Looking Back: Pastel Pencil Vignettes
Petite Bowl II Click for more about this piece.
AFTER PAINTING IN PASTEL for years I wanted to try a picture using pastel pencils only. In 1988, a friend gave me a few sheets of 7×10 inch heavily sanded cotton cloth. It was very stiff and had a great deep gray color. Not wishing to take normal painting hours to try the pencils I did a work-around. I grabbed a small box of pencils, the new paper, a little white eyelet doily that was on my end table, and a little bowl purchased at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest (in VA). Voila! My husband and I hopped on an airplane for vacation.
Once in the air, I pulled out all my little supplies and opened my snack tray. For the next few hours, I sketched a couple of little vignettes with the two simple elements of fabric and the bowl. My light source was the plane’s tiny double paned window with scratches on it. No matter. The little pictures emerged with the warm and cool values glimmered. The texture of the paper allowed for gentle to heavy marks, but once I got my rhythm these pieces seemed to paint themselves.
One discovery was that something as smooth and reflective as the bowl could be captured just as well as the fabric appeared to have knobby threadlike texture. I observed that I barely applied any paint. The background came through throughout the subject yet still allowed for a lovely three dimensional appearance, even more so than the boards and papers used with pastel sticks. The glint on of gold trim on the bowl was the biggest surprise which brought the eye right to my focal point.
I knew the pencils were did not offer permanent color as with softer sticks. Nevertheless, I wanted to see what could be done without using the larger pastels from my vast studio set (plus an airline seat is not the ideal place to be painting with soft sticks!) In the end, I have had a long-lasting memory, stronger technical capability and extended my knowledge of where pencils could be pushed or applied. I ended up falling in love with these pictures and am pleased that those who purchased them did too. In 1992, I created another series of the little tikes using fresh cherries, a little pitcher and Battenberg lace. Trying to squeeze a rich red from the pencils was a challenge but worth the effort.
Cherries and Cream
If you are beginner reading this, you might want to try a few exercises with just pastel pencils. It can hone your drawing skills and offers a potential efficiency of stroke that you may not learn any other way. Plus, it’s just plain fun!
What have your experiences been with pastel or pastel pencils?
