Pastels
Ever so often, I shall challenge myself to explore/master a new art medium. If readers have any experience in any of these media and would like to share tips, insights or have ideas for me to delve deeper into, feel free to reach out!
In the coming months, my medium of choice to experiment with is Pastel (hard and soft) in all its powdery glory.
Pastels are resistive enough that it affords control, yet it also offers a tactile component with capacities for layering, blending and some level of mess.
A discussion of the psychodynamic concepts of transference and countertransference may also be applied to materials and media; in that art materials may be viewed as a metaphor for food as they provide a tangible form of emotional sustenance, and within art psychotherapy the therapist providing these materials may be seen as the parent who “feeds”, nurture or is/isn’t good enough. The characteristics and quality of materials and processes may also be linked with object relations theory and ego development in what Arthur Robbins terms Psychoaesthetics.
Much and more may be gleaned from the medium we choose to work with alone, and to that end, time to satiate our creative soul.
Prima Materia Journal 