Why dry pastels

I have been fascinated by colours as long as I can remember. Beautiful colours, vibrant ones or soothing, surprising and fun, all of them wherever they appear, they continue to fascinate and inspire.

The first time I really had a go at soft pastels was when I was at art school in England, one of my class mates had this brand new set of Rembrandt pastel colours and it looked glorious. Later on, when I worked as an Art Therapist I found that it was a very good way for me to keep practising my skills, using the time in-between having consultations. The children loved to try it out, so bit by bit it became more important. Then when I decided to dedicate all my time to my own artwork, it became my main medium, taking over completely from painting.

Every time I visit London I take a trip to Cornelissen & Son, and a few years back I found the Unison Pastel drawers and I fell head over heels in love. From that moment on, I have used these as my main pastels. Everything about them appeal to me, the handmade pastels, the small company, the overall aesthetics. After using them daily I’m still as happy, now also founded on the high performance and quality they deliver and it has become a serious love affair, I will try to explain why.

Since my way in to the art world go through colours, the vibrancy of the pastels are really appealing to me, the range of colours and the way they carry the luminosity of the different colours are fantastic. Then there is this about touching. I think I’m a very tactile person, using my hands as tools are just right for me, I love the feel of the pigments in my hands, I enjoy to use my fingers and hands directly to create movements and flow. I like to add the pigments to he paper and then use my hands and fingers to move them around, to mix them and to create the shapes, edges or shadows I want. I seldom use the pastels as a drawing tool, I guess I’m still a painter by way of thinking and applying colour, building them layer by layer

Creating Colour Poetry

To be able to get the character of the coulor right, I have to use first class products with high intensity and pigments as pure and evenly distributed as possible. I like to use my hands as tools, to feel and touch, dry pastels give me this opportunity. Since the pigments are pure and little deluded they have a long longevity and age well.

Dry pastels come in a huge variety of colours and nuances, they are appealing to look at and awesome to use. Dry pastel is my preferred medium, my artwork get a matte, velvety surface, the colours get a feeling of fluidity and my artwork an ethereal quality that’s hard to come by in other mediums. 

The paper I use are always quality paper and I prefer to use 300 g cotton paper, mainly fine grain but sometimes its nice to use a more structured surface, which will give a different look, I like to be able to choose from many different types of paper, to select the right one for what I want to express.

One of my main reasons for choosing this medium is its fabulous translucency. This quality opens up the artwork and create a sense of space and a fantastic depth to the colours. I have received comments on how much like stain glass windows my colour work appears, the luminosity in the colours are so powerful.

I always finish off with a thin layer of fixative for protection and to keep the pigments from dusting too much, the Senellier fixative spray is the best I have tried so far.

My artwork need the protection of a frame, I like to use non-reflective glass, to see the painting better and undisturbed by reflections, but also because it doesn’t have a blue taint as ordinary glass has.

Sometimes it can be difficult to get the colours a 100 % right in the photos, but I try to get them as close as possible. I use daylight, preferably on a cloudy day, when photographing. Enjoy the images and examples!