How to Make Your Own Pastel Surface

 Making Your Own Pastel Surfaces is Easy
 
Pastel papers are usually based on 300gsm Watercolour Paper coated with the manufacturers preferred coatings. Some time you may want to make your own surface to paint pastel onto for a variety of reasons or just for experimental purposes.
 
You can base your coating on either papers or cardboard, board (for example marine ply or plywood) maybe even canvas…the choice is yours
I like to buy plywood in sheets which I have them cut into A4 size panels. These I can prepare in advance for small studies either in oil, acrylic or pastel. For oil or acrylic, I prepare the board with 2-3 coats of gesso sanding well between coats. I will leave these on the shelf so when I want to do a quick study, I simply take a panel from the shelf and begin to paint.
For Pastels I need to be a little more selective as there are many ways I can create a pastel surface on board, canvas or papers. Here are just a few I have tried (in no specific order). Why don’t you experiment with some other techniques and let us know what you used and what you liked or disliked about your process.

1. Golden brand has many products which are suitable to create pastel surfaces.

• Golden Fine Pumice Gel
• Golden Pastel Ground
• Golden Crackle Paste
• Acrylic Ground for Pastels

The above can be applied with either a brush used in a scumbling action or a small 3” dense foam roller. The roller gives a more even texture whilst the brush creates texture and mood. All these products can be tinted with inks, acrylic paint, or watercolour paint.

1. Most good Art Suppliers offer artist quality gesso in a variety of viscosity and all gesso’s I have tried are more than suitable as a pastel surface providing you apply 2-3 coats drying well between coats. These can be tinted as well to your preferred background.
2. Most good Art Suppliers also offer artist quality Texture Paste and / or Modelling Compound in a variety of viscosity and all of these I have tried are more than suitable as a pastel surface providing you apply 2-3 coats drying well between coats. These can be tinted as well to your preferred background.
3. Art Spectrum manufacture Colourfix Papers specifically for pastels, however they also offer Colourfix Primer liquid which comes in colours equal to their Pastel Papers. You can therefore apply the primer to your selected surfaces in your favourite AS Colours. They also offer a Translucent colour so you may colour your background and then use the Translucent Primer over your specific colour or background.
4. Tissue papers and other papers can be Collaged over a surface using a Binder Medium as an adhesive and when dry you apply a couple of coats of either AS Translucent Primer or a Translucent Gesso before applying your pastels.
5. UNSUITABLE are Impasto Gels and most Gels as they dry shiny and slippery and give no tooth for the pastel to adhere to.
6. ANOTHER POINT TO REMEMBER is if you are planning on exhibition your work or entering a competition you must check the percentage that is required to be called a pastel. For example, a 70% - 80% Pastel content is USUALLY required for a piece to be qualified as pastel and if the desired rating is not met it will be classified as mixed media.