How to Paint Lace in Pastel: A Demo
The texture of textiles — whether silk, cotton, velvet, or lace — and the folds of drapery offer endless painting inspiration and challenges.
By Sophie Ploeg
I paint a lot of portraits, but for the past couple of years, I’ve dived into painting textiles. Silk, cotton, and velvet, but especially lace, provide me with a seemingly endless source of inspiration. I come from a family in which fabrics were always around; my grandmother and my mother had piles of fabrics stored in chests, cupboards, and boxes. They enjoyed making our family’s clothes. It appears I’m following in their footsteps, because I, too, love and stockpile fabrics. My interest in painting textures, therefore, seems to fit seamlessly within my life. Here I’ll share with you how to paint lace in pastel.
A Great Challenge
Painting the textures of fabrics and the folds of drapery is a great challenge; it’s a subject that’s been explored by artists for centuries. There’s plenty of inspiration in the paintings of the Old Masters, but I try to find my own way and show the beauty of fabrics on their own or draped on a model.
In Flowerbed, for example, I folded and placed some textiles in a pile and painted the simple beauty such a still life can evoke. I enjoyed the challenge of painting the stitching on the green fabric so that it looked embroidered, not printed, and making sure that the fine antique lace on top appeared delicate and refined. Layering my pastel strokes provided the desired detail and textures, and ensured that I showed the weave of the coarser green fabric and the softer, more velvety touch of the cream fabric.
Because I’m so interested in and work with a lot of antique or vintage textiles, especially lace, I chose to paint an intricate Edwardian lace blouse (circa 1900-1910) for the demonstration on the following pages.
Demo: Painting Lace
My painting is based on reference from a recent photo shoot. In addition to highlighting the beauty of the antique textile, my goal is to bring the blouse and the figure into the 21st century by the way in which I present them. So, I leave out parts of the original costume, jewelry, and other accessories. I isolate the item on which I want to focus, removing it from its historical context.
In this case, I’ve left all extraneous clothing and accessories out of the photo, simply adding a dark undergarment to show off the intricate nature of the lace. The blouse originally would have been secured at the back with small buttons, but they were missing. I could have added some. Instead I chose to leave the back open to create interesting ruffles.
I had already pictured the composition in my mind before I began the photo shoot. But this particular crop came to me while working on the photo on my computer. Often, I use the computer to enhance my reference material. I may change the lighting or the contrast, adapt the color of the light and, of course, find the perfect crop to create the most interesting pictures.
For Lace Lines, I draped the blouse over the tailor’s dummy in my studio (as I couldn’t possibly make my model move in with me, and I’m a slow painter!), so I could refer to the original clothing item from life and my reference material on my computer simultaneously. I decided on a crop that shows just the neck of the model and part of her face but no more, creating a pleasant curve of the blouse and her back.
Step 1
I make a rough drawing on aubergine Art Spectrum Colourfix card. Although I work with a few Unisons and quite a few Schminckes (which are buttery soft and gorgeous), I do the vast majority of my initial pastel work with Rembrandts.
Step 2
The drawing gets more refined and detailed. It’s like drawing a map — placing all landmarks in the right place to prevent losing your way. I roughly draw the pattern of the tape lace, creating dark and light areas to help guide me.
Step 3
I block in the main elements and look for strong lights and darks. I occasionally turn the painting upside down and view it in a mirror to check for flaws in the proportions.
Step 4
Once I’m happy with the rough stages, I start adding color. Warm and cool colors find their place. I’m not so bothered with the chroma — better too much than too little. Here you can see my hatching technique (see “Hatching and Scumbling” below) while adding color to the figure’s cheeks.
Step 5
I add more detail using a sharp edge of a light pastel. The lace is painted primarily with a pale yellow, and the color is amended where necessary with cool and warm colors, and left transparent wherever I could use the underlying aubergine support color as shading.
Step 6
This is the one time I use my only pastel pencil (see “On Pastel Pencils” below) to refine the black areas inside the blouse, enhancing sharp edges and beginning to refine the white threads holding the tape together in the blouse.
Step 7
I work my way through the blouse, changing colors while moving from the shadowy back toward the light front. Then I use hot oranges for the shadows at the back and move toward grayish blues near the front where there is cool light coming in. I tone down the colors with their complements either on top of or beside the marks.
Step 8
Next, I blend the pastel in the model’s face slightly with my finger to create a contrast in textures between the blouse and the skin. I consider blending to be a dangerous business; I tend not to blend at all as it often deadens the picture, making it look bland and plastic-like. Skin is usually much more interesting when textured without any blending, but in this particular case, the face is less important, so softening it enhances the effect of the blouse’s crisp lace. Next, I draw in the hair with a sharp-edged pastel.
Final Painting
I finish off shadows and highlights to emphasize the arm’s roundness and the lace’s texture in Lace Lines.
On Pastel Pencils
Although I like the hard pastels such as Rembrandt, I’ve never really gotten along with pastel pencils. I’ve seen many pastel pencil artists create quite realistic, detailed effects, but for some reason, I’ve never found a good use for them. They’re hard, and I usually scrape off the softer pastel already applied instead of leaving a mark. At the moment, I own one black pastel pencil that came in a tin of graphite drawing materials; ironically, for this demonstration, I ended up using it quite a lot — an unusual thing! For details and hard edges, I usually use my Rembrandt pastels and find a sharp edge or create one by breaking off a piece. Layering marks also can create fine lines and surface detail.
On Hatching and Scumbling
I paint in small hatches or scribbles. Layering shows the colors underneath, creating visual color mixes, and adding depth and variety. I developed my hatching technique while working with pastels, and it has remained a fixture when I work in oil. Even with a brush and oil paints, I hatch and scumble to mix colors on the support instead of the palette, just as if I’m working with pastels.
On Color
I usually work from bold colors toward muted. I put in bold, vibrant colors first — the colors I see in the shadows and in the light. Then I use strong blues for cool areas, and hot reds and yellows for warm areas. Later I turn down the chroma and work toward a more realistic representation of my subject, using much more grayed tones. The layering, scumbling and hatching will still show through, adding interest. I love Rembrandt’s and Unison’s gray colors and layer them — often using color opposites to tone them down — over the high chroma marks laid down in the initial application.
Meet the Artist
Bristol, England-based Sophie Ploeg is an award-winning artist who works in oil, pastel, and graphite. Born and raised in the Netherlands, she studied art and architectural history, receiving an M.A. and Ph.D. After graduating, she began painting full time, exploring portraits, figures and fabrics. Allusions to the past play an important role in her work, most notably through antique textiles and references to Old Masters. As the recipient of the BP Travel Award 2013, she will visit famous lace-making centers and conduct research on 17th-century English and Dutch portraiture to create her final work, which will be displayed in the BP Portrait Award 2014 exhibition. Learn more at sophieploeg.com.
A version of this article originally appeared in Pastel Journal.
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