pastel scribbler

Pastelguild.com The Pastel Scribbler June 2012

[Skriv text]


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In This Issue

Editorial Scribble ......................................................................................................... 2

Guest Judge: Robert A. Sloan .................................................................................... 3

Get Dusty Challenge Results ...................................................................................... 4

If At First You Don't Succeed..... ................................................................................. 7

Sennelier Pastel Card- Pros and Cons ....................................................................... 9

Fisher 400 and Clairefontaine Pastelmat Compared ................................................ 11

Canson Mi-Teintes, My Pros And No Cons! ............................................................. 13

Pastelcard and Sansfix ............................................................................................. 14

Home Made Pastel Grounds .................................................................................... 16

Schmincke Pastel Primer .......................................................................................... 18

Grabability .............................................................................................................. 19

Pastel Papers and Surfaces, .................................................................................... 20

An Overview ............................................................................................................. 20

Workshops by PGE Members .................................................................................. 21

Editorial Scribble

Welcome to this extended issue dedicated

to artists reviews of pastel papers and pastel grounds available in Europe.

This special issue will make it easier for

you to choose which papers to try, and which

fit your style of painting. Maybe you have not

found your ideal paper? Clea shows you how

to make your own pastel ground.

Get Dusty winner Ruth Mann nearly didnt enter the challenge, as her painting was not

going well. In her demo she tells about her

struggle and the final choices she made which

lead to winning in a very stiff competition with

many excellent paintings.

The Scribbler Team is taking a well

deserved vacation after this extended issue. We

will be back in September, with new articles

and the results of the Summer Get Dusty

challenge.

May the dust be with you,

Charlotte Herczfeld

Cover image: Concentration, the Fish food

thief, by Ruth Mann

The Scribbler Team

The current team:

Charlotte Herczfeld, edits, writes, does layout

Ruth Mann, edits, writes, and proof-reads

Special thanks to Ryan Evans who

volunteered to help with layout.

Contact: [email protected]


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Guest Judge: Robert A. Sloan

Robert A. Sloan, 57, lives in San Francisco,

California with his beloved longhair colorpoint

Ari, seen in the photo sharing their favorite

armchair. Rob is disabled and lives on Social

Security while building a business as writer, artist

and art teacher till he can become self supporting

again. Ari is 12, undisabled, youthful, muscular

and athletic for a cat his age. Neither of these

middle aged gents like medical appointments,

though Rob doesn't bite or claw his doctors as

often.

Rob gained the nickname of "The Cat Master"

after five solid years of sketching Ari from life

and painting his companion feline in pastels or oil

pastels every chance he gets. Ari has the

reputation of "Most Sketched Feline on

WetCanvas." Both of them enjoy yogurt, little

things they can grab and a nice cuddle in the

comfy chair.

Rob's website, http://www.explore-oil-pastels-with-robert-sloan.com is the first and only dedicated

informational website on oil pastels besides the Oil Pastel Society's webpage. Rob also maintains

several blogs on Blogspot: http://robs-art-supply-reviews.blogspot.com, http://robs-art-

lessons.blogspot.com, http://robs-daily-painting.blogspot.com (very much on a Health Permitting

basis) and http://robs-writing.blogspot.com.

Rob paints in a wide variety of mediums but his favorite is pastels of every kind including Pan Pastels.

Formerly a street sketcher in New Orleans' French Quarter, he mastered pastels there and went on to

expand his subjects into landscapes, florals, still-lifes and of course cats. Currently Rob specializes in cat portraits on commission and studies landscape painting with an eye to incorporating big cats in

his landscapes.

His motto is: "I paint better than I used to and not as well as I will."

Rob's best tips for drawing and painting cats

Sketch small gestures from life, over and over. Each separate attempt is a new observation revealing

more of their form and features. Cats willingly help with this process because even sound asleep,

they'll only hold a pose for two minutes before repositioning. For good active poses in reference

photos, try selecting stills from a digital video of a cat in motion.


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Get Dusty Challenge Results The winner of the May challenge Domestic Cats is Ruth Mann, UK. The

prize is a set of 3 pastels from our new sponsor Henri Roch pastels, of La

Maison du Pastel.

First place: Concentration: The Fish Food Thief, by Ruth Mann

Great originality of concept, pose and title. Drawing skills

are brilliant. This cat's weight and musculature are balanced

accurately for a dynamic, interesting pose. Notice her far

shoulder is raised, it's carrying her weight while the

reaching shoulder drops. I thought there was an error in the

muzzle shape until I studied my cat's profile in a similar

mood. It's her mouth expression. With her nose dipped

down like that, her muzzle shape is accurate for a slight

indrawn breath of intense concentration. Her gender and

mature age are clear from her proportions, a fluffy, sagging

belly is perfectly shaped. What made this painting go over

the top on "Drawing" is perfect cat anatomy down to the

subtlest details of expression.

Composition is striking. Tone and value are used to give

wonderful depth, the light catching her tail and far ear help

give the painting more distance. Color harmony is just

right, warm and cool complements balancing with

saturation in the light. A lovely gradient that draws

emphasis to her face and paw. Edges are handled

beautifully, creating a soft fluffy texture to her fur and a

shiny gleam to the ceramic fish food pot. The reflections on

the pot help draw me into the painting.

