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Pastel Pencil Surfaces
Page Three
There is a huge variety of paper and card surfaces that are used by artists
for Pastels and Pastel Pencils.
Virtually anything that can be used for Soft Pastels can be used for Pastel Pencils, but note that as the artwork done in Pastel Pencil is often more detailed and smaller in scale than some Soft Pastel pictures, the preferred surface for the Pencils is often those of finer grained papers and cards.
The basic choices are Art Papers, Surfaced Card, or Special Grit Papers, but there are a few other less obvious surfaces I will mention later ( like sandpaper).
COLOUR also comes into the equation, as many of the surfaces sold for Pastel use
are pre-
The lists below are not in any special order -
the listing is entirely that of the order I wrote the papers down !
Let us look at PAPERS first. These usually have a weight of around 160 grams per square metre of paper (160gsm)
One of the most common descriptions you will see is the word ‘INGRES’. Papers called this are sold by Clairefontaine and Fabriano amongst others and the description relates to the fact that one side of the tinted paper has a ribbed appearance and the other side is usually fairly smooth. The paper has a soft absorbent surface and takes a dry technique best.
Papers of this type don’t take a lot of pastel material before they reach their limit and are best mounted up and lightly fixed with a specialist varnish spray made for pastels to protect the surface from damage.
Thicker papers and card give better support and will take less gentle treatment.
Before I go any further let me introduce a pad made by the excellent German firm of Hahnemuhle.
They sell a Pastel Selection Pad which is a very useful idea for those who are just
starting out and don’t know what they want. There are 10 different papers in the
pack & it sells for £5.44 plus VAT and is available on line from www.on-
Hahnemuhle now own the Lana Mill in France and market the Lana Colours through their own distribution in the UK. This means that the Lana range of sheet Pastel paper with an excellent range of colours is now obtained through a different source ( They used to be marketed through Winsor & Newton ).
Worth looking for and buying if you can find them
Among other 160 gsm papers are also Fabriano Tiziano Pastel Paper, which is 40% cotton, internally and externally sized ( so it will take some wet treatment ) and has a soft grained surface
Canson Mi-
The two major UK art suppliers, Daler Rowney and Winsor & Newton also market their own 160gsm papers.
Daler Rowney make available the Murano Pastel papers which are 45% cotton and come in 35 colours
Winsor & Newton market their ‘Tints’ Pastel Paper in 30 colours. This is also grained on one side and smooth on the other.
If you see a good pastel paper with a weight of 160gsm or over which is not listed here, please let me know. Pastel papers do not need to be anything other than a structure to hold the dry pastel pigment.
They don’t need to be sized and they don’t need to do anything other than grip the dry pigment.
If you are doing a high valued pastel picture, and using a darker coloured paper, beware the fact that the dyes used in papers of this sort can fade in strong light. Black is a problem colour here.
Some of the more expensive pastel papers have the best UV light protection and use pigments rather than low cost dyes.
You will quickly see that there is a huge selection of brands and many similar types of paper on offer. The best line of action is probably to search the Internet and also look at the choice available in your local art materials supplier. If you have a local supplier with staff who know what they are talking about, then look after this rare breed and keep them in business !
Among 160gsm papers, I find that the differing types of surface make only a small difference to the final artistic result.
You may be more interested in the paper colours and the prices and sizes of pads and sheets.
But that is a personal view !
All these papers are best secured to a drawing board before work starts, and also protected by a covering sheet of paper for transit. It also helps to place a sheet of cartridge paper under the pastel paper to ensure that the upper surface is totally smooth
Now a look at CARD BASED SURFACES
These generally come in at weights of around 300gsm and therefore are quite supportive of the artwork.
One of the oldest specialised Pastel surfaces in this category is Royal Sovereign Pastel Card. This is a 350gsm card with a fine toothed coating of cork dust. Sold in 14 colours, it takes pastel beautifully, and holds the colour grains very well.
One problem I found when I last used it, is that it doesn’t take moisture in any form and therefore any dampness is liable to lift the cork grains from the card and leave a shiny card surface that it is impossible to repair. I proved this to be a problem when working a landscape in pastels ‘en pleine aire’ when it started to drizzle. The half finished picture was ruined before I had a chance to protect it. Probably fine to use in a studio situation unless you are liable to sneeze.
