Make Corrections to a Pastel with this Simple Tip

'The Way to the Beach'              9x12            pastel               ©Karen Margulis
painting available  $145

It really isn't that hard to do. Pastels are very forgiving. I like that. I can be fearless when I paint because I know I can always change things that aren't working. There are ways to fix the problem areas. A stiff paintbrush does a good job of brushing them out.  Brushing off the pastel isn't usually enough to get all the way back to clean paper but it is often enough to remove enough pastel for corrections. Making the corrections is the hard part. Especially if you don't remember what pastel sticks you used in the painting. You can easily make things worse!

Here is an simple tip for successful corrections: Keep all of the pastels you are using for the painting where you can see them! Don't put them back until you are finished with the painting.

Today's painting reminded me of the usefullness of this tip. I wanted to paint the road that runs in front of the beach house my friends and I rent on Pawleys Island South Carolina. I decided I wanted the telephone poles in the painting. So I put them in.

The first finish. The pole on the right has to go.

When I uploaded the photo and looked at it on my computer monitor (a great way to see problems) I decided I didn't like the big pole on the right. The wire was also in the wrong spot. They needed to go. So back to the easel I went with a stiff paint brush in hand.

The pole on the right is on it's way out!

I brushed out the pole and the wire. I was able to get most of the marks removed. There was a slight ghost image of the pole but I knew I could cover it up. Fortunately I always keep the pastels I am using for a painting out in a tray. This is my working palette. It was very simple to find the pastels I had used for the areas behind the pole. All it took were a few marks with the right pastel and the pole was history. This fix would not have been as easy if I had to hunt for the correct color and value.

Bonus Tip: If you want to remove even more pastel .... down to the original paper try to use some canned air that is used to clean electronics. You can get precision removal with the thin straw that comes with the can!