Soft pastels back in my studio
It feels quite some time since I picked up my sticks of Soft Pastels to work with.
For over 10 years I’ve been working mainly in Gouache paint, Digital painting, Oil Pastel and Oil paints. I do have studio times when I’m finding it hard to stay with only the one medium. It can be a curse as I feel like I’m switching my ways of working up more than seems normal, but then why can’t I? I actually feel this extends me in my work as I get less bored by doing this.
Have a peak at this smallish work I finished in soft pastels on a camping getaway up in the Victorian High Country and this was painted at dusk.
Camp at Dusk - Soft Pastels
And this shows my soft pastel setup that seems to be working for me so far. The number of pastels I’m using here seems to be a good range of colour with a worked out value spread. I’m really enjoying using this limited number of pastel sticks as it naturally makes my work more cohesive.
My strength when exploring is to work on a few paintings together and usually on the one backing board. Having them all in front of me helps me see if I can make a series from my findings as I go. And yes, I feel these local streetscapes could pull together into a small collection of works that I could potentially show.
These are painted on colourful paper on a dark warm background like a plum colour. The base colour is providing some interesting shifts in colour as I go along. I’m trying to keep my works cooler and using the benefit of the warm paper colour.
Tips while working in soft pastels
Have a drop sheet on the floor also to catch any pigment as I have damaged a section of my carpet by painting direct onto the easel. We can’t see the pigment dust landing on the surrounds.
I also made a portable cardboard wide low tray to sit the painting in and sit this on the easel to work from. This is amazing as it catches the main pastel dust into this tray and then I can empty the tray outside and wipe over with a face wipe as I lined the cardboard with grey gaffa heavy tape to stop moisture getting into the cardboard.
I only choose a selection from my big supply of pastels as then it forces me to work a bit quicker and my brain gets less confused by the rainbow of colours.
The best clean up for me using soft pastels is a packet of Face Wipes. These stay moist longer than a damp cloth. I can honestly use the face wipes for up to an hour before I need to replace them for cleaning my hands. .
If you have any tips using Soft pastels I’d love to hear them.
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Julie Toffolo x