Pastel Painting Origin and Ideas for Artists

PASTEL PAINTING

SHORT INFO. & HISTORY
Pastel Painting is a form of painting that involves the use of pastel sticks made from powdered pigment and binder.


The word "pastel" originates from the Medieval Latin pastellum, which means "woad paste," and the Late Latin pastellus, which means "paste." The word pastel first appeared in French in 1662 and originated in northern Italy in the 16th century and were used by Jacopo Bassano and Federico Barocci. Pastels have been used by artists since the Renaissance, but it gained a huge popularity in the 18th century when a number of well-known artists like Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt and Odilon Redon made pastels their primary medium.

Credit to @remy

COMPOSITION
Pigments are ground into a paste with water and a minimum of non greasy binder such as Tragacanth gum or Methyl Cellulose to make hard and soft pastels, which are then rolled, pressed, or extruded into sticks. Many of the color pigments, such as brilliant yellows, oranges, and reds, are derived from toxic materials such as cadmium. Pastels are mainly found in five different forms: hard pastels, soft pastels, pastel pencils, water soluble pastels and oil pastels.

SPECIFIC PROPERTY
Pastel painting may create a luscious, velvety texture with a deep, rich, splendid glow without the use of a lot of tools because it can be done with just the pastel itself.

KEY FEATURE
Pastels are easily bendable, and can be blended with fingers, a blending stump, or a cloth. The final color effect of Pastel colors are more similar to natural dry pigments than any other painting technique.

Credit to @remy

SURFACE OR MEDIA
The surface where the pastel painting to be made, should have some degree of abrasion, so that the pastel particles can rest on the paper. The stick is dragged across a rough or toothy surface to create a pastel painting orsketch. For example, Laid Paper such as Ingres, Canson Mi Teintes, Abrasive Surfaces such as pumice, marble dust, or rotten stone etc., and velour paper are suitable for pastel paintings.

MORE ABOUT PASTEL PAINTING
Because the medium is mixed and blended directly on the working surface, unlike other painting techniques, pastel painting can be difficult. As a result, there is no way to check the colors on a palette before putting them to the surface. Pastel errors also cannot be covered in the same manner that a paint error may be.

Because pastels are not firmly adhered to the paper's surface, they must be handled with extreme caution. Pastel, on the other hand, adheres to the paper's surface and is easily filthy unless protected by a glass or a fixatives consisting of glue or gum solution. Also,  the majority of the fixatives are toxic.