Pastel crayons are created by mixing pure pigments with just enough binder to hold them together. They are the most archival and light fast of any painting medium. There are few, if any, additives to fade or yellow with age. the only drawback to pastel is the fact that it never dries or sets up. It must be framed under glass. If a pastel is painted on paper with insufficient “tooth”, the pastel can start to fall off over along period of time or if they are roughly handled. With this in mind, all of don’s paintings are created on Wallis Pastel Paper, an archival sanded paper that will resist this falloff better than any other paper he has found.
Pastels are most often used in a scribbly, pencil like manner, and are usually thought of as a drawing medium, and are often blended together into a sometimes overly soft picture. It is possible, though, to handle them in a brush-like manner to create works that are similar in appearance to oil paintings. These works may, however, possess more vibrancy and color intensity than oils, because pastels cannot be mixed together like liquid paints.
Don has always tried to to use his pastel in this brush-like manner. He thinks of each stick as a brush and tries to create works that have the style of oils with the purity and clarity of form and shape that can most easily be found with pastels. He uses pastels from almost every manufacturer, trying to choose just the right color to realize his intentions.
Don Rantz has been enthusiastically painting in pastels since 2002. He spends most of his of time painting in the plein air style–painting from life in the great outdoors. A large number of his works are created this way and are completely finished in the wild. He also takes his field studies and makes studio paintings, using them as his guide.
An Arizonan since 1959, Don studied fine art at Northern Arizona University. In addition to his pastels, Don also has collaborated with his wife, Beth Neely, in illustrating three highly popular children's books, and has, over the years, created a number of finely crafted wooden sculpture and furniture pieces. He and Beth reside in a 1919 bungalow in Prescott, Arizona, with their two cats and an assortment of visiting wildlife.
Don has received many awards for his pastels in recent years. He won Pastel awards at the prestigious Phippen Museum Art Show and Sale in both 2006 and 2007. From out of over 4000 entries, he won the Ruth Richeson award in the Pastel Journal’s Pastel 100 competition in 2006 and Honorable mention in the same competition in 2007. He won second place overall in the New Mexico Pastel Society National Show in 2007.
He also was awarded best local cat petter by Gandalf and Farley, narrowly beating out his wife, Beth.
