Pastel painting techniques
In the first of a new series of four articles on painting with pastels, Steve Hall looks at trees in the landscape and the materials and techniques he uses to depict both summer and winter trees
In the first of a new series of four articles on painting with pastels, Steve Hall looks at trees in the landscape and the materials and techniques he uses to depict both summer and winter trees
Acouple of years ago I had the pleasure of writing two articles for the Artist magazine which examined painting the same subjects but in different media (September and October 2019 issues). One of these featured working in pastel which, for me, was a totally new experience. I have worked in watercolour for over 20 years but, once tried, I became totally hooked on pastels. In this series I want to share with you my journey with this medium since that time. I will be showing you how I paint landscapes, marine subjects, architecture and animals with step-by-step demonstrations and exercises.
Summer and winter trees
After trying most brands of pastel and various supports, I have currently settled for Unison Colour soft pastels on UART sanded paper 400 grade, usually black and, as a result of this, I am now an Associate Artist for the Unison brand. The soft pastels and the sanded surface give me the maximum brilliance that the medium offers and the result is a truly stunning array of colour.
One of my most common marks is the diagonal stroke with the side of the pastel which, when done in clusters of varying lengths, describes the form of summer foliage perfectly. By working from dark to light with various hues, leaf clusters, bows and whole trees can be built up. Summer in the South Downs (above) illustrates this type of mark making.
Winter trees present a new problem as it is now necessary to paint the fine filigree shapes of trunks and branches against the sky, as opposed to the massed shapes of summer. In watercolour you would simply paint the sky and then, when dry, superimpose the skeletal tree shape over it. If you attempted to paint dark branches over a previously prepared sky in pastel, the result would simply not work as, like oil, pastel is worked from dark to light.
The answer to this problem is shown in the two vignettes (above right).
Materials
All the pictures in this article were painted on UART black sanded paper 400 grade. The pastels were exclusively Unison Colour. I have a box containing about 200 hues – I selected colours at random as the feeling took me. However, for anyone attempting a subject such as this, the Unison Colour basic 16 half-stick landscape set would be sufficient to get started. Of course, the greater the range of hues, the greater the range of possibilities, but it is amazing what the creative artist can do with quite limited equipment if the mind is willing.