ABOUT OIL PASTELS

  OIL PASTELS

non-yellowing - acid free - never harden and will never crack

The professional grade of oil pastels is a relatively new medium, considering that most mediums have been around for centuries. Interest in oil pastels is fast growing among artists today.

Oil pastels had their start when, in 1921, the Sakura Crayon Company started to develop a high quality crayon that combined smooth application of a crayon with the bright pigments of pastels. In 1927 they produced “Cray-Pas” oil pastels, and since then “Cray-Pas” have been considered a children's medium, not for serious artists.

In 1947, Pablo Picasso and Henri Goetz asked Henri Sennelier to design a professional version of the children's product. They felt that it would be a more direct method of expression than any other medium.

Two years later in 1949, Sennelier invented the first professional oil pastels. They have a creamy consistency with a brilliant color palette. Sennelier later also made a giant pastel, and more recently a new "Le Grande" size in the same color range as the standards.

Years later, other brands jumped into the market - Caran d'Ache in 1981, Holbein in the early 80s with two grades of their oil pastels: student and professional. Talens and Grumbacher added theirs at about the same time.

Oil pastels use fossil wax and inert mineral oils as a binder making them non-yellowing and giving them excellent adhesion characteristics. They are completely acid free, and they never completely harden, thus they will never crack. Oil pastels can be applied to any paper, rigid support or fabric support without technical restraints, allowing the artist complete freedom of expression while maintaining archival stability.

Oil pastels will harden to some degree, but due to their wax and oil content they never completely dry. Therefore they need to be framed behind glass for protection from the elements. Sometimes an acrylic varnish is applied over the pastels and this leaves a protective coat that does not need framing and can be gently wiped clean with a damp cloth.

Soft and hard pastels are the same; the difference is in their hardness only. Soft pastels are pure pigment with gum tragacanth as a binder.

 Le Grande oil pastel sticks