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I believe that there have been a few threads over the years where folks try various varnishes on their pastel paintings. The trade-off for having a more permanent protective layer seems to be a darkening and/or dulling of the pastel. Since perhaps the favorite aspect of pastels is their sparkle and high intensity of color, losing that for more permanence may not be considered worth it!
Don
Thanks Don. You’re quite right. ‘Laminating’ layers will darken them up but what my concern is that pastel pigments always get stuck loosely onto the paper, rather than being embedded. I wonder whether this darkening effect is and ‘either’ ‘or’ discussion because in order to spray fixative one has to use solvents like benzene, etc., so darkening has a necessary relation to solvents. Wouldn’t it be possible for manufactures to come up with a crystal clear spray without the darkening solvents.
The reason I bring up this old discussion again is that I get better results with sprays that were not designed for pastel at all. In fact I use H2O varnish spray for years as an alternative for all ‘official’ fixatives. Perhaps one manufacturer can pick this up one day.
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Corne- What type of support (paper) are you using? You mention that you are trying to layer your pastel without disturbing the lower layers- one way that I achieve this without the use of fixative, is to use a sanded paper. The lower layers “stay put” and the upper layers are the colors that dominate.
Like Don mentions, many of us like the “sparkle” of the pastel pigment, and spraying fixative does dull and “flatten” the pigment.
My favorite papers for the technique you seem to use are UArt (which is I think equivalent to Fisher on your side of the Atlantic) and Sennelier La Carte (which, if you aren’t aware, cannot handle any water based materials on the surface- La Carte uses a water soluble glue to hold the abrasive texture material on the support, and the glue will dissolve in water). I also have success with layering on PastelMat (made in France), and for me, PastelMat holds about 6 layers, UArt and La Carte can take more layers.
All of the sanded papers tend to “grip” the pastel, and as you mentioned, for the type of layering you do, painting with harder pastels on lower layers to softer on top works the best. I like Unisons for my lower layers, then go over the top with softer brands like Sennelier (brands that should be available by you). Or you could go Rembrandt lower layer, Unison top layers. A light touch with your pastels also helps with keeping from disturbing lower layers. When I’m trying to blend on sanded papers, I actually use a harder pastel on top of soft pastel- for instance, Girualt on top of Unison or Sennelier- and this will disturb the lower layers. Sometimes I want this, sometimes I don’t.
The other thing I like about the sanded papers, is I don’t have to use fixative when framing- I have framed pieces with thick layers of pastel on the paper, and the pastel doesn’t “fall off” onto a white mat the way it sometimes does with a Ingres or Canson Mi-tientes papers. Of all the papers, PastelMat seems to “grip the pastels the most.
Good luck, and thanks for sharing your fixative experiments. While most of us here I don’t think use any fixative, it’s interesting to hear of various attempts to use fixative.
Have you tried Spectrafix? It is made with Cassein, which is what Degas used for his pastels.
The way to achieve the surface you are talking about, ie, one where you can add further layers without disturbing any of the under layers, is to LAYER THE FIXATIVE. You do this by spraying gently and quickly, let it dry. Do this at least twelve times. By then, all “holes” will have been filled, and you will have a layer of fix which will be pretty “solid”.
Tho – why do you need this? I find if I work with soft pastels, over either soft or hard, I rarely disturb underneath layers after spraying with a couple of layers of Spectrafix, because I do not use a heavy hand. I can quite easily swipe the side of a pastel over underneath layers, and achieve a “glaze” which does not pick up other colours, even with a pale over darks.
Perhaps you are working with too heavy a touch.
If you use any kind of varnish, you run the risk of the varnish darkening over time, so together with darkening the pastel, you may end up with a layer of varnish which will darken too.
Incidentally if you cannot buy Spectrafix where you live, contact the manufacturer in the US, she will probably send some to you, she is very helpful.
I just took a workshop with Alan Flattmann and he uses two kinds of fixative. After getting down the basic blocks of color on sanded paper, he fixes with Blair Workable Odorless. It does darken, but it doesn’t matter a lot at this stage. After finishing or getting close, he uses Krylong Workable, which REALLY does not darken. If areas need more darkness, he sprays them specifically with the Blair. You could go back with highlights in pastel to develop the contrast.
He also uses charcoal as his base, a very detailed drawing. He did fix that with Blair.
This is all the spraying he did, but as newbies to the process, we found ourselves spraying more often.
Watching him really changed my mind about using fixatives and I will use them in the future, being sure to start the spray off to the side of the work, to spray about 18″ away, smoothly up/down, then left/right.
Spectrafix is not a paper, it is a fixative, and hardly darkens at all.
If you SOAK your painting with ANY fixative, you will darken the colours. It is imperative that you do not soak. You do a short burst, lasting no more than a couple of seconds. You let that dry. Then you can do this again, as many times as you like. Krylon workable, used at the “end” of painting, is fine but it will not give you the cellophane/varnish finish you want, which I do not really understand since the pic will go under glass.
It is always best to spray as you work, and then work over the top of sprayed areas, then it doesn’t matter if they darken slightly.
Then, glaze your work…with glass!!!
I got the lady who makes Spectrafix to send me some, she did not mind at all. It is now sold in the UK by Jacksons, they will send to you too. It is a first class fixative and best of all, it is non toxic.
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