Not one stroke is wasted in this painting. Subtle details like

the shadow under the bowl or her elegantly fine eyebrow whiskers are only noticeable on later

viewings, but contribute to emotional impact. Her whisker gesture is part of that immediate, visceral

recognition of her mood. There's dynamic tension: if you interrupt her, the bowl may skitter across the

room spraying flakes everywhere. If you don't, she'll finish her motion and sit there daintily licking her

stolen treat off her paw.

A special treat comments for all entries!

Robert has generously commented on all entries.

Log into the website of the Pastel Guild of Europe

and go to the members Forum, category Competitions, to see the comments of the entries

which are not shown in this issue.

http://pastelguild.com

See cover for larger picture.


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Second place: Bob's Happy Trio by Gillian Lait

Black fur and white fur are the hardest to paint. These three charmers are all in a good mood, all

anatomically accurate and brimming with personality. I love that little tortie looking silly in the lower

left, while the black cat's Innocent Look suggests future mischief. All three are engaged with each

other, visually and emotionally connected. Lazy Girl, House Mother and Mischief Maker are all happy

in distinctly different moods. This painting nearly won because of how difficult a multiple animal

subject is and how well Gillian carried that off.

Third place: A Place in the Sun by Dorothea Schultz

The title says it all - this

painting is about the light.

Painterly, glorious light pours

over white and gray patches

consistently. I liked the weight

and mass of the body. Cats

sleep in different ways and this

one's scrunching up into the

sun patch with a hind leg

tucked under her chin - an odd,

dynamic pose that shifts the

muscles in her thigh and

changes the curve of her back

beautifully. Dorothea resisted

the urge to normalize the shape

of her muzzle or move her tail -

she's digging her chin into the

fur of her tail and leg so that it

changes the shape of her face.


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Honourable mentions

Enchanting Eyes Cat Tag Fire and Ice

by Yvonne Jensen

It is simple and powerful.

Good contrast and values,

good drawing and a dramatic

composition grabbed me. The

expression on this tabby's face

is full of emotion. She's

captured in a moment of

pleading for something she

wants and I don't want to deny

her the treat. This is a grown

cat making herself look

kittenish, ears front and turned

to push together to look bigger

in relation to her head, eyes

very wide, mouth in a sweet

little pout, head angle turned

to make her face look dainty.

She's saying please! Every

detail of her facial expressions

adds to that emotion, so this

tabby girl made it to my short

list on pure visceral impact.

by Charlotte Herczfeld

Gorgeous color and light is

what I always see from

Charlie, a peach fade cat seen

by sunset light outdoors is a

wonderful moment. Her dark

eyes are very dramatic and

natural, I've seen some peach

cats or ginger tabbies have

very dark eyes. That paw from

the second cat coming up on

the deck is endearing. I didn't

see that at first and it made me

laugh, the sunset-watcher is

about to get pounced on! This

painting also tells a story, a

lovely one about an area so

safe it's all right to let your cats

out into the yard without

worrying about wildlife or

traffic.

by Sharron Blackmore

Composition is interesting, a

tight macro crop I've seen

more often in floral

paintings. "Touch me and get

clawed, I want to play

rough!" is the story. Sink

your bare hand into that

adorable fluffy tummy and

you will bleed. Every tangle

is natural and accurate, that

fur texture is incredible. Her

odd eyes are striking and

luminous. Good mastery of

edges and especially textures

between the short face fur

and luxurious tangled chest

fluff with soft paw and

forehead in between. Purrfect

realism capturing a side of

cats that rarely gets painted.

See larger images, and all entries, in the

May Get Dusty Gallery

Reminder: To avoid disqualification, do state the actual size of a painting you enter in the

contest. Add size as a comment if you remember the rule after entering.


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If at first you don't succeed..... by Ruth Mann

I wanted to tell you about my

experience with the painting of my

winning Get Dusty entry, Concentration,

the Fish food thief.

Sometimes art is hard and one feels

like giving up, on a particular piece, or

even altogether! This was one such piece

for me.

I sketched the Cat out from the ref

photo and once I was happy with my

drawing I started applying colour,

exaggerating the hues and tones in my

painting. My plan was to make it a loose,

colourful portrait. You know, the sort with

very little detail and seemingly mad

colours which, somehow, just looks right.

As often happens I lost the shape of the

profile in progress. So I popped it into

windows paint and just drew a line to

remind me approximately how the profile

should look. Note the area to the right of

the Cat's back foot. There was a shape

there, orange in the photo below, which

was brightly lit in the ref photo. I knew this

would be a challenge. (Picture 1.)

With the nose remodelled I carried on

with the fur. At this point I was getting

agitated with it as it was not going at all to

Top: picture 1

Middle: picture 2

Below: the finished painting


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plan. There was the problem too of what to

do with that shape to the right of the rear

paw. If I lost it completely she looked even fatter than she was....like a round

barrel! But I couldn't have it brightly lit

and drawing attention of course. After

several more hours, and some brushing off,

I called it a day. (Picture 2.)

The next day I looked at it, stuck it on

top of the chest in the studio in disgust and

started something else. No way would this

be entered in the Dusty!

It was more than a week later when I

started thinking about doing it again but

couldn't bring myself to start from scratch.

So I just picked it up and looked at it again.

