Not gonna lie, I fear fixatives since the last one I used from Pebeo. This time, I am not fooling around, and went straight for Sennelier Latour soft pastels fixative. In fact, I had high hopes for it. If you wonder whether this works, read on for my Sennelier Latour Fixative review.
I believe this is one of the longest reviews I have posted, so grab a drink and get comfy!
Product Specs for Sennelier Latour Fixative
Sennelier Latour Fixative for soft pastels retails for CAD$27.99 at DeSerres. It is made in France. The volumetric weight of this product is 400ml or 13.5 fl. oz. which is the same size as the Pebeo one, except this one is $9 more.
According to the label this is an alcohol and resin based fixative that dries to a transparent matt finish.
Using The Fixative
This is a typical aerosol spray can, but I find that the strength of the spray is pretty strong, so you can go too heavy handed. According to the instructions, you should apply in several light coats rather than one heavy application. Ironically, because the spray is quite strong, light coats are a bit hard to do! As this Sennelier Latour Fixative review will show, application is key to not ruining your precious pastel artwork.
Testing on 1st Artwork
Too scarred from what happened with the Pebeo fixative, I knew I had to test Sennelier Latour fixative on something I don’t care about if it gets ruined. The clouds I did with the Sennelier soft pastels were perfect for this.
The spray was strong! I barely even pressed the nozzle and the fixative came out very heavy. The same thing happened like it did with the Pebeo fixative: it ran the pastels!
I was very reluctant to spray this on anything at this point. However, I knew the application was too heavy, so I needed to test the fixative again but with a lighter application. So I busted out this pastel painting I did a while back, and tried to spray in lighter coats.
This was before the fixative:
I tried my best to control the application and sprayed a bit farther from the painting. The spray still came out pretty strong, but this time it didn’t run the pigment as badly.
It’s interesting to note that the parts where the pigments disappeared after the spray were Mungyo pastels, which also happened with the Pebeo spray. At this point, I suspect the spray wasn’t completely to blame. Some pastels seem to get washed away even with a non-water based fixative!
The Big Test: On a Commission Portrait!
I was very nervous about using the fixative on a commissioned piece, but this would be the way to show how the spray worked (or not). I tried my best to mist the portrait in light coats, being extra careful not to drench the portrait.
This portrait had Conte a Paris pastel pencils, Stabilo pastel pencils, Sennelier and Rembrandt soft pastels. The blue (strictly Rembrandt) got washed away, as did a bit of the black around the scarf, which was Conte a Paris. The Sennelier soft pastels stayed mostly intact.
Out of curiosity to see whether I could still work on the portrait after the fixative, I applied some PanPastel in white and a bit of Stabilo pastel pencils before giving it a second application of fixative. Indeed, I was able to work on the painting, unlike the Pebeo fixative, which I could not. I left the blue part as is, as I didn’t mind the texture.
Here is before the second application of Sennelier Latour Fixative:
Here is after:
As you can see, very little was lost in the second round of fixative. The PanPastel worked very well with this fixative, and even with Pebeo too.
Overall Sennelier Latour Fixative Review
Sennelier Latour Fixative worked fairly well with soft pastels, with a few exceptions. Though Rembrandt pastels were not hard like pastel pencils, they somehow washed away with the fixative. The harder pastel pencils could come off as well, so you have to be careful what fixative you use with them.
I also wish the spray was a little more gentle and came out like a fine mist, because it is key to not ruining your soft pastel work. Truthfully, I have a love-hate relationship with pastel fixatives, because I find that no matter what you use or how light handed you are, you will lose a bit of the pigment. However, it is a necessary evil when it comes to commissioned work, as you don’t want your customer to accidentally touch the portrait and smear it.
