The Soft Pastel Medium
Is it painting or is it drawing? That is the question. The answer depends on who you talk to. Many artists and organizations refer to soft pastel as a painting medium. Others refer to it as a drawing medium. For me it depends on how I am using it. Most times, I will be creating pastel paintings.
Soft pastels are a dry medium. There are ranges of softness to this group of pastels. They range from a harder compressed stick to the super-soft hand rolled sticks. The highest quality versions are hand-made. Many are round as the pigment and binder is rolled, however there are quite a few that are hand-made chunky blocks. There are also pastel pencils, which look like color pencils, but with pastel cores. While there are no liquid elements to soft pastel, alcohol can be used to blend out areas and create different textures. Since the alcohol evaporates quickly, it leaves the pastel behind and does not impact the paper like watercolor would.
Soft pastels are typically applied to pastel paper or pastel board / mat. Each of these has a rough or heavily toothed surface that can hold the pastel onto the paper. There are different levels of tooth depending on the preference of the artist. The more pastel that can be held on the paper the more options an artist has for blending and building in colors.
Already being a soft medium and then being applied to a rough surface can create a great deal of pastel dust. This has to be accounted for during the creation process. Most artist will work on a vertical surface so the dust will drop straight down. I usually keep a cardboard tray or piece of folded card stock at the bottom of the easel to catch the excess dust. To hold the dust in place, artists can apply a fixative. I do not chose to do this as it changes the color of the pastel, which would impact the overall look of the painting.
The potential for dust does require some extra care in handling soft pastel artwork. It will always need to be behind glass to keep the dust in and prevent errant contact with the artwork. When framing pastels, there are two options. The first option is a traditional frame and mat behind glass. If being framed behind glass, matting has to be used to create a gutter to hold any dust that falls down over time. The glass used has to also be anti-static and protect against UV. If the framing material is not anti-static the dust will collect against the glass. The second option is to sandwich the pastel between a backing board and glazing. Once placed the three pieces are then sealed with clear archival framers tape. This keeps the dust in and the air and moisture out.
Soft pastel is a versatile medium that can take on many looks. It has withstood the test of time and been used in many different styles of artwork. With a modern rise in popularity, you can now find pastel artist and organizations all over the world. Some of these organizations have been around long time, bearing out proof of just how long soft pastels have been popular as an artistic medium. Check around your local town or state and you should be able to find a pastel society to help you get involved with the medium.