Art by Natasha Isenhour

A Pastel Painter I follow on Facebook recently wrote the following and I decided to copy it in its entirety and post it in my blog. Sometimes, someone else writes exactly what you want to say. Why fix perfection? To see her work, I am including her website in the hopes that you might be fans of her as well. – T Kurtz

Natasha Isenhour
May 26

A little info about pastels for my friends that don’t really know what they are and for the gallery owners out there (NOT MINE) that undervalue them! First of all, pastels ARE painting. Sure. You can draw with them. I can draw shapes with my oil paint and brush but we don’t hear anyone calling it oil drawing. You PAINT with pastels!

Pastels are pastels. Chalk is chalk.

Pastels are pure ground pigment with the least possible binder to hold them into a shape. The same pigments are in a tube of oil paint, acrylic and watercolor, only without being diluted by water or oil.

Chalk is limestone, calcium carbonate.

Pastels, $5.50-$30+ per stick.

Chalk? Well, I haven’t priced it lately but I think you get the idea.

How many pastels did it take to paint your latest painting seen here Natasha?
More than 150 individual colors were used.

You are hilarious…How do you know?
You can see a sample here of how I clean each one after every painting and put them back in the box, also shown here. So occasionally I count them just because.

So wow! At a minimum, $825 worth of pastels is represented here?
Uh, …yes. And for kicks, do the math for the box you see pictured, and there are nearly that many more in other boxes here in the studio.

But won’t they smear???
Not if you don’t smear them!
They go under glass. The oldest work in our museums around the world is pastel.

But you frame it the same except with glass so that doesn’t cost much more right?
Wrong.
If you want to see your reflection so you can tidy your hair every time you walk up to a pastel painting, then use cheap glass. That will save you some money and help you to look your best.
If you want to protect your work and have virtually no reflection, the glass can easily be 70% of the framing cost. Museum and AR glass are the way to go.

So now…go look at some art! You are now armed with knowledge! And if you want to add some mad skills to your repertoire, sign up for my newsletter on my website and take a class from me. I have several on the horizon with more being added as we speak!

#terryludwigpastels #sennilier #schminke #pastelpainting #getagreatteacher #natashaisenhour

Natasha Isenhour
www.natashaisenhour.com

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this blog belong solely to the Spokane Art School Artist-in-Residence, and not necessarily to the Spokane Art School.