Hello! I am new to art and pastels. I just ordered some pan pastels. Last year one of the online art stores sent me a sample and I am finally 'sneaking' up to this beautiful medium!! Nice and easy to use. I already have some Prismacolor and Rembrant which I like. Didn't care much for the Senn as they were not stable. Anyhoo, any thoughts to using the pan pastels ???
Thanx oodles, Lana :)
Hi There - I have tried these too, and I love them for large areas such as backgrounds. I usually use them as an "under-pastel" to push darks into the paper - before I use the "painterly" strokes on top. I also find that a brush with a flat "cut-off" end, such as a stencil brush or brushes actually made for blending pastels, works much better than the little foam things. I do love the Pan Pasels, but their use is very specific for me.
Sarah
I saw this post and was curious so I looked them up and watched a demo. http://panpastel.com/ and it was a very good demo but I could see for myself that i would probably would use them for intial backgrounds just as you said but would still want to get my hands on a pastel for the painterly strokes. I think I would get fristrated with the foam things getting to dirty and muddying things up. the range of colors they showed in the demo was beautiful. I tried to find them on line to get a price but I couldn't find any prices for them.
Hi Elizabeth,
Dick Blick has a special on them right now and with the discount code from their website you can get add'l $$ off. ASW also carries them at an affordable price.
The little sponge things are ok for smaller jobs but in one demo the guy used a large sponge for backgrounds. Would a good paper towel be just as good???
Thank you for your response and input .... I'll let you know when my order arrives!!
Lana :)
Hi Lana,
the demo I saw had a women in it. But anyway paper towels might work not realy sure. The paper towel may hold on to more of the pastel then you want but anything is worth a try. I am going to look for them tomorrow on Dick Blick. Thanks for the info. Happy Painting!!!
Hi Sarah,
I have lots of those blending brushes .... and .... I think if I dig deeper I can find my stencil brush. I haven't really used any of my beautiful pastels yet. I just started using them with my watercolors and the effects are very nice. I can see how much easier it will be to do larger areas with the pan pastels and their use will be specific for me too. Thank you for the tips. ..... can't wait for my orders to get here !!!
My pleasure! I have tried paper towels too, but with bad results. Elizabeth is right when she says the towels hold onto more than they put down or blend. They also leave residue, which is hard to get rid of. Actually, make-up sponges work pretty well too. Also, I buy them online with whatever is the best deal at the time - you can get some really good discounts. Happy painting!
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HI Sarah, My pan pastels arrived last week. They are AWESOM! I have a watercolor on hot press that needed some 'juicing up!' so I just added some pastel here and there and WOW! I see what you mean for the backgrounds. Great for skies. Thank you for the tips!
Hi Lana - that is wonderful. I look forward to seeing your work using them!!! I agree about the skies - they are designed for that sort of thing. I did a large sky on Pastelbord with the pan pastels and make-up sponges - what fun that was!!! I did it flat, instead of on the easel, and that kept the dust rotating. Just don't sneeze!!!! I look forward tot he update, Sarah
Wow - thank you so much!! I will certainly look into this. I do so apprreciate your sending me the info. Are you entering? :)
Well no because I posted this a while ago but Artist daily just now let it go thru, because I guess since I included a website on it they had to check it out because they do monitor all posts. After I got the e-mail saying they were going to post this I said to myself duh!!! I should enter it too!! But when I went to the link I realized Oct. 25th was the last day. But I am going to go to the website anyway to see if I can put in info to be on future mailings. Maybe you can try that too. You are so talented your work should be seen So again sorry about that lateness of the post.
Liz
Well, thank you anyway - one of these will happen as it is supposed to. I appreciate the thought, though. :)
Hi Sarah !!
Can't believe the weeks flew by so fast! As it turns out, I have happily OVERWORKED my landscape !! Totally not my fault. Right behind my back those little sponges hop out of the palette and suddenly they are up on my painting! It's ok and what a great learning experience. I do, however, see a re-do in the near future, something I can proudly share. Anyhoooooo, I received with my pan pastel sets a sample of 'Pastel Mat' which is really awesome. I've used my stick pastels on the little samples too with great results and very little dust. I value your opinion. Have you used the Pastel Mat yet???
Hi Ho HI HO back to having more fun I go.
Happy painting,
Hi Lana - I am thrilled that you are having so much fun!!! I do understand the midnight gremlins who have the urge to complete works - darn them! Didn't realize it was those little sponges! Ha ha.
I have not used PastelMats yet - but I will look for them. I am involved with some large oils right now - news at 10, as they say! Back to having fun!!
Happy Painting back, Sarah :)
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