Painting is a creative and fun process. For the implementation of interesting ideas, everything goes into action: from paints to improvised means. Today, one of the most popular materials available is pastel.
Pastel is a sophisticated graphic technique
Today pastels are very popular among art lovers. This material is a chalk stick consisting of two ingredients: a colored pigment and a special binder (gum or resin).
It should be noted that there are two types of pastels: dry and oil. The first is produced both in the form of crayons and in pencils. Dry pastel is the material most demanded by artists. It is flexible, easy to shade, allowing you to create smooth color transitions. Oil pastels are more capricious. It lays down in a dense layer, practically does not allow color mixing and correction. As a rule, it is used to create student works or quick sketches.
The pastel technique was invented in the 16th century. in Italy. At that time, the range of colors was limited to white, black and terracotta. Pastels gained their greatest popularity in the 18th century, when the portrait boom began. V. Eriksen, I. Bardou, G.-F. Schmidt, A. G. Venetsianov, S. Yasnopolsky and others.
Pastel allows you to create light, colorful, delicate paintings. With its help, it is easy to convey the depth of the look, and the tenderness of the skin, and the juiciness of the lips. However, at the end of the 19th century, artists began to use pastels more often to create landscapes. Among the fans of the material, I. I. Levitan, M. A. Vrubel (later work), V. A. Serov, etc.
Features of pastels
In the storerooms of the Tretyakov Gallery, there are about 800 works made by eminent artists using pastels. The exhibition of these works always becomes an event in the art world. However, these events take place very rarely. Pastel is a capricious and short-lived material, therefore it requires proper storage.
The ease of use of pastels is offset by the difficulty of saving the drawing. As a rule, special colored / white paper with a rough surface is used for drawing. Colored particles cling to the villi, thereby remaining on the surface. However, prolonged standing will result in sagging of the work.
The easiest way to preserve a piece is to varnish it. The best option is a spray bottle, because the brush easily deforms the drawing. Aspiring artists tend to use regular hairspray. There is also a special pastel fixer available in art stores.
But it is worth noting: the fixative, applied in any way, changes the original colors and scale of the entire work. Also, the pastel loses its characteristic velvety, which gives the drawing additional charm. Over time, a universal way of preserving works in the pastel technique was calculated. The best option is to decorate the work with a mat and a frame with glass. This is how works are preserved in the world's leading museums.