Pastel Journal - USA (2020-04)

seethatthesameobjects—thepuppets,inparticular—took

ondifferentlevelsofimportancebasedonthelightingthey

weregivenonstage.”Thisrealizationheavilyinfluenced

Moscicki’slaterworkasanartist;henowtreatsobjectsas

“realcharactersanimatedbytheplayofchiaroscuro.”

Moscickibecamea professionalpainterin1990,work-

ingwitha gallerythatsoldhisoilpaintingsdoneinthe

Dutchstilllifestyle.Shortlythereafter,hebeganexperi-

mentingwithpastels,whichhefeelspresenteda richness

ofpossibilities.Hewasparticularlyimpressedbythe

technicalperfectionintheGoldenAgeof18th-century

pastels.IttookMoscickiseveralyearstodevelopa method

thatenabledhimtoreproducethetonalityandrichness

ofcolorthathehadachievedinhisoilpaintings,buthe

ultimatelyfoundthatpastelsoffereda moredirectand

sensualapproach,freefromtheconstraintsofthedrying

andchemicalreactionsofoilpainting.

TheUseofBlackandWhite

Toc re ateLumièreIntérieure, Moscickidrewa true-to-size

pictureofthepaintingona sheetofwhitepaper.Herefers

tothisas“drawingrough,”becausehecanfreelystudy

Ailleurs

(27½x39½)

the composition and erase his mistakes. He then trans-

lated this draft onto another sheet—in this case, white

PastelMat Clairefontaine paper—using sharp lines that

will be the canvas of the study of the black-and-white sub-

ject. He filled in this study with charcoal and white chalk.

Once the light was built out, he applied color. He says that

the initial value phase requires a lot of discipline. “It’s the

most laborious part,” he says. “It’s a phase of construction

of the painting by reduced means and can be painstaking.

But what a joy when I put in the color. It’s a true liberation

that allows me to be spontaneous and free because the

subject is already there.”

Ultimately, Moscicki has come to understand that “the

mixture of pigments in the pastel is mechanical and not

chemical,” he says. “The light is reflected differently on a

light medium than on a dark and, therefore, the same color

will appear different depending on its location. This simple

discovery allowed me to vary the colors infinitely accord-

ing to the effects of the chiaroscuro that I desire.” Moscicki

works in three- to four-hour increments, coming back to

the piece again and again for a different perspective.

A unique element of Moscicki’s process is that he

doesn’t shy away from using black and white pastels.

50 Pastel Journal APRIL 2020