ABOUT
THE MEDIUM OF PASTEL
The pastel painting
medium is created from the same pigments as those used in
watercolor and oil paints; only the binder is different.
While gum arabic binds the pigment for watercolors, and
linseed oil is the binder for oil paints, just enough gum
tragacanth is used to bind the pure powdered pigment in the
familiar stick form of a pastel. Thus it is the most direct
and responsive of all the painting media. And since there
is so little binder, pieces of pastel can be ground up,
blended, and formed into new sticks, which I often do,
creating colors which are uniquely my own.
Pastels can be applied to a multitude of surfaces,
including various types of papers and cloth. My preferred
surface is a napped canvas manufactured specifically for
pastel paintings. It is a heavy artist’s grade canvas with
an acrylic primer which, while still wet, is impregnated
with fine cotton fibers, giving it a rich velvety surface
perfect for my imagery and technique. I also occasionally
use a sanded canvas which I prepare myself, using a fine
pumice mixture.
Pastels are sometimes mistakenly referred to as chalks. But
a particle of pastel pigment seen under a microscope looks
like a multi-faceted diamond. Therefore, pastels reflect
light like a prism. No other medium has the same power of
color or stability. Properly framed, they are one of the
most permanent media. Pastel paintings from the 17th and
18th centuries are as luminous today as the day they were
created, without the crazing and yellowing common with
oils. Though a rough bump may cause some dusting, this is
easily cleaned and will not harm the image.
The reflective quality of the pastel particles precludes
the use of non-glare, or etched, glass, which prevents
light from reaching the facets of the particles and thus
deadens the colors. Anti-reflective glass, which does not
cause this problem, is preferred as it virtually
disappears, but it is more costly. My work is available
both framed and unframed.