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 Monday, October 27, 2008
Underpainting With Oil Paints
Posted by richard
 Starting pastel paintings with a thin, wet, loose underpainting is something many artists enjoy. It sets up a foundation on which to respond with the subsequent application of pastel. Though not meant to be the finished painting, the underpainting often plays a major part in the final appearance. Depending on the medium used and the surface it applied to, it can have a variety of appearances. Personally I have utilized some form of underpainting from the earliest years of my painting adventure. Over those years, I have experimented with a variety of surfaces and media. Thin watercolor and oil washes have becoming two of my favorites. Two things need to be analyzed when choosing your means of underpainting: how the medium will respond to the surface: and how it will interact with the pastel. Do a little research and experimentation on your own before committing major efforts to a procedure that may prove to be non-archival. What lead me to experiment with very thin washes of oil paint was the introduction of acrylic-based sizing and binders in the manufacture of pastel surfaces. These allow for no migration of upper layers to the substrate surface below: in essence, isolating it from any harmful chemical interaction. Papers such as Wallis sanded paper even state that they accept oil paint. I don’t advocate thick applications of oil. Besides taking a major amount of time to dry, it would introduce a considerable amount of oil (commonly linseed oil) that could negatively interact with the pastel. My working procedure is to thin the oil colors to the consistency of weak tea using a highly refined mineral spirit like Gamsol by Gamblin, or Turpenoid by Weber. I apply these very thin washes with a brush, allowing them to run and interact to produce an interesting underpainting (see the example above). This is merely a stain and I can’t stress enough how thin it must be! After the mineral spirits evaporate, which happens very quickly, pastel can then be applied. You may ask: why oil? Why not just use pastel spread with mineral spirits? The reason is ease of application. I can better control the placement of color and bleeding of the colors with tiny amounts of oil paint mixed and made wet on a separate palette. Pastel made wet on the painting surface is much more unruly. It's nearly impossible to tell the two apart, much like a watercolor underpainting compared to wet pastel. Since many pastel artists work in other wet media, they are often more comfortable getting a painterly underpainting by applying the initial color with a brush, but it really is just a matter of personal choice. Above: A thin oil underpainting on Wallis paper.
10/27/2008 11:46:45 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) 
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Monday, October 20, 2008
On the Surface
Posted by Richard
 Many of us started working with pastel in the Dark Ages. There were very limited supplies available and sanded pastel surfaces were no exception. We found out we could make our own, and many of us did and still do ( see my previous blog on the subject). To use a commercially available surface, we had to compromise the archival quality of the finished painting since these sanded papers were manufactured with very even surfaces of varied tooth and were nothing more than fancy sheets of hardware store sandpaper. They were never intended for fine art application. This lead to a struggle between the desire to work on a surface we enjoyed and the need to have finished paintings that would stand up to the demands of time. One of the most commonly used sandpaper surfaces was Ersta. It accepted pastel beautifully and was a favorite among a lot of pastel artists for its consistent tooth over a range of grits. What worried us was the acidic paper. This lead to the rise of other sanded papers usually manufactured under the guidance of a professional artist. One such surface is Wallis. Recently Uneeda Enterprises, Inc. has reintroduced Ersta as PH neutral and acid-free. The paper is called Uart Premium Sanded Pastel Paper and is available in a variety of grits. Grade 400 and 500 are moderate grit, and 600 and 800 are considered fine grit. The color of the paper across the line is a manila/beige, just like its predecessor. Available now through major distributors, it will soon be offered in a dry-mounted version, a favorite for wet underpainting applications. It accepts watercolor and very thin washes of oil, as well as a host of other mediums. I'm testing the lightfastness of the paper color and will let you know the results in a couple of months (check the previous blog for information on testing lightfastness). Uart is seeking original pastel artwork done on their surface for inclusion on their website and artists are encouraged to submit works. For more information, visit their ( www.uartpastelpaper.com) or email them at:uart@uneeda.com. Apparently, sometimes something old can be new again. In the photo above: A dry mounted test sample of the four grits of Uart paper with repetitive pastel marks.
