Color Sparks and Canvas Confidence

I just keep finding reasons. Here are a few that just make SENSE.

When I am in the studio, involved with pastels, all of my senses are engaged in the art-making process.  My senses get a huge kick out of working with pastels in particular. I get an eyeful watching as bright and vivid pure powdered pigment appears on the paper as I glide the pastel stick. My heart leaps as my eyes take in the rich, brilliant and sparkly pigments. It’s amazing.

My heart leaps when I hear the gritty, scritchy-scratchy sound the pastels make as I apply them. I’ll have to record it sometime for you. Pastel is left on the paper as the stick becomes incrementally smaller. The world around me becomes tiny and far away as I listen to the sound of the pastel stroke.

Pastels are not odorous at all but my nose detects the powder in the air as I paint. My fingers gently curve around the pastel stick, holding firmly but not so tightly as to break it. When I put down a stick, color lingers on my fingertips, soft and velvety.

The real kick is that all of happens simultaneously. I am seeing and hearing and touching what is unfolding on my canvas or board all at the same time! It is a grinning-from-ear-to-ear sensory experience that I'm hooked on. I have pretty sensitive senses and I think that plays a big role. Sure there's much more to creating art like subject matter choices and the thinking and planning process. But that's another post. After all of that has been worked out, my senses get their fix. I just love the process, even if a painting doesn't quite go the way I hoped.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment and share your experience with pastels!

Your Friend in Art,
Jeanne