The only part I loved was the near ear but,

on reflection, the face, tail, background and

bowl were OK. The rest was just not

working. I decided that it was worth giving

it another go. So I did some brushing off

and before I knew it I was well into it

again and brought it to a finish that day.

What to do with that annoying shape at the

edge? Crop it off!

What I have learned from this

not to fight my natural style of working

if a piece does not go right, stand back from it emotionally as well as

physically for a while

apply a little lateral thinking to compositional challenges

if at first you don't succeed...........

The Get Dusty Schedule September 2012, Category: Landscape, Challenge: an Interior "scape"

October 2012, Category: Portrait, Challenge: a Portrait with a mood, convey an emotion.

November 2012, Category: Still Life, Challenge: Items with Complementary colours.

The Apprentice Challenge will follow on from the Dusty, one month later. The AC subject

for September is Animals, Domestic Cats, and the May AC is extended over summer.

See pasteguild.com for details and rules of the member contests

See more paintings by Ruth Mann at

http://ruthmannpastelart.com


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Sennelier Pastel Card- pros and

cons by Ryan Evans

Ive been using Sennelier Pastel Card ever since

a revelatory experience some years back that made

me completely re-evaluate the medium of pastel

painting. Id first used cheap chalky pastels on cartridge paper that was just as cheap- you can

imagine the disappointment seeing my painting

literally falling off the page in front of me!

Later a good teacher taught the value of a quality

pastel stick and a better paper. This was Daler

Rowneys Murano paper- holds a few layers of pastel, cheap, readily available and a step in the right

direction. I still felt I was drawing and not painting.

At this time oils and acrylics were my medium of

choice due to the range of mark-making, brushwork

and expression achievable.

During a chance trip to

a new art shop I was

looking at the different

brands and came across

Sennelier Pastel Card pastel

card. I decided to take a

chance and have not been

disappointed. Its not the cheapest option on the

market but Ill share my thoughts, pros and cons to

let you decide to try it!

Technical details

Pastel Card pastel card is pH neutral archival

quality and comes as 200lb (400gsm) boards. The

texture is slightly abrasive like a sanded paper. The

grit however is actually vegetable flakes and cork fixed evenly to the surface to create an ideal textured

surface to grip pastel.

The card comes in the following sizes and

recommended retail prices

( www.globalartsupplies.co.uk ):

65cm x 50cm (25.5 x 19.5) 6.50/8.10 80cm x 60cm (31.5 x 23.5) 10.95/13.65

Pads of 12 sheets are available with assorted colours.

You get two sheets of a selection of the six colours:

24cm x 16cm (9.5 x 6) 14.95/18.63

32cm x 24cm (12.5 x 9.5) 21.95/27.35

40cm x 30cm (15.75 x 12) 33.50/41.75

60cm x 40cm (23.5 x 18) 69.95/87.17

The cards are available

in 14 different colours as

illustrated; you can also

see the surface texture.

My personal favourites

are the Sienna (3rd

on left)

and light blue grey (3rd

on

right) as these give me a

nice warm or cool ground

depending on what Im painting.

The cons

The one major

drawback with this card is

what happens if it gets wet.

If under-painting is a normal part of your pastel

painting practice then this paper will not suit you.

When wet the vegetable and cork grit lifts off the

paper and will take the pastel with it. There are

other papers out there that are better suited to this

approach. That said the 14 colour range does give a

decent starting coloured ground for most paintings.

The generous tooth also allows you to do a dry

under-painting- I tend to use Conte or harder pastels

like Rembrandt, Daler Rowney or Winsor & Newton

to block in. One other issue to note is to be careful

if you are blowing excess pastel dust off as even a

tiny speck of moisture will show up as a dark spot

on the painting that can be tricky to fix. I

recommend tapping the board to remove excess

pastel instead (its healthier for you too!).

While the grit is less abrasive than sanded paper,

excessive blending and rubbing will result in some

of this coming off the surface. Ive also had some occasions when using some pastel pencil (if they are

particularly hard) where the surface can be slightly

scored if you press too hard.

The abrasive surface will quickly eat up your

really soft pastels as theres a lot of tooth to fill and the card is amazing at grabbing and holding the

pigment. I recommend reserving super-soft pastels

for the final layers of a painting.

The pros

The choice of colours available in this range is

really pretty good. Sennelier have basically selected

two sets of seven colours, one being warm and the

other being cool. The warm colours stick to ochres

and earth reds, whereas the cool colours are nice

blue-greys. I find all of them usable as theyre not oversaturated in colour in a way that would compete

with the pastel, but will provide a nice contrast if left

to show through. This is good because if you are


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buying the assorted pads, there is nothing worse than

if you run out of your favourites and are left with

lots of sheets you wouldnt use.

The thickness of the cards is also great as they

dont need to be mounted onto mat board when framing. I guess this thickness makes the sheet

more expensive but will save you money in the long

run.

The main advantage Ive found with this card is the range of mark-making and effects that you can

produce with it. To me it really feels like you are

truly painting with pastels and not drawing. I came

to pastels after learning to paint in oils and acrylic

and with this paper I find I can achieve the same

effects and approach a painting in the same way. I

like to have a range of texture, brushwork and edges

in a painting to give it variety and interest. Ill try to show you what I mean.

