Tips for Painting Pastel Landscapes

Painting landscape in pastels is a creative outlet. Many artists, such as myself, prefer pastels to oils and acrylics as they're more portable and not as messy, although you do deal with powdery pigments. The rules for painting a landscape pastel differ from oil painting, watercolor and other liquid mediums, but once you learn the basics of pastels it's easy to be hooked.

Choosing Pastel Paper Color

The first step in painting a pastel landscape is choosing a paper color. Study your reference photo. Does it have a warm or cool mood? If it's a sunny picture then select a warm color such as gold or yellow. For a snowy or misty scene, cooler colors such as blue are better.

Pastel papers such as Canson's Mi-Teintes pads offer a bumpy side on one side with a smoother side on the reverse side. It's a matter of personal preference which side is best. Personally, I prefer the smoother side so I don't have to deal with the more textured surface. On the other hand, sometimes the bumpy side may work best when painting portraits so the paper color can shine through.

Blending Pastel Colors

Unlike oils, acrylics or watercolors, pastel colors are mixed on the painting surface rather than on a palette. Colors are merged by rubbing colors with a paper stump, tissue, q-tip, rag or brush. You can even use your finger, only just be sure it's clean and doesn't have any acid.

Don't overblend because doing so can cause colors to be less vibrant and make the painting surface appear glossy and artificial. However, if you do overblend, most of the time you can revitalize the area by applying a few strokes of broken color.

The Pastel Underpainting Stage

The first step in painting a pastel landscape is laying down a color for an underpainting foundation. This can be done by rubbing pigment with your finger, using the side of a soft pastel, and then lightly spreading out color from the center of the paper outward. Next, using a paper stump (tortillion), further refine the blending. The side of the stump can be used for softening and blending larger areas. Some pastel landscape artists keep rubbing and blending to a minimum for a rougher look. They often use hatch marks and then lightly soften the lines, giving a rough effect, although the painting still keeps its fresh, sparkly colors.

A color foundation can also be done by laying down a light watercolor wash on watercolor paper. After the paper is thoroughly dry, continue to apply a background pastel color. This is the method I choose when I painted my "Norway Mountains" pastel painting as shown in this article.


Unlike transparent watercolor painting, opaque pastel colors are done working from dark to light. Decide which items should be underpainted first. To determine specific parts and details it helps to squint so you can see color and value in their simplest form, notes the Art Graphica website. Don't worry about creating light, volume or depth in the initial underpainting stage.

Paint Shapes Instead of Details

Look for basic forms such as mountain and tree shapes, rather than details. Although I do pastel portraits using a gridding system, I draw freehand when painting landscapes.

Start with the largest shapes, blocking them into your painting. Then block in smaller shapes. At this stage block in general colors for small objects as you can always change and refine them later. This can be done using both soft and hard pastels.

Using Fixative Spray on Pastel Paintings

Use fixative spray when applying layer upon layer of pigment. This is done to prevent smudging and overblending. Ensure you have sufficient air circulation by opening up a window or door and then temporarily leave the room to escape fumes.

Fixative can dull and darken colors, but if applied lightly it's works well. The two types of fixatives are workable fixative and final fixative. Use workable fixative when doing a "work-in-progress" and final fixative to protect your finished painting. Fixative sprays come in either matte or glossy finishes.

Refining Details on Pastel Landscapes

Details are usually done using hard pastels such as pastel pencils. Besides using pastel pencils, I usually refine my details using Prismacolor colored pencils. With this approach, just be sure to first apply a light spray of fixative over the pastel work and then work in colored pencil as colored pencil always goes over pastels and not under them.

Finally, explore many different pastel techniques and use various landscape photos for your paintings. It's only by experimentation that you'll discover the particular style that's best suited for you. Just as everyone has a unique signature, every artist has her own style.

Originally published on Suite 101.