TECHNIQUES

Smudging

When two colours are laid next to one another a smudging tool can be used to draw pigment from one into another. The main distinction between smudging and layering is that the former requires an additional tool to do the dragging, combining colours without adding more pigment to the surface.

Optical mixing

At a distance, marks of two or more colours repeatedly built up next to one another appear to mix. This ‘optical’ mixing allows the colours to remain distinct from one another but creates an overall effect of mixing and is common in the work of Edgar Degas, and in impressionist and postimpressionist pastels.

Layering

One colour is layered directly over another, the scrubbing together of the two colours mixing the pigment on the page. Repeated layering will increase mixing, with the tooth of the paper dictating how much material the surface can hold.