Chrissie Havers takes a look at Pan Pastels and is impressed by their intense colours.
The Pan Pastel range is available in 92 highly pigmented colours including metallic and pearlescent colours. Each colour is contained in its own pan with a screw top style lid.
I was sent a selection of five Pan Pastels to try out in the following colours:
- Titanium white
- Diarylide yellow
- Ultramarine blue shade
- Permanent red shade
- Chromium oxide green
First impressions
I was really struck by the intensity of the colours – and was keen to start experimenting with them.
The immediate impression is that you have to use your finger to apply the colour. However I gathered a few drawing style tools to see how they would behave.
Top features
- 92 highly pigmented colours
- Good range of tools available to work with
- Don't produce much dust
- A little pigment goes a long way
- Stackable pans
- Good coverage
- Easy to blend
Price: £8.37 per colour
Where to buy: Art Supplies with Painters Online
Trying out the Pan Pastels
On watercolour paper I used a dry brush to spread the blue at the top then wet the paper to add a second layer of blue which made it darker.
Then, using a torchon, I spread the green on to dry paper.
Next I added the yellow using a cotton wool pad and also a sponge.
I found the quality of the pigment to be first rate and the ability to blend colours excellent.
The obvious problem was how to draw a line...
Pan Pastels don’t dissolve in water because of the binding agent used. So instead I put a tiny amount of solvent in a lid and scraped some red and blue pastel pigment into it to make an emulsion, and hopefully produce a sort of mixed purple. Using a very thin brush I could then use this exactly like paint.
On wet paper I added some blue with the larger brush.
I then had a go with the small brush at suggesting a treeline and tracks.
Below this came the yellow on wet paper, followed by some of the green.
Tools for Pan Pastels
The Pan Pastels with their knife and sponge socks
I bought the recommended soft sponge tool for these pastels. It is a plastic palette knife with several removable sponge socks. They come in a large variety of shapes which is useful. Also available are larger soft sponges good for applying pastel to larger areas.
Staying up on the Isle of Lewis seemed a good opportunity to try a pastel sketch, see above, and use the new soft sponge palette knife.
On a heavier cream tinted watercolour paper I used a pencil to lightly describe the composition. I found that it was easy to blend the colours to produce some oranges and then the greens influenced with blue.
For the sky I put blue overlaid with white. I thought the sketch needed more variation in the sky though so used a conventional cerulean and then a white. The pastel strokes are visible here.
However the white lines across the water were made using a rubber to remove layers of Pan Pastel in a reductive technique. This is a great advantage as it is possible to return almost to the original paper colour.
Mixing with solvent
In the image above you can see how I tried using Pan pastel mixed with solvent to try and get a burnt russet colour. Interestingly it was tricky to put further pastel over that.
The sketch above shows the same Isle of Lewis subject but produced on Ingres paper. All the underlying structural colours are Pan Pastels with some stick pastels used here and there.
Reductive technique
I was keen to try out the reductive technique, using an eraser to remove the Pan Pastel, again.
I covered the soft white Ingres paper with the blue first and then added the green for the hills. Other pastels were then used to give the sea colour.
Using the rubber I removed pigment back almost to the original paper colour to suggest the white tips of waves in the sea.
With practice I think this method would be very effective.
The above image is a more atmospheric sketch but you can clearly see the marks made using the rubber.
The strokes to the left were made using the underside of the soft sponge tip of the palette knife tool.
I felt that this method could be used for achieving a line more readily than the solvent route!
Blending
I wanted to try out a more blended approach so made another sketch but this time on a russet coloured sheet of Ingres paper.
To produce the effect of the dark hills I laid several layers of blue then red alternately until I had the desired tone.
For the sky and water it was the same method.
Using Pan Pastels on a larger scale
Time to try out a larger pastel painting.
This time I used a sheet of Canford paper which has a moderate tooth surface. The entire composition is laid out with Pan Pastels. Here and there I used the rubber to keep an area free.
I found the pastels extremely easy to spread across the paper surface using the PanPastel knife with sponge. Nor was there much pastel dust. It seems a small quantity of pigment really does go a long way. The tool glides effortlessly across the paper and blends colours exactly as you would like.
The sky needed more white across one section and in the end I used a conventional stick pastel to get the effect.
I was very pleased to find that in spite of many layers of Pan Pastel blending there was still enough tooth on the paper surface to work further.
Some descriptive were lines added using other stick pastels. to complete the painting.
The finished painting
Without the underlying effect of the Pan Pastel blending I think it would have been very difficult for me to achieve the general softness and unity here.
Experimenting with Pan Pastels
The above experiment was a radical departure.
Using a sheet of Canford paper I wet the paper with the large brush and then tipped Pan Pastel pigment on top. I then moved it around with the brush to see what happened…
The result was an interesting mix of colours that I decided worked better upside down.
The resulting background seemed to suggest a garden so I went with that idea and began blocking in large areas using the lovely knife.
At this point I really felt that the painting needed a linear approach so resorted to using my other pastels as well.
The yellow sky really lifted the whole image and was overlaid with white strokes.
Again the paper was not filled with the blending layers.
The finished painting
Again I felt that the original blending layers had been structurally important to the finished painting.
In my opinion it is very important to get to know a new art material by playing around with it.
I was particularly interested in the blending qualities that Pan Pastels offer.
Conclusion
The small containers with lids means that the pigments are protected from mixing with others.
These little pans are also stackable because of the design of the lid – a useful element when packing in an art bag.
Pan Pastels are also available to buy in sets as well as palette trays to hold each pan while working.
The palette knife tool with various shape of sock is a very good painting tool. Having tried other sponges brushes and torchons, I think they are invaluable for pastel painting. After some time they did get grubby but I found I could wash them with soap. Another idea would be to keep some for use only with certain pigments. Otherwise the colour can be wiped off on a cloth to a certain extent.
The quality of the pigment is really excellent with very good covering power.
In general for artists using soft pastels, I think these are a very welcome addition.
In my opinion being able to blend them so readily and smoothly is their main quality.
The following colour swatch examples have white added to give an idea of the tints available and also show the results of using reductive technique.
About Chrissie Havers
I have been painting for many years, mainly specialising in landscapes. I now use acrylics, but previously painted with oils and also pastels both chalk and oil.
I have exhibited at several galleries in London, most recently with the SWA at the Mall Galleries, as well as galleries in East Anglia.
See more on Chrissie's website, www.chrissiehavers.com.
You can also see more of Chrissie's work in the gallery by