Surfaces and supports - PastelMat

I find PastelMat to be a very nice surface to work with. It shares the depth of tooth with sandpaper without the harshness. This means that pastels (specially PanPastels) adhere quite well to it, blending and erasing are a bit more difficult and fixatives are not required. Also there is very little dust produced while working on these surfaces, always a good thing.

I call this painting "The leaning Lighthouse of Peggy's Cove", and was created using PanPastels, soft and hard pastels on PastelMat paper.

Surfaces and supports - sandpaper

Here is another example of painting on sandpaper: a Tuscan window overlooking a vineyard.
Painted using PanPastels and hard pastels.

Surfaces and supports - sandpaper

I find artist's quality sandpaper very nice to work with, as long as I don't try to blend with my fingers...
It has a rough surface that pigments adhere to quite well.
It works well with PanPastels, specially if you use the SofftTools that come with them.
This painting or Reader's Rock Garden was done on sandpaper using PanPastels and hard pastels.
Artist's quality sandpaper is not found at your local hardware store, but in your Art Supply stores. It is acid free and of archival quality. Private collection.

Surfaces and supports - paper

Here is another example of painting on coloured paper.
This group of old milk bottles was painted using PanPastels and hard pastels on Ingres green paper.

Surfaces and supports - paper

This painting of a plate of mangoes was done on blue Ingres paper, using PanPastels and soft pastels. The paper colour shows through in places.
Pastel paper comes in many colours, and you can use this to complement your painting.
Private collection.

Surfaces and supports

Pastels are very versatile and can be applied to almost any surface that has some texture for the pastel to hold on to. Shiny stuff will not work!
There are several makes of pastel paper, pastel board, velour paper, sandpaper, and PastelMat.
Some types of pastels work better on certain kinds of papers, I found.
For instance PanPastels are too soft for Strathmore Pastel paper, it just doesn't stick. But it works great on sandpaper or PastelMat.
Or a type of "velour" paper, very soft, like the one used to paint this flower. This velour paper is very interesting to work with, blending is more difficult - and careful planning is required, as erasing is not easy either.
There is so much available these days that can be confusing at first. If you are just starting out exploring the wonderful world of pastels, start with the Strathmore Pastel paper. It comes in assorted colours and is relatively inexpensive. Canson Mi-teintes and Fabriano (these people have been making paper since 1264!) are favourites with most pastelists for their versatility and range of colours.

Kinds of Pastels

The pigments used in making pastels are the same as the ones used in watercolour, acrylic or oil paints. What is different is the binder used in each case.
Oil pastels contain an oil based binder that makes them dense and greasy. The marks you make with oil pastels can be softened with turpentine. They come in strong colours of limited tone range, and they can be combined with dry pastel to create some interesting effects.

Wax pastels are similar to oil pastels but less moist, as the binder is waxy instead of oily. They can be dissolved with water to create washes for subtle colour mixes.

"Chalk" pastels are not really made of chalk but most often gum tragacanth, a binder used to thicken natural dyes for painting, printing and more. They come in different hardness (a pigment to binder relation) from hard (in sticks and pencil form) to soft (in stick and "pan" form).

There are several manufacturers of pastels and each has its own characteristics.
As an example: NuPastels are hard, Rembrandt are medium, Schminckes are soft and PanPastels ultra soft. You can purchase them in individual sticks and / or boxed sets. There are many brands to choose from, and it can sometimes feel overwhelming.

If you are just starting out, I would suggest you get 2 sets - 1 of hard pastels and 1 of soft ones. You can buy individual sticks as you see the need.

This piece, titled "Fall Colours" was painted on sandpaper using PanPastels and hard pastels. Private collection.

A bit about Pastels

Why do I love pastels?

I find pastels gratifying because of the immediacy of the results.
They are both a drawing and a painting medium and have most of the qualities of both; I can paint quickly and spontaneously, or take my time for more deliberate, detailed work.
No stretching / preparing papers or canvases, no waiting for paint to dry, no varnishing of the finished product to bring out the true colours.
They are economical to use, never dry out, they are easy to store and transport. They come in a great variety of colours and hardness, and they can be combined on the paper itself - no mixing necessary. As they are opaque, you can overpaint and rectify mistakes easily.

You can leave your work and come back to it when you are ready to continue, it will be exactly as you left it - no drying time or colour changes, no need to put things away when you have to take a break.

Although they are generally assumed to be safe and non-toxic - it is best not to breathe too much dust (use a paper face mask) and to wear latex gloves (or Artguard Barrier Cream) to prevent it from getting into your lungs or bloodstream through your hands.

This piece titled "Light House" was painted on 11" x 15" Canson watercolour paper using PanPastels, hard and soft pastels.

New tools!

Judy Perrin, my teacher at the Calgary School of Art, introduced me to a new type of pastels (new to me, anyway...) called PanPastels.
These are very soft, low dust and highly pigmented pastels that don't come in a stick but in a small round plastic container called a "pan". Looks like makeup, really...
They are applied with specially designed tools called Sofft Tools - different size / shape sponges, some attached to a handle to resemble a paintbrush, some on their own, all intriguing and a lot of fun to work with. Each individual colour comes with a couple of tools; they can be purchased separately as well.
Judy also gave me a few sheets of sandpaper to play with, since I didn't have any at the time.
I've been experimenting with these ever since, having a blast. They blend so well, the colours are so vibrant, the tools are so interesting, the sandpaper holds so much pigment... I use them with my hard and soft pastels, as each kind has its own applications.

For more information on the PanPastels go to their website. Not all art stores carry them, and not all colours are available in Canada at this time. I got my set from Opus Art Supplies online store, my individual colours from Colours in Calgary.
There is also a new kind of paper that works very well with pastels called PastelMat, but I haven't been able to get any yet.
Painted on 10" x 9" sanded paper using PanPastels and hard pastels.

Working from photographs

I find working from photographs quite enjoyable and convenient, specially in winter. I know that there are artists that prefer 'plain aire' work - I'm not there yet...

Also, there are places I want to paint that I don't have access to at this time, like Europe. Maybe one day I can take a painting tour to Tuscany, who knows? That would be something!

I use my own photographs, or published works in books or travel magazines.
This painting I did from a photo I took myself on a trip to Nova Scotia with my sister. The place is called Peggy's Cove, truly delightful.
Painted on 11" x 14" Strathmore Pastel paper with Faber-Castell Polychroms hard pastels. This painting belongs to a private collector.