'Pastel' is a unique painting medium. Pigments are used directly in these round or square chalks. This medium can be effectively used for both linear or light and shade works. They are easy to use because they are dry. Soft pastels and oil pastels are the two major types of pastels.
White chalk or plaster of Paris is used along with pigments for hardness. In oil pastels, wax to some extent and oil are used. They do not mix with each other because of the oiliness.
In olden days chalks made from soaked soil of various natural colours were used for sketching. During the Renaissance period (15th century), mainly red chalk (red iron oxide), black chalk (mixture of carbon and soil) and white chalk were used for sketching.
Leonardo-da-vinci made oil pastels with a mixture of pigments and wax during this time.
Till the beginning of the 18th century pastel medium made a lot of progress as regards production. Various pigments were used. White paint was mixed with a basic pigment to get many shades of the colour. Soft pastels were made with reducing hardness of the chalk. An even and smooth effect could be achieved by blending them on paper with fingers or paper stumps. French painters took the lead in portrait painting with this method. Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757) was a very famous lady painter. Very soon, this medium became popular in France. Later on, revolting against the then prevalent smooth colour application method, Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin, a French painter, used free lines and changed the direction of this medium. But it remained neglected for a while till two French painters, Eugene Delacroix and Eugene Boudin brought it to light again at the beginning of the 19th century. Instead of portrait painting, emphasizing landscape painting they showed that a speedy work with bright colours is possible with this medium. Thereafter Edgar Degas (1834-1917), again a French Impressionist painter, revolutionized this medium as regards colour application and composition and exhibited newer and newer possibilities of expression.
This medium, having the potential of various types of colour application, is a companion of a painter in his expression and experimentation.
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