caring and Framing a Pastel Painting.
To preserve the brilliant
colours my paintings are never sprayed with fixative as it will darken the painting
and can have an adverse effect on some pigments themselves. This means that,
if you someday decide to re-frame the painting, the surface can be smudged if
the unframed painting is not handled carefully. Let your framer know that this
is a pastel and care needs to be taken, also make a point of saying that you
do not wish for it to be sprayed under any circumstances.
Framing is important.
Pastel paintings need to be framed under glass, avoid acrylic or Plexiglass
as a build up of static charge will pull the pigment of the surface. Like
any painting, the glass also serves to protect the painting from environmental
issues such as rapid changes in humidity, insects and ultraviolet light.
A professional painter will know the best way to frame a pastel painting,
essentially space needs to be provided by way of a double mount and or
spacers to keep the image away from the glass. If the framed painting
is handled roughly, small particles of pastel may detach themselves, they
are easily removed by carefully taking off the frame and using a kneaded
rubber eraser on the mount and a lint free cloth on the glass. Otherwise,
the painting is care-free. The colours are permanent; there are no oils
to darken them and cause cracks and ageing as with oil paintings and the
colours will not fade as watercolours do. I endeavour to use the most
permanent and non-toxic pigments available.
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