A more ‘up to date’ version of the powdered cork surfaced card is sold by Clairefontaine in both packs and sheets as Pastlemat.
This has a more permanent surface which will take a wet process. The 360gsm card comes in 12 colours and in packs of 12 sheets interleaved with paper film and including 3 sheets each of 4 colours. That is a good way to see whether you like the surface. The image of ‘Staithes’ at the start of the next section (on Pastel Pencil Techniques), was completed on a sheet of white Pastelmat.
Another coloured card surface sold in sheets, boards and as a ‘paint on’ primer, is the Australian made Colourfix from Art Spectrum.
The card base is 300gsm ( the board base 1160gsm ! ) and the surface comes in up
to 20 colours. The surface is permanent and will take any amount of wet and general
misuse, though the thing to note is that the body of the surface is grit based and
therefore quite abrasive on fingers. I have found it very good. There are a range
of techniques for lifting pastel from this surface which are worth getting to know
if you decide to take this route -
Tim Fisher, who runs the Creative Support Company selling all types of Pastel supplies and surfaces via the internet, sells his own grit paper which is exported worldwide ( http://www.thecsc.co.uk/fisher400a.html ) This page relates to the Fisher 400 buff coloured grit paper which is excellent. The Fisher 400 is a 360gsm paper and is sold in full sheets, half and quarter sheets. Good stuff.
The paper only comes in buff colour but can be mounted up and sprayed with acrylic paint to any shade you like
( Montana ‘Gold’ spray paint -
Fisher 400 will also take underpainting with traditional water based media and watercolour pencils.
Tim Fisher also sells a pastel liquifier spray that I have yet to try out, but will report on in due course.
Years ago I used an industrial metal finishing paper made by the Hermes abrasives company for pastels and this was excellent.
I have looked recently to see if it is still available, and I see that Youdells,
the Art Materials shop in Kendal, list Hermes 400 grit paper on their website. Worth
a look if you are interested -
Youdells also stock another industrial grit paper which is very suitable for pastels and a favourite with pastel artists in the Kendal area, This paper is manufactured by Sait Abrasives Ltd in Italy This has a similar surface the Hermes.
It is available in a waterproof finish in P800 (the finest) and P500 grits and a grey (non waterproof) paper at P400 grit
If you are buying industrial grit paper you will probably want a fine grain paper and you will also need to take great care with your fingers if you rub the surface with them. I recommend taking a small piece of the paper and rub abrasive surface against abrasive surface to ‘cut back’ the fierce action of the fresh surface.
That page of techniques for Colourfix (quoted above) will be useful if you use other grit papers.
It is also worth remembering that not all industrial papers are either waterproof or have lightfast colouring.
Fisher 400 is and so do the Sait black papers.
It is worth checking the individual habits of a ‘non-
Moving on to more ‘interesting’ surfaces -
by which I mean those not immediately obvious as sold for that purpose
We have Mountboard with an Ingres grained surface. Once again, a surface I have used in the past for Pastel Pencils and a good idea for any subjects involving buildings as the grain of the surface can give realism to showing bricks and stone whilst at the same time, the solid structure of the mountboard provides a very firm surface to work on. A light buff surface is ideal as a warm mid tone that will also take a white well.
Another front runner -
and the finest grade of all, Flour Paper. If you are shopping for this type of surface, look out for any damage to the surface or folds or tucks in the paper. Anything other than a totally even abrasive finish and a smooth sheet may well reflect later in random marks in your completed picture. This will be a cheaper option than Hermes, but not as reliable or as sturdy.
In the same department of the DIY shed, you may find sheets of Emery paper which will give you the option of using a black surface. I have found packs in B & Q of their own brand emery paper with an assortment of grit sizes. The sheets are relatively small, but quite big enough for a trial, and you can always give away the coarse sheets to a handyman in exchange for fitting a couple of new tap washers.
Finally, Back to Colourfix primer. This comes in tubs and can be brushed on.
This will enable you to apply a fine grit finish to any surface
-
The world becomes your oyster !
SUITABLE SURFACES FOR PASTEL
All these papers and card surfaces are designed to take the powdery Pastel medium
and hold it without fixing with a varnish type spray.
