Salt Meadow Gallery represents several artists who work
in pastels: Barbara E. Stone,
Shizue Cooper, and Sergey
Zhiboedov. Pastel paintings are notable for their
very saturated color.
From Sources: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,
www.monotypes.com, The Artists' Press, South Africa
Pastel is an art material in the form of sticks, often
consisting of pure pigment, the same pigment as used
in producing all coloured media. If that pigment is
itself stable, pastel art works have a good durability
when applied to durable paper and properly framed. Pastel
that has not been sprayed with a fixative contains little
binder material that will darken, yellow, crack or blister
with time. The medium was first mentioned by Leonardo
da Vinci in 1495. Pastels survive from the 16th century
as fresh as the day they were made. The same lack of
binder however implies that it cannot protect the pigment
against the light. Light permanency of some colours
is therefore poor.
The pigment is ground into a paste with some water
and gum binder and then rolled or pressed into sticks
— hence the original Italian pastello meaning
"little bread roll"; the French pastel first
appeared in 1675. Most brands produce gradations to
white by mixing more or less chalk. This is the origin
of the word pastel referring to "pale colours"
as it is commonly used in cosmetic and fashion venues.
A pastel is made by letting the sticks move over an
abrasive ground, leaving colour on the grain of the
paper, sandboard, canvas etc. When fully covered with
pastel, the work is called a pastel painting; when not,
a pastel sketch or drawing. Pastel paintings, being
made with a medium that has the highest pigment concentration
of all, reflect light without darkening refraction,
allowing for very saturated colours. Pastel is still
sometimes combined with other materials in a mixed-media
painting, but it is not easily compatible with oil paint.
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