Impressionist Painting: Create a Pastel Masterpiece

One of the most important elements of the Impressionist movement was the subject matter the artist chose. The Impressionists were trying to capture a moment in time and they were interested in the small moments of life, like the light on the water of a lily pond or the color of the setting sun on the face of a cathedral. One Impressionist artist, an American woman, living in Paris was interested in capturing the small moments of the day when mothers were caring for their children. Mary Cassatt created some very powerful portraits of mother and child through the use of pastels. In this activity, you and your child will use soft pastels to create a beautiful painting on paper that captures a small moment special to your child.

A pastel is pure pigment held together with a binder. It requires a special paper with a slight “tooth” in order to hold the chalk in lace and allow you to build color. In this activity, you will not only make your own painting but you will also make your own pastel paper.  This is a great activity to do outside on a beautiful day.

What You Need:

• Heavy paper or cardboard
• Gesso (can be found at art and hobby stores)
• Finely ground pumice (can be found at hardware and art stores)
• Pastels
• Spray fixative
• Mask (found at hardware, hobby and art stores for pastel dust and spraying)
• Color of acrylic paint to add to gesso and pumice mixture that will become the background color of the paper (Note: acrylic dries darker)
• Large paintbrush

What You Do: