3 Ways to Improve Your Next Pastel with this Hack from Albert Handell

By
Kelly Kane
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A section of the work Albert Handell will use to demonstrate his techniques for using charcoal.

Using charcoal can be an easy and effective way to make small changes that have a big impact on your pastel paintings.

“I use vine charcoal to do a number of things – to blend, to feather, to push things back,” says Albert Handell.

3 WAYS TO USE CHARCOAL

1. To soften a bright color — in this case, a bright white — gently run the charcoal over the bright area.

Albert will use vine charcoal to soften the bright white of the waterfall you can see here.
The artist using charcoal to slightly dull the bright white.
Can you see the subtle contrast between the bright white and the part where he used the charcoal?

2. Hatch lightly over a section of varying colors with charcoal to unify the area.

The artist unifies an area of varied color with vine charcoal.
The results of hatching the area with charcoal.

3. Gray the upright portion of an element to make it appear more vertical. (This makes sense as it’s an area that would get less sunlight than say an upward-facing surface.)

The artist using charcoal to gray an upright area, emphasizing the illusion of verticality.

By softly applying the charcoal, Albert made small but significant changes to the piece. Even if you can’t see the changes easily, I hope you take this pastel hack to heart.

Paint along with Albert Handell, Vera Kavura, William Schneider, Rita Kirkman, and other top pastel artists at Pastel Live.


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