Building Up Texture for Pastel is Easy!

        'Secret Garden'             16x20         pastel                ©Karen Margulis             available $325

I am still on the texture kick! I am intrigued by the build up of physical texture on my paper. One of the things I like about oil and acrylic is the ability to lay on thick paint and push it around with a palette knife. Sure we can use soft pastel and make heavy thick marks but we always risk that the chunky pastel mark could flake off. 

I have been experimenting with using clear gesso over older failed paintings. The gesso mixes with the pastel forming a thick paste. I brush this paste over my paper and then use a palette knife and other tools to drag through the paste. This results in raised areas once the gesso dries. Here is a photo of some of my tools. I had my painting subject in mind as I created the textured surface. 

You will want to use a paper or surface that can take abuse and can get wet. I used a piece of unmounted Uart 500 paper. It stayed perfectly flat as it dried! If you missed my post last month about this technique you can see it here:http://kemstudios.blogspot.com/2020/07/how-can-you-use-palette-knife-with.html

Today's painting started out as a failed older painting and went through several iterations. It was at times frustrating but I kept plugging away. I will be sharing the entire progression later in the month on my Patreon Page. Please consider joining us! www.patreon.com/karenmargulis