Oranges And Apples

This pastellist believes that any subject matter could be selected for her technique, which (to her) is drawing – but to others may be a form of painting.

- Jane Greenland

Decide on the size of your finished work. Because masking tape is overlapped from the protective cartridge paper onto the working paper, your finished picture will be slightly smaller than the cut-out frame.

MATERIALS

• Cartridge paper.

• Masking tape.

• Working paper or board (Wallis Board, Art Spectrum Pastel Board or Fabriano Acquarello Cold Pressed Watercolour Paper) 200gsm plus.

• Long metal ruler.

• Stanley knife with sharp blade.

• Cutting board.

• Graphite pencils: 2B to 6B.

• Willow charcoal.

• Hard pastels for drawing (square ‘Nupastels’ are ideal).

• Small old hand towels.

• Matisse Matt Medium.

• Matisse Gesso.

• Assortment of hard and soft pastels: Nupastel, Art Spectrum, Unison, Daler-Rowney, and Schmincke.

• Assortment of brushes.

STEP ONE

Make your sheet of cartridge paper the same size as your working paper/board. Draw up the area you want to work on, and cut this area out using a Stanley knife and metal ruler. Place your working paper or board down; position your cut-out frame over the top; and secure with masking tape (allow three millimetres overlap onto the working board). Press the tape down firmly to create a good seal around all edges. It is important to see the working board, tape and cartridge frame as one working surface. I prefer to work flat with this method (rather than on an easel) to avoid any potential running of media under the tape. Work from life or a photograph; but make sure you have thought about what you really want to express.