About Pastel Painting

Many references dwell on the difficulties of dry pastel and advocate the use of spraying either through the process of painting and also at the end to "fix" the end result to minimise ugly fallout, especially onto mounts. My interest in pastels was re-awakened only in 1999 after seeing the work of Barry Freeman and Barry Watkin.

I quickly discovered a technique to overcome the difficulties of dry colour on Sansfix without the use of solvents. I also learnt that a wide range of colours does away with the time-consuming search for the right colour. Some painters such as Tony Allain mix dry pastels with water and paint as if they were gouache.

Most professionals I talk to do not use fixative, but leave the colour in its purest form. The vibrance of Degas' work is testament to the brilliance of the pure pigment. Recent specialists such as Debra Manifold and Geoffrey Marsters extend the subtlety of Impressionism by making good use of the background colour. To see more Pastels