to add variety and texture. Another approach is to create an area of soft blending and then overlay it with linear strokes. Here, the blended tones act somewhat like an underpainting, adding extra depth and subtlety to the image, while the strokes tie the image together.
Scumbling
Scumbling
Scumbling modifies the colour of a tinted paper or a layer of pastel by applying a thin, semi-opaque layer of another colour over it. Loose, circular strokes are applied with the side of the pastel stick to create a thin veil of colour which does not entirely obliterate the one underneath. Scumbling not only creates subtle colour effects, but it also gives a very attractive surface texture. Use it to give depth and luminosity to your colours, and to soften and unify different areas of the drawing.
James Crittenden
Windy Day
Pastel on paper
65 × 75cm (26 × 30in)
Jackie Simmonds
The Glass Table
Pastel on paper
45 × 60cm (18 × 24in)
Among the many ways of applying pastel, the ‘painting’ and ‘drawing’ disciplines can be used alongside each other to create a breathtaking range of effects. These two pictures show some of the varied textures that can be produced, from broken, grainy strokes to delicate ‘washes’.
SEE ALSO
| OIL PASTELS | Oil pastels are made by combining raw pigments with animal fat and wax; this makes them somewhat different in character from soft pastels, which are bound with gum. Whereas soft pastels are known for their velvety texture and subtle colours, oil pastels make thick, buttery strokes, and their colours are more intense. Oil pastels are also stronger, harder and less crumbly than soft pastels; since they tend not to smudge, they require little or no fixative, but they are more difficult to blend. |
Using oil pastels
Working with a robust medium such as oil pastels will encourage a bold and direct approach which is of enormous benefit in developing confidence in your drawing and using colours. In fact, oil pastels are not ideally suited to small-scale, detailed work; the sticks are too chunky for this, and fine blending is not possible. It is far better practice to exploit the tactile qualities of the medium and to work on a large scale, using various textural strokes and building up a rich patina of waxy colour.
As with the other types of pastels and crayons, optical colour mixtures can be created by techniques such as hatching, crosshatching or gentle shading with superimposed colours.
Blending and mixing
Dry oil pastel on blended pastel
Because of their waxy texture, only a minimal amount of blending is possible with oil pastels. The colours can, however, be applied to the support and then spread and blended with a brush, rag or tissue which has been dipped in white (mineral) spirit or turpentine. As the pastel mixes with the turpentine it dissolves and takes on the quality of thinned oil paint, and the colours become richer and darker. When they are dry, you can work over the painted’ areas with linear strokes of dry oil pastel to add textural variety.
Finger blending
Blended with a wet finger
The drawn surface can be smoothed and blended with a wet finger. Because oil and water are incompatible, a dampened finger will not pick up the colour from the paper but will just smooth and blend the surface of the oil pastel.
Sgraffito
Scratched back or sgraffito
A layer of solid colour can be built up, and the waxy surface scratched into with a sharp tool to create lively patterns and textures – a technique known as sgraffito. Further interest is added by applying one colour over another and then scratching back through the top layer to reveal the colour below.
Wax resist
Wax resist
Blended oil pastel
Oil pastel can be used with watercolour paint to build up a lively surface or to suggest natural textures. The paint adheres to the paper but is resisted by the waxy pastel marks, and results in a random, mottled effect. A more pronounced pattern can be achieved by working on rough-surfaced paper.
Diluents for oil pastels
Turpentine and white (mineral) spirit dissolve oil pastel and can be used for blending colours and obtaining painterly surface effects. Your initial drawing can be modified using a brush which has been dipped in a diluent and worked over the surface.
Simon Jennings
Upstream Greenwich
Oil pastel and graphite pencil on paper
41 × 57.5cm (16½ × 23in)
Oil pastels work particularly well in combination with other media. Here, the artist emphasized the sky and the dramatic sweep of the river with lines and flecks of oil pastel, which were then blended with turpentine. The details of the buildings in the foreground were added with graphite pencil, which glides over an oil pastel ground.
Simon Jennings
Portrait of a Tulip Oil pastel on paper 58.7
