Pastel Painting

[CouldnoT]

 

Pastel painting or drawing can be a versatile art form. They can be easily used to blend together and create a painting, or pastels can be used to create solid lines that look more like a drawing.

 

The great thing about pastels is that there are no solvents or brushes needed to use them and they don’t require a whole lot of cleaning up. They can also be very portable and give an artist the ability to create works anywhere.

 

Maryann Mullett, an artist out of Fitzwilliam, has a love for pastel painting. She has been working with pastels for about 14 years. Art has always been a part of Mullett’s life. She did a lot of oil painting in her 20s and was also an illustrator for Yankee Magazine, but she was drawn to pastels after joining an art group that was using them.

“Maybe fourteen years ago I joined a very small art group over in Antrim. They were all painting with pastels and that is all I have been painting with ever since,” she said. “I love it for its vibrancy and its pure pigments.”

 

She explained that pastels have the same amount of pigments that are in oil paint or watercolors, but they have the least amount of binder in them. So, it is basically using its purest form of pigment. “The light refracts off of the little particles because there is not a lot of binder and that’s why you get the luminosity,” Mullett explained. Which is what makes pastel artworks so bold and beautiful.

 

Mullett’s favorite subject matter for her paintings are still life, animals and nature. “I paint mostly close up views of objects and I think that kind of goes back to my graphic arts experience. It’s influenced by that,” she said.

 

When it comes to finding new ideas for artwork, Mullett finds inspiration from light and shadows. “Dramatic light and shadow inspires me the most,” Mullett said. “Composition is really important to me.” She will take reference photos of subject matter that have what she is looking for and will crop them in different ways to get the best compositions. Then she will choose her next work based on what photos stand out to her the most.

 

Mullett’s paintings have been in many different Pastel Society National Juried Shows across the country. She is also a member of the Society of Animal Artist and will be shipping her painting titled “Froggie Yoga,” out to them to be viewed in three different museums across the country. “It’s pretty exciting,” Mullett exclaimed.

“Froggie Yoga” will be on exhibit at The Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, N.Y., from August 22 through October 25; the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in Oradell, New Jersey, from November 20 through January 16, 2022; and Sternberg Museum of Natural History Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, from February 5, 2022 through May 5, 2022.

 

Though most of her artwork is displayed elsewhere, Mullett will be displaying some of her works this fall at the Monadnock Art Tour in October at The Link, located at 20 Grove Street in the old Sharon Arts Building in Peterborough.

 

Mullett has received many awards throughout her years as an artist, but she said the one she was most proud of was a Master Pastel title. She had been working really hard to get it and it had been a big goal of hers. “I had been working to get my Master Pastel title with the Pastel Society of America and I was really fortunate to receive that in 2019.” She was able to go to New York City to Gramercy Park National Arts Club to receive this award in person. It all happened right at the start of Covid-19, and she was certainly grateful to be able to have had that opportunity before things closed down. She said the pandemic actually made it difficult for her to get her artwork out of New York City afterward because it was such a scary time and things were shutting down.

 

Mullett also teaches pastel classes to the public at the Jaffrey Civic Center on Thursdays. Each month has a different topic. This month is focusing on florals and August will be still life. If you are interested in the class, you can contact the Jaffrey Civic Center or sign up online at www.jaffreyciviccenter.com

 

sentinelsource.com

Edited July 15, 2021 by CouldnoT