About Purely Pastel...

Painting and drawing is usually a solitary creative process. After all, how else can you hear the muses? However, there comes a time in the process when an artist appreciates the input of other artists.

It was on the basis of mutual support that Purely Pastel was formed. Since we all work in pastel, we could share discussions about techniques, materials and sources. Additionally, we could use our artist eye to provide constructive ideas to our members.

Since all members are working in pastel, there is this cohesive factor in order to exhibit together. To that end, we named our group, "Purely Pastel Artists" and built a website to feature each member and the quality of our art.

Facts About Pastels...

Pastels, or something akin to them, have been around for almost as long as the history of humans. (The cave paintings of prehistoric people used a precursor to pastel.)

The modern-day pastel was created in the 16th Century by a German painter and gained popularity when a Venetian artist, Rosalba Carrera, began to use it for her paintings.

One last note: Pastel is NOT chalk. The same pigment used to make oil or watercolor paints is used for pastels. However, oil pastels and dry pastels are not the same. Oil pastel is more akin to oil painting and has a very long drying time.

Edgar Degas, the 19th century Impressionist, used pastels for many of his paintings. Degas' pastels have sold in excess of $7 Million Dollars!

The Musee d' Orsay in Paris, France, displays the pastels of Toulouse-Lautrec, Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, and Odilon Redon - to name a few of the artist who attained great success in pastel painting.

At the height of the Impressionists' movement, Roche Pastels in Paris produced about 1650 different pastel colors for the artists.