Lindy Whitton Studio

Painting with pastels is very intuitive. I think this is because it takes us back to our childhood when we used crayons and chalks in a very fluid way. We hadn’t started judging our art yet so we were happy with every picture we drew. For me, picking up a pastel stick takes me right back to that happy place where each stick of luscious colour was there to be slathered on the paper with joyous abandon. I don’t worry about the end result I just enjoy the experience.

Using pastels is a combination of drawing and painting and there are many different mark making techniques to experiment with. The more you paint the more ways of manipulating the pastel you’ll discover.

When I started out I used a small range of simple marks and they still form the basis of most of my paintings. Of course I’ve learned a lot over the years and developed some of my own ways of adding texture and interest but the basics underpin all my work. You can check out a demonstration on my mark making video.

Different pastels for different marks

The type of mark you make with a pastel depends on a number of factors:

• the hardness or softness of the pastel stick
• the amount of pressure you exert
• the part of the pastel that comes in contact with the paper

 

Soft pastels v. hard pastels

Soft pastels give up their colour more generously with less pressure than hard pastels. It’s surprising how easy it is to “eat” up a soft pastel when using it on sanded paper. Less pressure is the rule here! The marks are generally softer and more rounded than a hard pastel as it’s more difficult to keep a sharp edge on a  soft, round pastel. Soft pastels lend themselves to natural forms such as clouds, trees, flowers, landscapes, skies, animals etc

Hard sticks are often square and are wonderful for sharp, linear marks that you would find in grasses, wire fences, boat masts, rigging and architectural details.  Compared to soft pastels you will need to use more pressure to get the same amount of pastel deposited on the painting surface. They are also a more economical way to block in large amounts of colour in the early stages of a painting with the added advantage of leaving gaps in the colour to allow optical mixing of later layers.

Here you can see the larger swathes of colour left by the soft pastels creating shadows in the grass clump and the crisper  linear marks made with the edge of hard pastels help to define the individual grasses.

Where the pressure has been lighter the pastel has less contact with the paper so the grasses are thinner and finer. By increasing the pressure you can vary the thickness of your mark.

Side of the pastel v edge of the pastel

Using the side of a round or square pastel you can lay down  broad strokes of colour quickly to establish areas of sky, water and land. Then the edge of the pastel can be used to add crisper details.

Here you can see that I’ve used the broad side of different blue pastels to make sweeping bands for the sky and water. Layering these blues will give your sky and sea more interest. Then I came back in with the edge of a white pastel to suggest some sails.

 

 

Rounded end v sharp tip of the pastel

The rounded end of a pastel is useful for painting trees and bushes in the landscape. Just moving the pastel the paper in a scrumbling motion will give a soft rounded form. When you come to adding in branches, trunks and stems a sharp tip is just the thing.

Try slanting the pastel so differing amounts come in contact with the paper to give a natural variety in your tree and shrub shapes.

 

Bringing it all together

 

So let’s see how we can bring these basic techniques together to create a painting full of life and interest. This a little 30 minute sketch using the basic techniques. You can join me and paint along as I demonstrate how to paint this in a step by step video.

 

 

You can copy and print this reference photo if you would like to practice these techniques or paint along with me.

I would love to see your paintings so feel free to post a link in the comments section.

Happy mark making!