Winterrest (I) – study, 5×5 inch, Pastel
© Astrid Volquardsen, 2012
sold
Right in the heart of the new Harbour City old trationell ship can be found. In the summer time one can join the crew on their trips.
But for now you have to wait: It’s winterrest.
Last weekend we went to the harbour of Hamburg to watch the ice drift. Because of the Sibirien cold front the ice growth on the river is increasing day by day. This part of the river is still under the influence of the tides of the North Sea and the icebraekers and the containerships keep the ice sheet still loose. I don’t know what came to my mind when I decided to start the plein air season this weekend in this biting cold. At 23°F (but it certainly felt like 14°F, because of the cold wind) I could get done two color studies. After about an hour my fingertips were complaining and longed for a warm place… If you are interested to do plein air studies in a cold place like this: keep it small, keep it simple.
© Marc Volquardsen, 2012
© Marc Volquardsen, 2012
Meanwhile my husband made a timelapse video in which he captured the beauty of my hometown harbour.
© Marc Volquardsen, 2012
As I have got more and more interested in making pastels by myself I eventually ended up with having a closer look at pigments. First I thought I will write a short summery about it, but oh boy, I can’t recall what made me think that in the first place. It’s tough in German, but even tougher to translate this to English. So I keep it very basic, but I do advise you to do some further readings, because it is so interesting. The links and books suggestions from my side are all in German, but maybe some of my readers do have some recommendations. Please leave it in a comment.
The basis for all painting colors is the pigment. At first it’s only a powder and according to which binder (some kind of glue) you add it turns into oil, acrylics-, watercolor or pastel. Pigments are classified according to their chemical structure into organic and inorganic pigments, which can be natural or synthetic.
Organic:
Inorganic:
Depending on its particles size, the attributes vary from pigment to pigment. The difference between for example light fastness and consistency may vary a great deal. Forty piles of pigments laid out next to each other may look the same but they certainly aren‹t. Pip Seymour points out that synthetic organic pigments (e.g. Heliogreen) can be difficult to disperse into water and might need wetting agents, such as Disponil or Ox-gall. On the other hand there are some pigments who need more binder to hold the particles together, whereas there are some, which don’t need a binder at all e.g. (Mars Yellow, Raw Sienna)
© Marc Volquardsen, 2012
In the first stage after adding water Titanium White feels like chewing gum before it turns into a smooth paste.
© Marc Volquardsen, 2012
This violett doesn’t disperse water at all.
© Marc Volquardsen, 2012
Ultramarin blue easily disperses into water.
Red Tug (II), 30×30cm, Pastel
© Astrid Volquardsen, 2011
sold
It is such a good feeling to use other color combinations as I have done so far in my older paintings. There is now again this special klick deep inside when color combinations begin to sing, which makes my heart sing as well.
I would like to thank all my readers for their faithfullness. Many thanks especially to those who do comment, which I deeply appriciate. I feel very sorry, if I don’t make it to answer immediately, or later, or not at all, but sometimes life is busy. Or, which is hard to imagine, I am out of words.
Winterabend, 14×41 cm, Pastell
© Astrid Volquardsen, 2012
The river Elbe has a very magic moment in early winter evenings, when the pancake ice ( it’s really called this way) covers the water surface. The cargo ship and tug boat appear in the mist and the color combination of ornage and purple just sings.
For quite a while I have been curious about the pastel making process and how to make my own ones. A blog post by the American pastel artist Casey Klahn gave the last impulse. I had so many left overs, the broken bits of pastel sticks and didn’t know what to do with them. Throwing them away seemed to be such a waste.
© Marc Volquardsen, 2012
In the first step I ground the left overs thouroughly. If you have many pieces do this more often or otherwise your pastel paste isn’t homogeneous enough und you might enclose tiny bits of differnt colours. In this picture I used a mortar which unfortunately took on the pigment and won’t be of any use for another colour shade except blue. I would advise to use a mortar made out of glas combined with a glas bowl.
© Marc Volquardsen, 2012
In the next step I add destilled water to the pigment with a spray bottle . The destilled water is important because otherwise you might risk adding germs to the pastel paste which could cause mould.
No additional binders or other bodies are needed in this process, because the pastel left overs have already binder in them.
For healthy reasons please make sure that you wear a mask during the whole process.
© Marc Volquardsen, 2012
At this point you could halving the paste and add white pigment to achieve a set of different values. Don’t fall in love with the colour you made from the left overs, because it will be very hard to reproduce.
© Marc Volquardsen, 2012
Now, you can roll the paste till you have a stick. Luckely my father build a wooden box for me in which I fill the paste and let it rest for a day. After that the pastel sticks easily get out. Let the pastel sticks rest for another 6 days until they are completely dry.
© Marc Volquardsen, 2012
Full speed ahead, 5×5 inch, Pastel
© Astrid Volquardsen, 2011
Who would have thought that the title Full speed ahead would make such a good new years resolution? Sometimes I think what a great pity it is, that you can’t see these small pastels with your own eyes. The pigment is just glowing, being a small red explosion.
This last year has been a really good one for me with many different experiences. The very last one was a trip to the Swiss company Caran d´Ache in Geneva. They have developed a new pastel pencil line which will be launched in the beginning of 2012. I was invited to their production and my synapses were glowing for two days. You can read the report about the how when what why next year when I say again: Full speed ahead!