Pastels are made of chalk, coloured with pigment and held together with a gum binder. This mixture is rolled or moulded while wet, cut into sticks and allowed to dry.
The amount of binder affects the pastel’s hardness – less binder means a soft powdery pastel which can crumble even while it is being used. More binder means a hard stick which is useful for detailed work or roughing out pictures.
The pigment/chalk ratio affects the density of colour – more chalk means a paler colour. Pastels can be sharpened to a fine point for details or used in broad sweeping strokes – and anything in between. They can be blended to create a smooth, velvety effect, or used over rough paper or a gesso preparation to create a strident, dynamic result. They are pure colour. |
The Adur, north of Henfield, W Sussex |
Because the colour is not suspended in a liquid medium there is no drying process that might change colour qualities or affect their durability or brightness. Pictures and cartoons painted in pastel by Raphael or Leonardo da Vinci in Renaissance Italy are as bright today as they were the day they were painted, four hundred years ago.
How to look after your pastel painting
Pastel is chalk and this imparts certain qualities to the resulting painting. However, the characteristics which make it an attractive medium mean that it is also fragile and must be treated with care.
Direct pressure on the picture through glassine paper or newspaper should not harm it, however do not touch the surface directly or brush it with your hand or anything else – this will smudge it even though it may have been sprayed with fixative.
Pastel paintings must be mounted and framed for their protection. When sold at exhibition, my original pictures are all sold mounted and framed. My originals can be supplied with or without a frame. If unframed they are dispatched mounted, and sandwiched between a 2mm glass sheet and 2mm MDF or hardboard backing, and boxed for protection. You may wish to change the colour of the mount when you frame the image. A mount is necessary to keep the glass of the frame from touching the pastel otherwise, over the years, it will degrade the surface of the painting.
You should never, ever roll a pastel painting.
A professional framer will be happy to change the mount if you wish, and frame your picture – he/she will know that the mount itself should also be held clear of the painting. This is because as time goes by some loose particles of pastel dust may shake free (usually when the painting is moved) and this dust will gather on the edge of the mount, discolouring it.
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