Pastel and Charcoal on White Sketch-weight Archival Paper
This is a drawing that I started at home, continued as a demo for my students in
class as an example of my "veils" technique - which involves using many thin layers of color and applications of fixative combined with charcoal drawing -
and finished at home.
I used the Sennelier "Fixatif Latour", which comes only in a spray pump bottle.
It is wonderful because it has a citrus base, and unlike most fixatives (many
pastelists refuse to use any fixative at all, as a mattter of fact there is a big lack
of consensus about this...), you can spray it right in front of your face. You don't
even have to go outside. It has two drawbacks: one is that because it is not solvent-
based, if you are working on a thinnish paper, as I was here, it can actually cause
the paper to buckle. But of course this is not problem with Wallis sanded, or even
Canson pastel paper. Secondly, because it is a pump, one often gets little spots if
the nozzle isn't 125% clean. You can see the spots if you look closely in the pink part
of this piece. Sometimes that has its advantages. Sometimes not!
Thanks for visiting today.
