Pastels

For now, I have to admit that canvas is my favorite surface for drawing with soft pastels. There is this ethereal softness that you can achieve as the pigment becomes enmeshed into the fibers of the canvas itself that I have not been able to achieve with any of the paper surfaces that I've tried. I like that the weave of the fabric remains an integral part of the composition, even though it makes some of the finer details more difficult to achieve (at least when working on a small scale).

Of course, that doesn't mean that paper isn't a great surface. Believe me, I am enjoying learning more and more about the different pastel papers, as well. For now, my papers include Mi-Tientes, Canson, Strathmore, and Fabriano. For my miniature Art Card work, Canson seems to be a good surface for retaining the detail of the pastel pencils. Choosing the side of the paper with far less texture works well with my drawing style. For larger pieces, I really like the Fabriano Tinzano surface, which will hold a great deal of pigment from the soft pastel sticks, and is forgiving.

With only rare exceptions, I am a strong proponent of using fixatives. I recommend those by Sennelier and Windsor Newton; both of which can retain many colors as long as they're used in multiple layers and with a light touch. Granted, some of the lightest values have some fading issues, especially against the darker colored papers, but multiple layers can restore their full intensity and character. I had an instructor once just saturate the piece completely, and then state that the reduced color intensity was exactly why she rarely chose to use fixatives...as we say in the IT business, sometimes it REALLY is USER error!

› Learn more: Pastel Resources