Fine Art Pastels & Conte'

Pastels And The Pastel Medium

The pastel medium uses pure pigment in a gum binder. Fine art pastels can be rendered in soft or hard pastel sticks, oil pastel, or pastel pencils. In my pastel drawings, I use the medium on a variety of acid free papers. A pastel executed on an acid free support has archival properties that are important for the longevity of pastels and other works on paper.

Pastels offer the purest color application an artist can achieve. I use the pastel in a direct fashion without the use of spray adhesives to "affix" the pastel to the paper. Please note that when you purchase a pastel that the use of spray fixatives can change the color of pigments. My pastels are best left "as is."

The paste medium lends itself to my most recent figurative works. With pastels, conte and graphite I achieve an immediacy in my life drawings that transcends the typical context of the nude. As Degas and Renior used pastels to celebrate the natural appeal of the figure, I use the genre both aesthetically and symbolically. My pastels retain an inherent beauty with layered meanings. I like to think of them as pastels with a purpose.