The Creative Process
Though originally an oil painter, I have experimented with various media along the way. I love the lusciousness of pastels, enjoy the versatility of acrylic paints with all its attendant mediums, and have also taught myself to use an airbrush in order to get the photographic effect on backgrounds.
Now I use texture to create a mood in a painting. Pastels are used to give a soft velvety shine to skin tones. Fabric is added to give dimension and weave to the clothing and accessories. Acrylic paint has so many mediums you can add, to get just the texture you want from gritty and grainy, to shiny and plump, and even to thin glazes. Sometimes, small chains, keys, Cotton yarn or feathers are used. It is a subtle mixing of the various media that give my paintings a ‘tromp l’oeil’, or three dimensional effect.
I usually use a rag mat board, as this provides a nice smooth surface for pastel and will also take a fair amount of treatment. I glue this board to a support such as foam core or MDF. The larger the painting, the thicker and sturdier the support needs to be. My whole painting needs to be very carefully planned, as any area on which I intend to use pastel must not be contaminated by glue or the like, or the pastel will not adhere to the board. I often draw my faces on tracing paper first and transfer this to the board using Saral transfer paper, thus I don’t have marks that need to be rubbed out, as doing this may raise the nap on the board, and this area will not accept the pastel properly.
However, you can paint over the pastel with care (as at the hair lines), and you can airbrush over the pastel, and you can pastel over a thin layer of airbrushing. When I glue on items such as chains, feathers, fabric or paper, I always seal them before I paint them, and make sure they are of a reasonably flat dimension, otherwise the glued item becomes too distracting and spoils the effect, and the painting may become too difficult to frame.