The surface while abrasive is quite forgiving. If

youre blending with fingers it wont hurt you like some of the sanded papers can! It feels slightly soft

to the touch. You can achieve soft blended effects

using your fingers. This is great for getting soft

edges, as illustrated above.

If the tooth gets filled with

pastel, or where corrections are

needed, you can easily brush

off the pastel using bristle

brushes and there will be no

loss of tooth.

In this example, you can see a range of painting

techniques applied together creating a lively surface.

I dont think this variety can be achieved on non-sanded papers like Canson Mi-Teintes.

Here you can see some of the ground showing

through (Sienna) to provide a nice contrast with the

greens. Ive managed to build this painting up in multiple layers of pastel. The tooth in the card will

easily take up to five layers provided you start with

harder sticks and reserve the super soft sticks to the

end. There are passages where Ive scumbled pastel on top of other layers to allow the layer below to

show through. Dry brush effects can also be replicated. Finally you can see areas where super

soft pastels (e.g. Sennelier, Unison, Schmincke) are

used with a bit of pressure to achieve an impasto

effect with pastel. The card has no problem gripping

this and holding it. In fact the tooth is so good at

holding pastel I dont need to use fixative at all, I have the confidence that the mark I make will stay. I

love this as for me fixative dulls and darkens the

colour of pastels even when used lightly.

If youve not tried Sennelier Pastel Card yet, I strongly urge you to give it a go and see what it can

do for you.


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Fisher 400 and Clairefontaine

PastelMat Compared

by Ruth Mann

I use both of the above, almost exclusively,

for my pastel work. One (Fisher) is a sanded

paper comparable to the American papers, Wallis

and Uart. The other (PastelMat) is a completely

different type of surface, smooth to the touch there are no comparables (yet).

Both can be used in similar ways even though

they are quite different.

Drawing/sketching

Drawing on Fisher 400, with

either a pastel pencil

or a hard pastel like

Cont or Cretacolour,

is easy but don't

expect fine lines,

unless your pencil/stick

is very sharp and you

apply hardly any

pressure. It is possible to

erase lines with a normal

pencil eraser or a putty

eraser.

On PastelMat finer lines

can be achieved and it is still

possible to erase the marks made very effectively,

brushing off the residue which does not adhere to

the paper.

First layer

I find that the Fisher grabs more pastel in the

first layer, but not smoothly or consistently.

Because of that I find it quite hard to use Fisher

without blending the initial layer. This must be

done with care as the paper is rough, being

sanded. No fingers, unless you want to lose some

skin! No paper towels, unless you want

fragments of paper towel adhering to the paper! I

use the little polystyrene packing nuggets to very gently blend the first layer into the paper to

give a smooth look. The alternative is to use a

wet underpainting, see below. I find it best to use

the harder soft pastels for the initial layer or

layers. Ones like Rembrandt, Faber Castell or Art

Spectrum.

The PastelMat is a different story. The first

layer, using the pastel on its side, glides on and,

while not giving complete coverage by any

means, there is an obvious stroke mark instead of

the hit and miss effect I find with Fisher. The

paper grabs the pastel and you simply cannot

finger blend a thin first layer. It just won't move!

However, I use kitchen towel to blend the first

layer, if I want to. There is, of course, the option

not to blend at all. I should add that I LOVE the

feel of the first pastel strokes on a piece of

PastelMat! When I discipline myself, I again use

the harder soft pastels for my first layers, but

have been known to use softies, like Unison or

Sennelier, where the colours were what I wanted.

Underpainting

Both papers are suitable for

wet underpaintings, using

watercolour, Gouache, very

thin acrylic paint or pastel

brushed or sprayed with water

or alcohol products. These

types of underpainting hardly

affect the feel of the

subsequent layers of pastel.

Because the Fisher

initially grabs more

pigment it will give an

underpainting with more

depth, when using pastel,

than with one layer on the

PastelMat.

For my underpaintings I invariably use pastel

and water.

Subsequent layers

Both papers will take several layers of pastel.

The lighter it is applied, or the harder the pastel,

the more layers one can achieve. It is my

experience, and I have heard others agree, that

Fisher can take more layers overall than

PastelMat. Once there are a few layers down

both papers are similar to work on with one important exception. Again, in my experience,

when there are a few layers on PastelMat it is

impossible to use most pastel pencils to make a

mark on top of the pastel. Instead the pencil will

cut a groove through the pastel already laid down

without showing much of its own colour.

However, on the Fisher, with a sharp pastel

pencil and a light touch, one can add detail and

thin lines, say Whiskers on a Cat, with the pastel

pencil marks appearing to stay on top. It follows

that more detail can actually be achieved on

Fisher in the final layers than can be achieved on

PastelMat, unless there are few layers, they are


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very thinly applied, or a very soft pastel, like

Schminke, is used with a thin and light

application.

Colour

Fisher 400 comes in one colour, a neutral

sand colour. PastelMat comes in 8 colours, from

white through to quite a dark grey. The colour

does not matter too much to me because,

with the Fisher, I usually do

an underpainting to establish

my base colours. However,

if I do not wish to

underpaint I find that there

is usually a colour

amongst the range in

PastelMat to inspire me.

