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ABOUT PASTELS
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Pastels are pure pigment mixed with a binder and formed into shapes easily held in the hand, usually square or round sticks about three inches in length.Pastels are not colored chalk, though this is a common misconception. Many artists prefer to use the term "soft pastel" to avoid confusion with oil pastel which is an entirely different medium.
Another common misconception regarding pastels is that they are pastel or light in value. Pastels are made in a full range of value from white to the deepest values including black. The word pastel is derived from the French word pastiche which means paste, not from the word pastel meaning light in color.
Pastels are applied to any surface with "tooth", usually paper or specially prepared boards. Many artists use commercially prepared "sanded" surfaces, or prepare their own surfaces using commercially prepared pastel primer. Some artists prepare pastel primer using their own formula usually consisting or gesso with powdered grit such as marble dust or pumice.
Most pastel artists refer to their finished work as a painting.
"Pastels became my chosen medium while my children were young and my time at the easel was fragmented. I enjoyed the immediacy of the medium. There is no paint to mix, no brushes to clean, and no paint drying on the palette. I enjoy directly applying the pastel pigments, with no brush between the pigment and the surface. Choosing just the right color from my tray of pastels is visually a treat. I have a variety of pastel brands that encompass a full range of colors and values and degrees of softness. I typically paint on a sanded paper usually Colourfix by Art Spectrum or UArt 400 grit paper. I also occasionally make my own surface, using pastel primer on acid free mat board. I do not use fixative, because I find that it changes the colors and the light refracting properties of the pastel, and by using the sanded papers which 'hold' the pastel quite well I feel no need to 'fix'."
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