I'm not a pastellist and rarely use them beyond touches in other pieces, but occasionally I feel a need to try them and today was the day. Then again, I haven't got a great set of pastels. Its a combination of various brands and colours along with left overs from many years ago. Brands and quality vary so much and I should invest in a few more colours then perhaps I'd be more inspired than trying to create colours that just will not be created with what I have. However I don't want to invest a lot of money in something that I won't use frequently. What are your six 'must have' colours in pastels? What brand?
I needed a touch of summer and found an image that I took at Salmonier last summer. A shallow river winds its way through reeds and was quite cooling being near it on that hot day. I'm hoping this captures a bit of the day.
9 comments:
I like your pastel a lot, Jeanette. The very active marks create movement just about everywhere, and you have kept the palette close - good work.
For the studio, I would consider a high key green and a low key green (olive green), an ultramarine in a fairly bright value and key, a blue-gray that is nice and clear, an Indian red and a low key, light yellow. After saying all of that, I would consider having a range of values among these six sticks.
Nice pastel! I need to take out my pastels also. I use Unison and Rembrandt, preferring the Unison since they are softer.
Thanks Casey. Seeing as you're my pastel idol I appreciate your comments. :)
I'm overdue a visit to the art supply store, so I'll take your suggestions, compare with what I have now and go browse.
Thanks Susan. I've used Rembrandt but not Unison. I hear only good things about them, so I should try some.
This is sooooooooooooooo weird.
Go see what I wrote on your pastel post on Watermarks before I came here!
You should DEFINITELY do more pastel work. Get some Unison - you'll love them. If you want to see/find out more about them you can try my fan site! Unison Pastels - Resources for Artists http://www.squidoo.com/unison-pastels
That's funny Katherine. We must have been thinking along the same lines.
I can't get Unison here, likely only Rembrandt and I have some of those already. I'll have to do another mail order it seems.
If you go look at my info site you'll see that you can now mail order Unison via Amazon. Might this work for you?
Katherine, Amazon.com and Amazon.ca are different. They don't stock the same items and in the past at least, limited what they would send to Canada.
I may be able to buy from Amazon.com and have it shipped to a Canadian address, but its likely easier for me to just go through an art supply store in Canada. It saves me headaches with duty and brokerage fees, even though the Canadian dollar is strong now.
My core pastel colors are the three primaries in three values, plus black. Almost all my paintings are made up in this fashion. Each painting and its mood determine the core hues. You personally would have to decide what hues work best for your tastes. I use many different brands - Sennelier, Windsor Newton, Unison, Diane Townsend. Even NuPastel, a harder stick, are terrific. Go to http://www.dakotapastels.com to order pastels. Great prices, and you can order by the stick. -Elaine
I think your technique is just perfect!!! I'm a begginer by the way!
Greets from Chile!
Leo
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