Learn About Pastels

You're never too old to learn something new

Once you start to learn about pastels you will realize that it is a great medium if you love using stroke work to create a masterpiece. A painting begins with light strokes first, because in a pastel painting the stroke is of paramount importance. With pastels, you have the unique advantage of using them on paper in a way that will suit you best. 

There is such a wide choice of pastel techniques available which you can develop to create your own individual style of painting. The final result depends on the way in which you make strokes on the surface of the paper.

Pastels are available as small-sized sticks and they come in several shades. They come mainly in three types viz., the soft, medium and hard. The most commonly preferred ones by pastel artists are the soft and the hard kinds. Also available are oil pastels and pastel pencils that are obtainable in similar kinds.

Pastels are manufactured under a lot of brand name labels. They can be bought in packs of various sizes for the convenience of the artists. Experienced artists prefer to buy pastels in large-sized packets, because such packs contain more shades than that are available in smaller packs. In saying that, most artists, once they have their colour range, then purchase them individually as they are used up.

Using pastels, it is possible for you as an artist to render any kind of mood in a painting. They are a brilliantly flexible medium that imparts total freedom to improvise and to experiment upon as you choose. With the aid of pastels you can produce any painting from beautiful landscapes to lovely portraits.

You can buy a wide range of pastels from the market. The usual practice with most pastel manufacturers is to make a basic tint first and follow it up with a range of tints that are either lighter or darker than the basic tint. For easy identification these tints are always given a code number.

To begin collecting your own set of pastel colors, choose one color from each of these tints: warm or cold green, orange, cold yellow, cold or warm violet, warm or cold red or cold or warm blue. Usually, as a beginner pastel artist opt for the second or third darkest shade of the basic tint. Thus a really wide selection of shades is available to you. But you should take special care in your choice of the tints if you want to portray your subject in a truly harmonious and representative manner.

For art to be really successful you must let your imagination roam free through the length and breadth of your mind. Remember, many of the great artists did not receive any formal training in the field of art. Learn the techniques and put into practice what you have learned. Since you have discovered the artist within you, go forward and paint that exclusive pastel painting.