10/20/2008 12:42:32 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, October 13, 2008
Lightfastness—a Matter of Longevity
Posted by richard
 The lightfastness rating of art materials serves as an good indicator of how permanent our materials are. These ratings measure the general effect light has on them. The United States measures the permanence by the American Standard Test Measure (ASTM), with ratings from 1 to 5 with 1 and 2 being considered the most permanent. Currently, pastel manufacturers are working to get their ASTM ratings. Soon the pastel public will have the same information that oil, watercolor and acrylic painters have been enjoying. Since certain pigments are less permanent than others, it will prove helpful to have this rating available when choosing individual pastels. General pigment ratings have been around for a long time; the interaction they have with certain binders and fillers, used in the manufacture of the pastel sticks, has not been tested. Some unstable pigments when mixed with other very stable pigments and fillers perform very well, while other very stable pigments will perform poorly when mixed with certain pigments and fillers. Red is one of the most vulnerable color families in pastel; the best hues are often made with heavy metal pigments. Since pastel is a dry medium, easily made airborne, heavy metal-based pigments can be dangerous. This has led some manufacturers to use more fugitive pigments that are prone to fading. Knowing the lightfast rating of these individual sticks will allow us to choose the most permanent hues possible, adding to the longevity of our finished pastel paintings, and increasing the medium’s reputation. It is not just our pigments that are susceptible to the effects of light. Pastel surfaces can be as well. Colored papers and pre-toned surfaces need to be scrutinized for their permanence and ability to stand up to years of light exposure. Many colored surfaces are similar to colored mat board used in framing. These are colored with dyes, instead of more expensive pigment-based colors. If you work in a fashion that allows a degree of the surface to show through, it is imperative that you understand its lightfastness rating. If the manufacture of your favorite pastel brand or surface does not provide an ASTM lightfastness rating, you can easily make tests for yourself. In fact, these are wise to do even when the ratings are available. Start by taking the surface you wish to test and place strong pastel marks from the individual sticks you want to test (making note of what they are). Place an opaque strip of cardboard across a portion of the test sheet. Place the test sheet in a sunlit window for a couple of months (see my example above). At the end of the time frame, remove the opaque strip and analyze the effect light has had on the exposed area. If there is virtually no difference, you are using the most lightfast materials. If there is considerable change, you need to rethink some of your choices. We owe it to the purchasing public and ourselves.
10/13/2008 2:23:15 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, October 06, 2008
It Is Just Black and White
Posted by richard
 Most of us were taught to never use pure black or white in our painting. Our first instructors made a point of explaining that neither really exists in nature. Everything we see has a color bias. What we see is a reflection; it takes the object, light source, and our eyes to become real. Since light is all color, everything has some degree of color associated to it. Even a void, non-reflective black hole has some color bias depending on its setting. It's also important to remember that the pigments we employ in attempting to create the illusion of reality are merely that—pigments. We use them to duplicate what we see; they're not the real phenomenon. Cobalt blue is no more a sky than cadmium yellow is a sunflower. To avoid dead, unharmonious passages in our paintings, we were encouraged to avoid pure white and black as pigment choices.There are times, though, when white and black can be useful. Just as a wet-medium painter has to rely on white to lighten certain pigments to achieve a lighter value (tint) and black pigments are often employed to darken a pigment (shade) so too must the dry-medium pastelist. In fact most of our pastel sticks have some degree of these added already in order to achieve the value ranges we use. Used wisely, a pure white and black stick of pastel can produce an expanded value range within our work. Since pastel isn't as easy to mix together as wet media, we have to layer to achieve a mixed, or fused, effect. This is where softer pastels will work better. Harder pastel sticks tend to push the pastel around, even scraping the under-layer of pastel, and depositing a minimal amount of pigment. A softer pastel stick will allow for a generous amount of pigment to be deposited, fusing with the previous layer of pastel and producing a mixed appearance. For example, say the bottom of a sky area needs to be lighter, and you have used the lightest blue pastel you have. By lightly pushing a little pure white pastel into the area and not over rubbing but allowing the pigments to fuse, you'll be able to represent the value needed. Conversely, placing black pastel into a dark color until the desired value is achieved can darken an area (See my example above, in which white has been added to the blue and black has been added to violet to alter the colors' values). So, white and black can be useful for the pastelist and should not be overlooked when setting up a working palette. It seems that sometime we can benefit from a little “black and white” ideology!
10/6/2008 11:22:17 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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