Pastel Painting Overview

Health concerns about breathing in dust from the soft chalk pastels have caused some pastel artists to switch to oil pastels. An oil pastel has the pigment bound with non-drying oil and wax. Quite different results can be achieved using a variety of techniques. For example: oil pastels dissolved with solvents look very different to ones used lightly over the surface of a textured paper. Some wax or oil pastels are also water-soluble. A fixative exists for oil pastels though some artists feel it isn’t necessary.

A soft pastel is made to be as soft as possible without falling apart or breaking too easily. Because colours are mixed on the surface by layering and not mixed on a palette beforehand pastels usually come in a huge range of tints and shades of colours. Soft pastels can be used dry or with water and also come in a pencil format that is tidier to use.

Finished paintings are often sprayed with a fixative for longevity as the soft colour may not adhere completely to the surface (especially if many layers are built up) and the colour remains somewhat smudge-able. Some artists find fixative changes the colour or texture too much and they rely solely on framing behind glass as protection from smudging.

Hard pastels are usually square and are often called carre crayons. They have been baked at a higher temperature and their hardness allows finer lines to be made with their edges.

Like all artist materials the quality of a pastel is measured by the amount and quality of pigment – the higher quality pastels have little or no filler and the minimum amount of binder required to hold the pastel together. Every artist develops a preference for a particular brand, often based on colour choice or level of softness or hardness. A beginner would be wise to buy a colour in each brand and as they need to replace each colour buy the brand they have come to like best.

The surfaces used with soft pastels usually need to have a tooth to hold the powdery colour onto the surface. Pastel painting is usually done on paper though there is a textured ground by Golden Acrylics that can be painted on primed wood or canvas so that those surfaces can hold the pigment from soft pastels. Pastel paper comes in a variety of colours and textures designed to be able to hold the pigment in the texture of the paper and for the colour of the paper to be a part of the painting.

Here is the page on our website with more complete oil pastel information.

Here is a great Empty Easel article on oil pastels with loads of information.

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