Pastel is the dust on butterflies' wings.
Wolf Kahn
Considered one of the purest of painting mediums, pastel is colorful, vigorous, spontaneous and immediate. "Pastels" (sometimes called soft pastels) consist of pure pigments, mixed with a little binder and compressed into sticks. Some are hard and make crisp marks while others are soft and buttery. Because they are not mixed as in other mediums, they are produced in every nuance of every color. Pastel artists own hundreds or even thousands of pastels!
Because of their purity, pastels have a brilliance of color that is unequaled by other mediums. It is the most permanent of all mediums, as it has no liquid binder that may fade, yellow, crack or blister over time.
Leonardo da Vinci, Rosalba Carrier, Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt used pastels with marvelous results that have lasted for centuries. Recently pastels have seen a resurgence, with new papers and surfaces and more and different pastels being created.
All of my pastel paintings are carefully framed, using spacers to prevent the painting surface from touching the glass. This allows the textured, three-dimensional surface of pigment fragments to capture the light and produce the radiant glow so unique to pastels. Careful handling of the framed painting ensures that it will stay as colorful and fresh as when painted. Framed pastels under glass can safely be shipped, with careful wrapping and packaging.