I cannot analyse my

choice of colour but I

know that, for

example, I will

choose the bright

gold colour for

many landscapes,

especially those with a lot

of blue in them. I will choose the warm

brownish grey for portraits, maybe because it is

mid value and not too intense a colour. If I use

the white I usually do an underpainting, simply

because the white confuses my choice of pastel

colours!

Other points

I don't use fixative on either paper, between

layers or at the end. Fixative can, of course, be

used on both. Unless one has applied too many

layers so there is pastel dust floating on the top,

all that is needed is a few sharp taps on the back

of the paper to remove any loose particles. The

piece can then be safely framed and will not shed

any particles onto the mount unless it is

mistreated, stored face down or knocked

about....you know, like they do when you put a

painting in an exhibition!

Both can have pastel brushed off very

successfully to free up more tooth for further

application. In the (not uncommon for me) event

of a failed painting, both papers can be recycled

and re-used. I brush off as much pastel as I can

(saving it to eventually make some grey pastel

sticks) and then use a damp brush to push the

remaining pastel into the tooth. I can then do a

new painting with, sometimes, a very interesting

underpainting! I hear that pastel can actually be

washed off PastelMat but I have never tried this

so cannot comment.

Fisher is an interesting paper to use for

landscapes. If I can resist the urge to blend the

first layers the paper can assist me in creating a

natural look to trees and grasses for example.

This is because the first layer of pastel does not

go on evenly. The next few layers will

also find peaks and troughs in

the paper and this

gives a nice

variegated look,

ideal for the natural

world. This is a

technique I have not

yet mastered but I'm

working on it. Having

said that I often use

PastelMat for landscapes

simply because of the

range of colours. For

portraits I find the

PastelMat gives me more

control over the appearance of

the initial layers and I find that, by layering, my

colours will start to blend together more easily

than on the rougher surface of the Fisher.

Conclusion

For my particular style, the PastelMat is the

best, especially due to my addiction to the feel of

the first strokes of pastel on the paper! I still

happily use the Fisher quite often but I don't get

quite the same kick from that.

For those of you who have tried neither, or

only one, of these papers my strong

recommendation is that you try both as that is the

only way you will see which suits your style best.

Editors comment: The Fisher 400 is quite similar to the US Wallis Professional and the

Uart 400 sanded papers.


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Canson Mi-Teintes, my pros

and no cons! by Marie-France Oosterhof

I paint exclusively on Canson Mi-Teintes

and therefore I know these papers as well as I

love them. I will tell you why.

The characteristics of this paper are:

Available in sheets 50 x 65cm, or in blocks 24 x 32cm or 29.7 x

42cm, the weight is 160g/ m2.

The paper has two different surfaces: one smooth, the other

one with a texture looking like

small cells.

Colours: 60 colours, with colouring agents added as needed

to the pulp.

Composition: 55% cotton, acid free (the black is not acid free).

Which one do I use?

Size and colours:

As I said, I paint only on Canson Mi-

Teintes, as I have tried two different sanded

papers but they did not suit my way of

painting. My choice always goes to the large

sheets, and mostly the two grey colours: gris

fume or gris chine. Painting on those medium

greys is very handy for me as the bright

colours are immediately bright and the dark

ones immediately dark. As I use really few

strokes this is very important for me: blocking

in the values very early on in the painting is

fundamental.

Sometimes though I use different colours,

choosing the lavender blue ones if I paint a

landscape, a seascape, or a sky, always for the

same reasons: as I use a few strokes the paper

colour will be part of the painting. When

painting a still life my choice will be a

complementary colour to the background I

wish to paint, so the painting will be livelier,

and the colours dancing.

Which side of the paper?

Always the flat one for me! Two options:

either I use a few strokes and then I dont wish to see the papers texture or I decide I will blend the pastels and then I also need a

smooth surface.

Which kind of pastels?

I used to start with charcoal for my initial

drawing, then hard pastel sticks - Rembrandt

usually- after that Girault or Unison, and at last

Schmincke, the very soft ones. This means that

I dont do more than five layers. If I need more Ill use fixative at one stage, but really never on the last layer (just a good smack at the back

of the sheet of paper to get rid of the excess

dust).

My experience is that any kind of pastel

stick will work with the Canson Mi-Teintes. If

I want to colour the paper with the pastel painting backgrounds for example Ill use Rembrandt, never softer, so I can go on

painting with some more layers.

Canson Mi-Teintes and water They are really good friends! If I wish to

do an under-painting (acrylic, watercolour etc),

I tape the paper safely onto a strong board and

the paper wont buckle at all when drying. I have to report that once, when framing, I

wanted to stretch the painting at the back of the

passe-partout (mat). So I humidified the back

of the painting before taping it: it worked

perfectly, the colours did not melt or blend.

Well, lets just say dont try this method with a Degas painting...!

Some more pros

These sheets are really light, very handy to

carry in the portfolio and what about the price?

Really cheap for us in France, so not a problem

if I have to throw away the one I painted on a

bad day I obviously do not find any inconvenience

with this paper, in my opinion it offers all the

qualities I need for my way of painting.

The history of Canson papers is a very,

very old French story, everything began in

1557 (Learn more about this historical industry on their site www.canson.com).

You know Anita Stoll and Tony Allain,

both talented painters, use mostly Canson Mi-

Teintes as well.