You will need to fix the image if you are going to work over the top with Mixed Media,
and if you don’t fix the image, the picture must be mounted properly and framed as quickly as possible to protect the picture surface from scuffing.
Fixing spray will darken the colours, so you may need to highlight some of the focal details after fixing to restore the original balance of the picture
Many artists who work with Pastels choose to work on coloured paper
1/ Because the base colour of the paper can harmonise the pastel colours applied
2/ Backgrounds can be left with a light pastel covering that leaves much or all of the original paper colour showing
3/ Just because the Opaque nature of Pastel makes working on coloured paper possible
This is a close up of the reverse surface of an Ingres paper. You can see how the grained surface is designed to hold pastel pigment.
This is actually the smoother side of the paper. The grain you see is much enlarged.
Here you can see the ribbed side of the Ingres paper. This way of providing two different surfaces on one sheet of paper is quite common in pastel papers.
This regular ribbing can be quite useful for some subjects, but be sure to keep it horizontal for landscapes !
I know it isn’t a very inspiring photo !
But it is a close up of the Fisher 400 paper.
Very fine tooth grit paper with a buff coloured surface that will take acrylic spray paint and various wet painted undercoatings and still accept pastel.
The only problem is the amount of pigment it takes from the pencil ! The paper absorbs no end of colour and holds it securely. Pencil sharpening is well practiced.
Possibly an underlayer of pastel from pastel sticks will be the best approach, leaving detail to be applied from the pencil point
FIXING THE PASTEL PAINTED SURFACE
As the pastel pigment is just held lightly in place by whatever the grain of the
paper or card is, there will be some surfaces that are too fragile to be left without
some sort of anchor to hold the powder in place. The surfaces like Ingres and Mi-
Card surfaces that are grit based are much more secure, but all pastel needs protecting
as quickly as possible as any scuffing or knocking of the painted surface will do
damage to the picture. Horizontal scuffing is one of the most damaging and it is
recommended that both work in progress and also finished but un-
Spray fixatives for Pastel and pencil work are available and are recommended, though
they have their problems as they darken the pastel and the work usually needs a finishing
touch-
If
you use a very dark paper ( such as dark brown or black), a thin coat of pastel can
virtually disappear when sprayed with fixative as the crystal colour surface is bedded
down into the paper and secured behind a layer of varnish. The colour will still
be there, but it may need one or two more coats of colour and another spray of fixative
before the surface looks like it was intended to. Fixatives sold in Europe tend
to be different to those sold in the USA where there is an excellent brand called
‘Krylon’ which does not appear to be exported.
There is a Matt Krylon which is described as ‘workable’ and which leaves the ongoing fixed surface with a good matt coat ready for more pastel. This can also be used for Wax type coloured pencil
Fixative sprays often also contain UV protection which can be an added benefit
Spray needs practice and is a job to be done in wind-
Make sure that the can of spray is well shaken first and that the spray jet is clear and producing an even mist of fine droplets.
Don’t spray too close to the picture. Finally leave to dry and then examine and apply further pastel as necessary.
That final layer of colour will be quite secure and not need fixing, but you will
need to re-
Some books tell you that you can use ordinary hairspray for this task.
You CAN, but the stuff is not designed for this purpose and there
can be no guarantee that the varnish in the spray will not darken
progressively with time and affect the artwork. As a beginner,
you may feel that the early images you produce are not of a standard
to worry about archival protection. That is as may be -
hairspray myself in case of need when had to go shopping at a local
supermarket because I forgot to take the correct stuff with me -
but the best advice is to always use the materials intended for the job.
Sait Industrial abrasive papers from Youdells in Kendall.
The lower example is a P800 paper and has a very fine surface,
The middle one is a P400 grey coloured paper,
The top one is a P500 waterproof paper
Cost for a full sheet ( 30 x 22 ins ) is around £4 plus P & P
If you are going to work on Industrial papers like the ones shown here, it may pay to mount them first on to Foamboard or Glazecard ( an already coated adhesive card designed to mount up thinner papers ).
These supports will ensure that your work remains flat throughout. Youdells sell the boards and also sell the glassine non static protective paper to go over the top of your work in progress.
PASTEL PENCILS
Latest revision July 2011
Pastel Pencils -
Pastel Pencil SURFACES. Pastel Pencil TECHNIQUES.
Pastel Pencil LANDSCAPES -