The Powerful Pull of the Pastel Gurus.

Having been on various social media platforms for about two years, I have met some wonderful fellow artists and have come to realise (yes, I'm a bit slow!) that like everything else the art world has changed. When following threads in various groups you start to notice the extreme influence of the pastel gurus and their workshops. "Oh you don't frame like that do you? It's not archival and Richard said at his last workshop blah.....", "What you haven't tried Uart, Mr X said you should only work on it and then with acrylic ink", "Which alcohol do you use for your wash ?", Mrs M only uses pastels from company Y, I wouldn't use anything less. Have you seen the latest dvd tutorial by Chris ? I always use this brand of gesso and this board, just like him!

I'm a bit in two minds about the workshop idea, yes, watching an artist demonstrate their technique is interesting, but there is the "rub" (a pun for pastel artists!) it is exactly that, his or her technique. I feel that when I look at the work posted, then you can see 40 attempts to paint just like Mr X or Mrs Y, or motifs that have become trends .... like cows, waves breaking on the shore and kois. There is also the feeling of a bit of one upmanship, "what you haven't been to Mr X's workshops, I've been to five!". Improving your technique is one thing, turning into Mr X's mini me or groupie is another. Some things to remember here; these workshops are also there to promote the artist, sell materials (often) as these artists are ambassadors for certain brands, and most importantly possession of a certain brand of materials will not turn you into Degas.

 Do I sound cynical ? Yes, I suppose I am a little, I was lucky enough to study art and enjoy good tutoring and do you know what, never saw a demonstration of any of my tutors' work. We also had guest tutors who also never showed any of their work, we learned through experimentation. Of course we studied art history and visited a lot of exhibitions, so of course there were influences there, but experimentation was the order of the day and guest tutors were there to offer guidance and input. That is what makes a great workshop, guidance and input, tutoring that helps you to find your style, and a modus operandi that works for you, regardless of whether Mrs Y, Mr X or Bagwan Pastel uses this technique or not. If everybody else is doing it, then that is a good reason not to, do your own thing! Take Mr X's input or technique and turn it into your own, if it compliments your work, go for it, but don't employ a technique just for the sake of it. 

October on Fire

My experimental phase was art school, there I used pastels with ink, gouache, acrylic, paint, pencil and watercolour, the main learning point from all of this ....... I do not like working on white paper, this of course means that Uart principally is not for me, (although I believe they have started producing black) there is of course a solution to that too, you can use it with wet mediums like ink or watercolour. There is problem number two, I am an old fuddy duddy and like to think of pastel as a dry medium. Last summer I tried pastels on white/watercolour (although just on normal paper, it still does absolutely nothing for me) however having been asked hundreds of times what I use for my underpainting (I do not underpaint) I decided to try the alcohol wash thing, didn't have any rubbing alcohol at home so I used gin.... yes, gin! 

What did I learn ? Firstly, that Sennelier pastel card did take alcohol, although it is only supposed to be used dry (this however was only a small piece) and secondly look at that change in colour! That is the same pastel, dark rubbed with gin and Delft blue when used dry. Am I impressed ? No, not really, it blew my socks off seeing the difference, but it actually made me quite sad because it is the luminosity of the colour that I love. Even worse, I wasted a drop of gin just to produce this dark blob! 

On the face of it, maybe you can't teach an old dog new tricks; I feel comfortable in my technique and it has taken a lot of years to find the combination of pastels, support and technique that work for me, that doesn't mean to say that the gesso/pumice/ drizzled house paint bug won't infect me, but if it does not for now. I'll wait till not everybody is doing it!