It was bound to happen. I've been following Casey Klahn's blog and admiring his pastel paintings and knowing I would NEVER go there because I can't stand the feel of chalk or soft pastel on my fingers and my only attempt, with an inferior set, looked like cave painting. That was all before I stumbled upon Dianna Ponting's soft pastel tutorial on WetCanvas. So off I went to Arezzo yesterday in search of a 100+ set of pastels. I returned with a 36 piece set, and a little white around the gills at the cost of that. So here I am surrounded by surgical gloves, baby wipes, drop cloths and dust.
Of course I realise the above photo may be the most beautiful pastel associated image I ever come up with. I guess I could always frame that. To be continued........
4 comments:
Key the harp music, maestro...
Hey, this set looks great, Robyn. They aren't inferior, either. The actual difference between a hard pastel and a soft pastel is not that much. I would ask you to test some marks from both a soft one and a new one, and compare the color intensity.
Anyway, a sanded paper tends to really pull the color off of the hard stick - a nice result.
Pretend you're drawing, too...
Don't tell anyone else this one secret: pastels are not a difficult medium. They are actually easy.
Easy!!!! That's easy for you to say, Casey. They are addictive - I've already worked that one out. The small box of Ferraro Italian extra soft pastels I found locally this morning are luscious but I suspect they are not going to be as easy to control as the Polychromos. Dianna Pointing's class is stunning! I would never have believed I could get clean lines with pastels.
Hello Robyn, good luck with your pastel diversion. I used to enjoy using the hard conte type pastels as a change from my watercolours but it was the dust that put me off. Plus I didn't like to fix them which made them impossible to post. Have fun.
Thanks John. This is only a diversion, I'm firing up my Watercolour Charger again. It is a problem working out how to store pastels. I do love those sticks of pure pigment though.
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