Yesterday I went to a “pastel painting demonstration” at my town’s community arts center. (This is not the center where I’m currently taking a watercolors class OR the one where I took a class in the fall. I guess I’m lucky to have three different community arts centers within striking distance of my house!)

People reference “pastels” a lot and I know there are many different types—hard, soft, oil, etc. (Years ago, when I was a teenager, I worked with pastels and enjoyed them. I think they were primarily soft pastels back then, but I’m not even sure.)

I had been thinking about trying pastels again, so when I saw the free demonstration advertised, I went. The artist “painted” a deer. (When I asked why he called it “painting” when I always thought of pastels as “drawing,” he said that it’s because pastels are the most pure/intense form of pigment. So even though you don’t use brushes, it’s called Pastel Painting.)

He started with a pencil sketch on UART sanded paper (400) and then added “hard pastels” as the first layer (he called it “the under painting”)—marking out the major color areas of the piece. He worked from dark to light (opposite of how most do watercolors). Then, he used a fairly big square brush dipped in rubbing alcohol to sort of smudge it all and work the major shapes. The alcohol dries quickly.

Then, he moved to soft pastels—and he had boxes upon boxes of them. Every color imaginable! “Ludwig” seemed to be his favorite brand (quite expensive). He used the soft pastels as the top layer to really define the piece and give it depth and beauty. He spent a lot of time on the face because he wanted that to be the focal point.

The artist had been primarily a watercolorist when someone gave him a “plein air” (outdoor) pastel class as a gift and he fell in love with the medium. Sometimes he combines watercolors and pastels. Many of his finished pieces were on display in the gallery at the arts center and some were really impressive. He mostly paints animals in the wild.

My thinking now is this:

Pastels look fun and I might like to try them again someday, but not now. I’m not ready to invest in the supplies and the dust they create is somewhat of a concern (both because of the mess and the potential toxicity).

I like the idea of painting “plein air” (outdoors) at some point, but that would require me to purchase an easel and other supplies. I’ll keep my eyes open for a workshop or other class that’s not too expensive. In the meantime, I have a full set of colored pencils, I should really just head outdoors with those and do some drawing, when the weather gets warm.

Bottom line: you can spend all kinds of money on fancy, new-fangled art supplies but they might not help you become a better artist. The only way to do that is practice. I feel I should keep working with the supplies I have and see where things go.

The other “problem” with pastels, is that you really need to put them behind glass (with separators) if you want to display your work, which is expensive. Watercolors typically require glass frames too, but at least you can just stick them in cheap frames from Michael’s. Pastels have a delicate, powdery surface. (In the old days, we sprayed our pastels to set them, but this artist strongly discouraged that.)

Still, pastel paintings can be absolutely exquisite and unique. Check out @CindyCrimmin on Instagram for some truly stunning examples of pastel painting.

If you read this to the end, thank you! I’m basically thinking out loud here. I feel like my blog is turning into a retirement journal and is very boring to anyone but me.