A Texture Tip for Pastels

'An Afternoon at the Preserve'                18x24           pastel           ©Karen Margulis

I crave Texture. I love thick and juicy paint. I love seeing brushstrokes in a painting.  That is one of the wonderful properties of oil paint that I love.  The ability to make texture is something that I miss with pastels. But creating texture is possible!  It just take a little more work and some experimentation.

I admire the work of Bill Creevy for his ability to introduce texture to his pastel paintings.  Check out his classic book The Pastel Book for a good introduction to the many ways to use other media with pastels and how to create more interesting textures.

I like use some of these techniques to get a thicker buildup of pastels in my paintings but today I wanted to share a tip I learned from Stan Sperlak...another great pastel artist and instructor.

close up of textured grassy area

 I'm not sure is Stan had a term for this technique but I'll call it SCRAPING.  It involves laying down several layers of pastel and then scraping into it with a sharp tool of any kind. This scraping will reveal the layers underneath.  Kind of like scratch art!  It works even better is you use some kind of fixative in between layers. I use Blair Low odor workable fixative in the green and black can. (if this is low odor I'd hate to smell odor...it smells!) This build up and scraping away of pastel eventually leads to a more textured look to the painting.

It also helps if the bottom layers are dark....like a scratchboard. That way when you scratch it or scrape it you reveal the darker layers underneath.

What tools to use for scraping?

That's the fun part.  In the workshop I attended Stan used the edge of a metal banker's clip but anything tool that is hard, thin and metal does the best job of scraping and scratching. I try to find tools that are both very thin and a bit wider so I can get a variety of marks. Have fun discovering tools to scrape with!

close up of distant marsh with scraping

Scraped and scratched areas can also be reworked.  In the first closeup I scraped grasses into the pastel then I sprayed some fixative before add ing more soft pastel. The scraped areas resisted the pastel leaving marks.

You can also use your scraping tools to remove small areas of pastel. In the second closeup I used a thin metal pin to scrape away pastel making my edges straight and level.

About today's Painting:
This is an 18x24 pastel done as a demo for a private student. This was our lunch break entertainment demo!  I have so much fun sharing the wonderful world of pastels in these private sessions. If you would like to spend a day or 2 or 3 in my Marietta Studio contact me for details. My 2014 schedule is filling but I still have some available time.