14

Pastel Card and Sansfix by Charlotte Herczfeld

These papers are of the so

called sanded papers, which are

papers primed with glue or

gesso with some sort of grit

mixed into it.

Both have a grit which is

not abrasive, and you can

finger blend without risking

blood.

Pastel Card

Senneliers Pastel Card (also called La Carte) has grit

which is made out of cork and

vegetable matter. When you

paint, some of the excess grit

comes loose, but there is no

visible effect on the surface.

The surface is applied to a

cardboard, so the paper is

sturdy.

The paper takes pastels very well, in many

layers. There is some texture, but it is not

pronounced once you have a few layers of pastel

on it. It comes in many colours and several

sizes. You can get a very even and smooth look

on this paper. Many who paint in high realism

like this paper, and so do artists who use a more

impressionistic application.

It is fine for detail work. In the picture

Fresas, you can see how very smooth the plate

is, the fine detail on the berries and the plate,

plus the more impasto and painterly table cloth

in the background. There is no need for fixative

with Pastel Card.

There is really only one disadvantage to

Pastel Card: it is hydrophobic. You cannot use any wet underpainting on it. Beware of sneezing

or blowing so a drop of saliva falls on the paper

each little droplet of moisture will dissolve the glue that keeps the grit on the paper. If this

happens, be sure to not touch the paper until it

has dried thoroughly and the glue has settled

back into its solid state.

Sansfix

The unusual grit of the

Schmincke Sansfix feels like

tiny smooth pebbles from the

sea. Like Pastel Card, the

paper is a card, but Sansfix is

a paper that can take a lot of

hard handling and painting.

The grit stays in place no

matter what you do to it, and

it handles water very well.

Fresas, by the author. Pastel Card handles smooth, impasto, and detail well.

Sansfix texture is good for instant foliage, as in the weeping willow

detail. To the left is a close-up

showing how pastel goes onto the

paper.


15

It is both textured and has a relatively deep

tooth. The pastel strokes go on with an uneven

and scumbled look, which is perfect for instant foliage. It takes many layers. However, fine lines and details are more difficult to achieve.

This is a paper for the more impasto and

painterly style.

Although the name sansfix implies that the

pastels need no fixative, Ive found that this papers disadvantage is that it holds on to pigments poorly. Both when you paint and when

the painting is framed. You definitely need

many applications of fixative to keep the

pigments on the surface.

The extent of the dust that falls off is quite

surprising. I had a painting where I had to clean

the mat repeatedly, so I put the painting in

storage in my studio. Two years later, I checked

how the painting had fared. Never before have I

seen so much pastel dust on the mat. Normally,

a speck or two escapes onto the mat, but this

was an avalanche! It would not be good if this

happened with a painting a client owns.

It would be very good if Schmincke could

solve this problem, as the paper otherwise is a

fine one for you who like texture.

Above: Detail of the mat of a painting on Sansfix. Real

width of the mat is 8 cm.

Right: a close-up of the beveled edge of the mat and the

large amount of pigment which has fallen off the

painting.


16

Home made pastel grounds by Clea Mller

If you are not happy with the pastel surfaces

available at your local art shop or simply enjoy

experimenting with new pastel grounds, why

don't you try to make your own supports? It is

easier than you think.

I admire many pastel paintings by American

master pastellists and their effects on sanded

papers, but none of those surfaces are available

in the shops nearby. The expense of mail

ordering these papers from the US discouraged

me. After reading Alan Flattmann's book The

Art of Pastel Painting, I have decided try to

make my own sanded surfaces and find my own

techniques to go with them.

My supports end up being slightly abrasive and

too rough for very fine details so they force me

to use a looser style. They eat up more pastel than normal pastel paper by Hahnemhle,

Canson or Fabriano, but less than Sennelier's

Pastel Card or Schmincke's Sansfix pastel

paper. There is no problem finger blending

pastels on them.

To start preparing your own pastel ground,

choose a board or paper suitable for wet

techniques. If you are concerned about the

archival quality of your final product, use

archival paper or board. Otherwise, you can use

any leftovers at hand. My favourite supports are

oil painting paper or medium to heavy

watercolour paper with light texture. The paper

I found most suitable, easily available and not

too expensive was Hahnemhle Britannia

Water Colour paper. I have also used paper

with more or no texture, just bear in mind that

this will have effects on the final texture of the

surface! I use sheets sized 50 x 65/70cm or

smaller. The larger the size, the more difficult it

will be to get an even layer because the coating

will start to dry in the middle of the process. If

you plan to apply a white coating, it helps a lot

to use a lightly coloured paper, as then you can

see better what you're doing, later on!

Then, you choose the coating you would

like to apply. There are several brands of

readymade grounds for pastel paintings. These

are convenient and give even results, so try out

if they give you your ideal pastel surface. I have

used the products by Schmincke and Rubens.

Ruben's pastel ground is already tinted in grey

which helps if you use white paper as a support.

Both grounds offer enough grit for the pastel to

be applied easily, but the results are not really a

sanded surface. There are other products by Lascaux, Nerchau, Art Spectrum and Golden

which I haven't tried out yet.

If you are interested in a slightly more

granular surface, I can recommend using a

homemade mixture of gesso (1/3), water (1/3)

and marble dust (1/3).

