So a few weeks ago I posted that I had bought the new, woodless Sennelier pastel pencils.
I was intrigued by them. When they arrived, they were so pretty and perfect in their little trays in the box. But I absolutely hate pastels in boxes (I don’t have time trying to lever out a stick every time I want one from it’s little foam home) so I happily ripped them out and put them in my mothers’ old gravy boat. Easy to grab and I can separate them out by those I will use a lot- the neutrals- and those that are so high-chroma that I won’t reach for them very often, but they are still close at hand. Plus, seeing them this way will remind me of my mom.
They looked interesting to me and I knew, before I even touched them, that they would handle very differently from traditional Senneliers. They would have to. If you are not familiar, traditional Sennelier pastel sticks are known to be crumbly and very pigmented. They are lovely to use, but I knew that the recipe for the new woodless ones would have to be different in order for them to hold their shape and be able to sharpen without crumbling into to a pile of dust.
So I posted that I had gotten them and was happily ready to give them a trial run. I got a lot of responses from other artists that have either tried them or wanted to know more about them. And the biggest question I saw was… “how do you sharpen them?” And my response is…
I won’t.
I have a number of pastel artist friends that use pastel pencils and I always tease them about worrying so much about getting perfect points and keeping them on their pencils. I don’t see the point. (harhar) Life is not perfect, so why should my pastels be? When I need to shave the wood down on a typical pastel pencil I use a heavy-duty boxcutter and hack at the wood (always with a newish blade) until I have what I call a “block point.” Like the pencil on the right below. On the left is a “pointed” pencil.
Not much difference. My block point was less work, did not waste as much pigment, is square-ish and ready to go.
Because here is the thing- If I need anything thinner than the line a block point makes I have to ask myself why. In a few swipes I will just kill the pont anyway and then I’ll have to worry about trying to get a point again without breaking off the tip repeatedly while trying to get a point again…
So enter the woodless ones I just bought. Below is an orange line I made using a new woodless pencil that still has its point against the rest of the lines made with those same woodless pencils… but from the blunted, “eraser” end. Notice anything? The orange one is thin, but the others are still pretty thin too. So why would I need to worry about it?
Ok, you say, I want control. Getting that little spot of color right where I want it.
Overrated, I think. Painting is not like drawing our name with a pen. I have heard many artists say, “the bigger the brush, the better the mark.” That goes for pastels too. The bigger the mark, the prettier the mark. Less control equals a human touch.
I saw artists state that they used them for eyelases and small details. Hmmm… that will not be me. Typically, if I am setting tiny details that means it is in an area of the painting that is probably important to me and to the image. So why would I use something like a pencil or these new woodless guys to do that? Pastel pencils have low power. Lots of binder and little pigment. They can layer well up to a stage in the image, but after that, the drag of the watered-down pigments will be timid and weak. Not something I want in the eyes of my children. If something is important it deserves a stronger mark. Stronger pigment. Whether that mark is high-chroma or not. So a tiny, weak line will not help save my painting. In fact, it may kill it dead.
Not that pencils are “bad.” I hate when pastelists say to not use something or that one brand is “better” than another. Not true. They are all just different. I use a LOT of pencils. I can see I will use these woodless ones a lot too. So I plan on using them, but never sharpening them. I will probably let them wear down and use them very blunt- like the bottom end. In fact, I may just use the eraser ends all of the time just to be ornery. (I am a Taurus) No sharpening needed and I won’t waste a lot of the pigment hacking at it to get a point. No waste of the pencil. So far, I find that they act a lot like the old Grumbacher pastels that I covet and that they don’t make anymore, which is really lovely since I hoard and love those old Grumbachers. It will save me time and energy to not sharpen them.
There is no point to it.