The Artist's Road Painting the World's Beautiful Places

Drawing in Color
Perspectives from The Artist’s Road


Anna on Fire Escape         Pastel         J.M. Hulsey

   When I was a young art student, I was given a set of 48 soft pastels. I had no previous experience with the pastel medium, but I was a big admirer of the work of Odilon Redon and Edgar Degas, so I jumped in with both hands, as it were. I loved to draw, so I took my pastels to life drawing classes and worked in full color, trying to keep up with the short poses of the models. Thankfully, the instructor did not object or caution me and said little as I gradually increased my speed and familiarity with the medium. That was the beginning of my life-long love affair with pastels. Later, when working in New York, I created illustrations in pastels for several books while also creating my own art with them. Over time, I acquired thousands of colors in all hardnesses and several purpose-built plein air easels and boxes which allow me to paint indoors or out, all winter long. I feel fortunate in this because I sometimes tire of working for long periods exclusively in one medium. When I hit that point in my oil work, I switch off to pastel. This practice invigorates both my pastel work and my oil or watercolor work in many ways. Drawing in color seems to utilize a different part of the brain than working with a brush does. Working in dry chalk versus sticky paint works a kind of magic and when I switch back, I bring my newly reignited drawing passions into that work. Sometimes I use pastel within watercolor, or draw with oil pastels on my oil paintings. I can’t imagine making art any other way.

   The history of art is filled with exciting pastel paintings by the masters of the medium. Look at the originals by Marie Cassatt or Edgar Degas and you will be thrilled to find the evidence of their hands in the strokes of pigment there, still looking as fresh as the moment they were made—no fading or yellowing varnish to obscure their colors! Pastels are nothing more than pure pigment held together with just enough adhesive to form a stick. They are pure artistic possibility and joy—no previous experience required! They almost cry out to be touched and rubbed into the surface. Take a brush full of water or alcohol and splash it across a drawing. Watch the pigments dissolve and run into each other as they create a new image. Best of all, they work fast, so one can speedily grab a fading sunset or fidgety figure pose. For that reason, pastels are as perfect for studies and preliminary work as they are for finished exhibition works. Stay tuned over the next few weeks as we explore the world of pastel from the historic to the contemporary—an artistic feast!