Introduction to Pastels

Learn the excitement of soft pastel painting while working from photographs of landscapes. Students will learn the basics, including composition, value, color, and technique. Laurinda will demonstrate and offer plenty of individual instruction. 

Students must bring their own supplies including paper and soft pastels as well as photographic references. Please refer to supply list and vendors. This class is perfect for the beginner or for those wanting to try a new medium. 

Supply list

• Please bring your own pastels and paper. See below for descriptions, or email with questions. 
• Pastels: If you already have soft pastels, please bring those. If not, please start with basic set of soft pastels. I suggest starting with Faber-Castell Goldfaber Studio Soft Pastels – (student and beginner half stick set of 72 – great starting set) to see if pastel is a media you want to continue with. Or if you want to try better quality, I suggest half stick sets, to give you variety in color. Below is a list of various pastels and papers, which we will discuss in class.
• I use Great American, Blue Earth, Townsend, and Terry Ludwig, better quality but more expensive. 

Harder pastels work well for underpaintings and for adding detail. Softer pastels are easier to smudge, swipe and scumble but will fill tooth of paper faster. Having both is ideal. 

Better Quality Pastels, better colors, but more expensive

• Sennelier - (artist) soft - higher in quality  - has smaller 30 half stick landscape sets under $60
• Terry Ludwig - (artist) soft - higher in quality 
• Blue Earth - (artist) soft - higher in quality
• Diane Townsend - (artist) soft - higher in quality 
• Unison - (artist) soft - higher in quality 
• Girault - (artist) soft - higher in quality                    the list goes on and on….. 
• Harder sticks
• Faber-Castell Goldfaber Studio Soft Pastels – (student and beginner half stick set of 72 – great starting set, under $30 at dick blick)
• Blick Pastels (student and artist sticks) – medium 
• Rembrandt – (medium)
• PAPER
• Sanded paper 9x12 
• UArt is most affordable, and preferred by most, I suggest 400 or 600 grit
• Sanded
• Art Spectrum or UArt paper (comes in various grades. higher the number, less textured) (wet and dry) evenly sanded surface, for use with dry pastel, charcoal, and wet media for underpaint¬ings. Rubbing acohol dissolves pastels and ‘stains’ paper, water dissolves pastel but is more likely to rub off with rubbing dry pastel over. Both offer great underpainting options, as does watercolor, guache, or acrylic paints. These papers have a deep tooth and will hold more pastel. 
• PastelMat has a unique velvety surface with the ability to grab and hold multiple layers of even the softest pastels. Ideal for use with all dry media as well as water resistant which means that it can be used with water for underpaintings. 
• Additional suggested supplies that are good to have 
• Bristle Brush (hard bristles to pull pastel off paper if needed)
• Soft bristle brush for underpaintings
• rubbing alcohol, soft vine Charcoal and compressed charcoal, Sketch paper, 
• Kneaded Eraser, masking tape (no blue, green or yellow painter’s tape)
• Surface to paint on – foam core works great, and it is light weight
• towel for under easel, to avoid breaking pastels if dropped
• optional - Brush markers (ie.Tombow dual brush pen markers – gray/black)