For more tooth, try increasing the amount of

marble dust or use pumice powder or quartz

powder instead. Pumice and quartz powders are

available in different grades. Experiment which

will give you the result you like best. Be careful

not to inhale the dust, but mix it quickly with

water, because it might be harmful. If your local

art store does not carry these gritty substances,

you can mail order through Kremer Pigmente

GmbH & Co. KG (www.kremer-pigmente.de).

Left: with marble dust Am See.

Below: with quartz, Schatten (Iris).


17

For a home-made light texture

without the feeling of sanded paper, try

using just gesso or acrylic paint. Vary the

amount of water you add according to

your needs. The thicker the mixture, the

more pronounced your texture will be.

With the mixture ready, you apply at

least two layers of coating on your

surface. For this, you can use a synthetic paint

roller to apply one coating from left to right and a

second from top to bottom of the paper. This will

give you a surface where your coating is evenly

spread out.

Alternatively, for more pronounced texture

you can use a (cheap) big brush to brush the

paint on in a similar way. This will give you a

pattern of lines (which are usually not too

even). If you prefer a random pattern of lines,

you brush it on accordingly. You can even

apply the coat along the lines of a sketch or an

under-painting for certain directions in your

texture. For this, I prefer to use transparent

gesso to see what I'm doing. Liquitex clear

gesso is ideal for this. In any case, work

quickly! The mixture tends to dry very fast. Let

the support dry thoroughly afterwards and

straighten it out under some weight for a day or

two if necessary.

The nice thing with home-made supports is

that you can prepare them in any colour you

like! You can use acrylic paint in your favourite

colour instead of gesso already for your

mixture. Or you can customize the support at a

later stage with watercolour or pastel wiped on

with a wet brush. Then again, it's your choice to

apply the colour as evenly as possible

throughout the surface or with any type of

gradation, pattern or underpainting you might

like. One of my favourite paper colours is light

ochre, and most often I use the same Rembrandt

pastel stick to tint the paper, in order to keep the

colour consistent. After drying, I spray it with

fixative. This allows me to keep the original

colour even when I choose to wipe pastel dust

off during the painting process!

Have fun experimenting! Just make sure to

take note of the mixture you used at the back of

the paper for future reference!

For further reference on suitable supports and

gritty substances Clea recommends Richard

McKinley's blogs on these topics:

(http://www.artistsnetwork.com/medium/pastel

/pastel-pointers-homegrown-pastel-surfaces-

part-1

and

http://www.artistsnetwork.com/medium/pastel/

pastel-pointers-homegrown-surfaces-part-2.

Left: Materials

required.

Right:Mixing the

ground.

Middle: Applying

with a roller.


18

Schmincke Pastel Primer by Dorothee Rhler

The pastel primer from Schmincke is a very

variable ground which you can use on different

materials like wood, metal, cardboard or canvas

and I think you could find even more.

As you see here, I paint it on the

passepartout cardboards (matboard) which I

have cut out when framing. I really like to no

longer waste this expensive and high-quality

stuff.

It is possible to colour it with acrylic

colours before application. On absorbent

materials Schmincke suggest that the support is

prepared with primer on both sides, because

cardboard tends to bend when drying. I avoid

that and weigh the cardboard down with books

or such after the primer is dry enough (this

takes only about 10 minutes), and leave the

books there until the cardboard is completely

dry.

The pastel primer is rather viscous, and in

order to get a smooth surface you have to dilute

it with water. Then it gives you a surface very

similar to sanded paper like Art Spectrums Colourfix.

When it has dried it is water resistant and

you can do under paintings with acrylic paint or

watercolours. It holds the pastel pigments well.

You can rub and smudge the colour if you want

and it grabs several layers. Fixation is no

problem but not necessary as long as you don't

do too many layers.

What I like most is that I can use the pastel

primer undiluted and produce different surfaces

by applying it with brushes, sponges or painting

knifes, or by treating it with different materials

like scrunched paper or whatever before it dries.

The structured surface that I get this way gives

paintings a loose and painterly style, which I

love for some projects. By the way, this effect

can be an aid for those who want to leave the

copying kind of painting style and search for more expressive or spontaneous methods.

I find it very lasting, a small amount covers

big areas, and I buy it at Gerstcker paper for

14,99 /500gr.

It is worth an attempt if you would like to

experience it!

Left: Rolled on texture

Top right: Brushed on texture with swirls

Bottom Right: Texture detail shots


19

GrababilityHow well does the paper hold pigments while you paint?

by Charlotte Herczfeld

Most of us who paint on an easel probably

keep some device under it to catch the dust that

falls off the painting while we paint a folded piece of paper, foil, or a trough of some kind. I

began to notice that the amount of fallen dust

varied between papers, and decided to compare

how much.

Method

The method used is simple. I took the dust

and rubbed it into a long strip of sanded paper,

and measured the length of how much paper the

dust covered. This is not a thorough

examination, but it still gives some indication of

how well the papers hold onto the pigments

during the painting process.

The pastels I used were a mixture of mainly

Rembrandt, Unison, ArtSpectrum, Sennelier,

and Schmincke. For some samples the

Panpastels were used.

Details of the swatches

The top picture shows fall-off from

paintings of the size 30x40 cm (12x16), and the bottom picture shows paintings made in A4 size

(about 8.5x12), and the last two are painted with Panpastels.

