About Chiaroscuro, But Not That Chiaroscuro

Also, reader, I tried a new medium and it was good

In art, chiaroscuro is the use of bold contrast between light and dark, or the way contrast is used to create three-dimensional forms.

But in Kate DiCamillo’s “The Tale of Despereaux,” Chiaroscuro is a rat who yearns for the light so much that he leaves the castle’s dungeon to venture upstairs.

When Chiaroscuro accidentally falls into the queen’s soup — causing her death by surprise — he realizes his kind is hated and despised. Pursued by the king’s guard, he escapes back into the darkness, but not before stealing a spoon. He still wants to have something beautiful.

“There are those hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves in a crooked and lopsided way, as if sewn together by a careless craftsman. Such was the fate of Chiaroscuro. His heart was broken. Picking up the spoon and placing it on his head, speaking of revenge, these things helped him to put his heart together again. But it was, alas, put together wrong.”

I think about this passage often these days as I watch events unfold here and abroad.

And that’s what compelled me to paint a rat.

For the most part, I tried to suggest fur through texture rather than paint individual hairs.

A New Hope/Medium

While it might look like I used my go-to watercolors for this small portrait of Chiaroscuro, I didn’t.

I used water-soluble pastels.

Caran D’ache Neocolor II Aquarelle Pastels, to be exact. I’d bought some a while ago based on reviews from mixed media artists. After a few swatches and scribbles, though, I reluctantly put them away. I decided it was more important to shore up my basic skills than learn yet another medium.

But as I wrote about in my last newsletter I’m ready to explore new ideas and styles now. The Neocolor IIs are out again!

Neocolor II pastels come in 84 colors. I bought about half of them, open stock. Neocolor I pastels exist, too, but they aren’t water soluble.

Neocolor IIs look and feel like crayons except they dissolve easily in water, meaning they can be used wet or dry. To paint Chiaroscuro, I made marks on a palette first, dissolved the pigment into little puddles, then applied the colors with a brush.

Used like this, Neocolor IIs felt like a wonderful combination of watercolors and gouache. When diluted enough, they created blooms, hard edges, and graduated washes, similar to watercolors. But they also made opaque applications possible when used in layers or thicker consistencies, like gouache.

Magic.

The Good, The Bad and The… What on Earth

The rat I shared above was actually my second Neocolor II rat. This was my first:

After finishing it, I stepped back to survey the result. And this is what popped into my head:

I need more practice! But along with watercolors and gouache, I think Neocolor IIs might become a mainstay. I’m excited to experiment with them more.

Materials

• Caran D’ache Neocolor II Pastels: Payne’s Grey, Van Dyke Brown, Cinnamon for the fur

• Caran D’ache Aquarelle Palette (It has a rough side, which is perfect for making marks with the crayons and adding water to create paint.)

• Baohong Academy hot press paper, 140lbs

Thanks so much for reading! Please don’t hesitate to reach out via a Substack comment if you have questions about Neocolor IIs or my process. I’m always thrilled to share what I’ve learned.

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