Back in June this year I purchased 2 full sets of pastel pencils and a full 120 soft pastel stick set. About 5 years ago I bought the full set of Derwent pastel pencils and only used them once and never finished the drawing. It was of a Zebra and for whatever reason, which I cannot remember, I never completed it. This wasn’t unusual as I did used to start a wildlife piece and start another before finishing the last. So therefore I never really finished anything. This was a rule I made to myself when I went full time 2 years ago… Any piece I start I MUST finish before starting the next.
My difficulty with pastels…
When I bought these sets it never entered my mind the difficulty I would have using them.. If I would have know I would probably not have invested in them! Turns out .. I HATE the feel of the pastels on the textured/sanded paper that pastels require. The gritty feeling goes straight through me like nails down a chalk board! Weird I know 🙂
The howling Wolf was my first pastel piece I experimented with and finished! I was delighted when the next day it sold! So that was a real confidence booster for me and made me want to work through the medium to a point where I am as comfortable using them as I am my other mediums.
New paper…
Every so often I buy new materials to try out. When I was first using my colour pencils I bought sooooo many paper types and brands. I dont want to know how much I spent haha! But this is part of the process of ‘learning your trade’. What works for others may not be suited for your techniques. I personally like a smoother paper than hot-pressed watercolour paper which majority of colour pencil artists use. It just falls down to personal preference and what works best for you.
The new pastel paper I have bought can be used with colour pencils as well. I don’t think I will be changing my colour pencil paper however I do want to be able to incorporate my pastels and colour pencils together. So this may be a happy medium. The bonus is that it comes in so many gorgeous colours so if I like it I will be experimenting with a variety of colours for various subjects!
Keep updated…
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