The Fisher 400 grabs the pigments

beautifully, and surprisingly there is a mere 1,5

cm difference between an A4 and a painting of

the double size. Clairefontaine PastelMat also

holds on to the pigments really well, with only

12 cm for the larger painting. Both papers

continue to hold the pigment once the paintings

are matted (passe-partout) and framed.

More surprising was ArtSpectrum

Colourfix, which gave all of 22 cm from the

smaller A4. Once matted and framed, there is a

small fall-off, but it ceases after a while.

The Panpastels stuck best to the paper, but

the comparison isnt entirely fair, as a lot of the dust lodges in the sponge tools which are used

to apply the Panpastels, and the dust is wiped off

of the tools onto a paper towel.

As usual, different results come from

different combinations of paper and pastel

brands. You will find your favourites which

work for your method, and it may not matter to

you how much pastel is wasted, as you make

your own pastels from the fallen off dust. It does

give lovely colour-biased neutrals!


20

Pastel papers and surfaces,

an overview by Charlotte Herczfeld

Papers can be divided into four major

categories, and then we can add the category of

Other surfaces.

Sanded papers, with a hard gritty surface, added to it. They can be coarser or finer.

Papers with a soft non-abrasive surface added to it.

Plain pastel papers, where the paper itself is the surface.

Other papers, as watercolour/aquarelle papers, charcoal paper, printing papers.

Other surfaces, as for example Linen canvas

Sanded papers

Normally, the hard grit is either mixed into

the binder, or strewn on the binder. The former

tend to have a less deep tooth as ArtSpectrum

Colourfix has, while the latter can be rather

aggressive, like Fisher 400. They both hold

many layers of pastel. The more aggressive the

tooth, the more layers they take. The sandpapery

papers tend to be sand-coloured, while those

with grit mixed into gesso can be had in many

colours.

Softer surfaces

Here we find papers like Clairefontaine

PastelMat, Sennelier PastelCard (LaCarte), and

velour papers. All of them take many layers of

pastel, but the only one who allows for early

blending is Pastel Card, and it is the paper that

holds a hard edge best, the others tend to give

softer edges. All hold on to harder pastels well,

but the velour papers tend to not be amenable to

finish layers with very soft pastels, as that layer

may simply slide off. These papers are made in

many colours.

Pastel papers

The structure of these papers is had by

letting the paper pulp dry on cloth or a metal

grid. The structures of these get indelibly

imprinted in the paper. Papers of the type Ingres

have a striped pattern, while Canson Mi-Teintes

has a structure like honeycombs. The papers

have structure, but little tooth. Both sides of the

paper can be used for painting, and one side is

usually more smooth than the other. Unless you

use fixative, they do not take many layers of

pastels. In my opinion, these are not the best

papers for beginners, but in the hands of a

seasoned painter they perform very well. These

papers come in many colours.

Some of these papers have a too pronounced

structure, which can be sanded down with

ordinary sandpaper. Then the paper will perform

a bit more like velour, and take a few layers

more than the untreated paper does.

Generally, the thicker the paper is, the better

it holds on to pastel.

Other papers

They may be just what you need, for your

style. I recommend that you experiment with

different papers. Generally, look for papers with

some degree of tooth, as it is more important

than structure. Pastel pigments tend to rest on

the top of structure. So a cold-pressed rough

watercolour paper will give you a fight, unless

you do a wet underpainting first, and then you

can create beautiful effects with the pastels

where the underpainting shines through. Pastels

are a wonderful way to save failed watercolour

paintings. To gain more tooth, you can prime the

watercolour painting with a clear gesso with

some grit in it.

Linen canvas

Often they come with gesso already applied,

and they can be more or less structured. Some

artists apply a pastel primer over the existing

gesso, to gain more tooth.

Tooth, and Structure:

Tooth is how well the paper bites and grabs onto the pastel pigments. Tooth is in the

texture of the surface, with its grains and spaces

between grains. A deep tooth has deeper

spaces. Compare with ordinary printer paper,

which has virtually no tooth at all.

Structure (can also be called texture) is the

regular or irregular pattern of the surface of the

paper.

You can have a paper which gives a very

smooth painting as the structure is minimal, but

the tooth can be deep. And vice versa, a paper

can have lots of structure, but little tooth.


21

Workshops by PGE members

Charlotte Herczfeld

Paint the light outdoors

Stockholm, Sweden

Workshop 2012 A: 23 24 July Workshop 2012 B: 11 12 August charlotteherczfeld.com

Malcolm Jarvis

30 september - 6 october 2012

Burgundy, France

http://www.malcolmjarvisart.co.uk/

Get Dusty and Apprentice Challenge Announcement

Because of the summer holiday period over the next few months the Get Dusty competition starting in June will be extended over the summer period with a closing date of 25th August. The theme for the competition is.....Free Choice!! What's more, for the extended competition members may submit two entries if they wish.

For this period the Apprentice Challenge for May is extended over the summer. Apprentices are encouraged to enter the Get Dusty. Go ahead, there's nothing to lose! Apprentices, for your Domestic Cats you have lots of time until the September 25th deadline.

Recent and ongoing conversations in the members Forum on the PGE website:

- Tips for composition

- Photo Editor tricks

- Plein Air tips + show us your first one (and last, and inbetween)

- Peer advice for members paintings

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