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Supplies are available at:
Mendocino College bookstore
Rileystreet Art Supply (phone: 526-2416, 103 Maxwell Ct., Santa Rosa )
Village Art Supply (behind Rosses, Montgomery Village, Santa Rosa)
or online or by catalogue at retailers such as www.carpediemstore.com, Dick Blick, Cheap Joe's, Jerry’s Artarama or many others.
About Soft Pastels:
Soft pastels appear chalk-like and come in a variety of hardnesses and quality. Since soft pastels do not mix like traditional paints, larger sets are more advantageous. I recommend to students to buy the largest set that they can afford, such as sets of 72 sticks, 96, or larger. However, a starter set with a minimum of 24 - 36 sticks will work. Some higher end brands sell “half sticks,” making better quality sets more’ affordable to students. Pastels are sold in sets or sold by the individual stick. Though they may be individually purchased to fill in missing colors, they generally will cost more than the same sticks purchased in a set. If you buy a good starter set, such as Nu Pastel, you won’t out grow them, but you may decide to add additional sets at a later time.
Excellent Economical Starter Sets: ]
Nu Pastels, by Prismacolor (fairly hard, dustless full size stick - 60 set approx. as low as $43.10 OR the 96 set as low as $51.00. This is an excellent choice for price, quality, and color choices.)
Faber-Castel (72 set half sticks approx. $25.00)
Faber-Castell Creative Studio Half Stick Pastel 48-color Set $15.85 at Daniel Smith
Martin / Universal Mungyo Gallery Artist Semi-Hard Pastel Set
Better brands include:
Holbein (harder than average, though they make good muted, natural colors - well priced)
Rembrandt (90 color half stick around $75.00 and up. Medium hardness, Great all around pastel. I have the wood box with 250 sticks that I mostly use in any pastel painting. There are no heavy metal pigments, but pure pigment mixed with the finest quality kaolin clay binder.)
Winsor & Newton (72 full sticks $139.00 and up. Rembrandt’s are a better deal!)
Rowney
More Expensive Professional Brands:
Sennelier (80 half sticks for approx. $84.00 and up - excellent! No fillers, clays and minimal binder, rich pigments)
Schmincke (buttery! Excellent and expensive! Individual sticks around $3.99)
Unison (Excellent, expensive at $3.69 a stick. Many pro’s prefer this pastel.)
Diane Townsend (Many pros love these pastels for the purity of pigment with no chalks or fillers. $5.19 a piece at Dick Blick)
Pastel Surfaces:
Pastel needs a fibrous, toothy or an abrasive surface for pastel layers to adhere to the selected surface. There are a variety of surfaces available that will help achieve different results. Toothy papers will take minimal layers of pastel, while sanded papers or pastel boards can take several layers of pastel that allows the pastelist the opportunity to further develop their painting. Pastel boards take multiple layers of pastel with little need for fixatives. Boards can be made by ges-soing masonite and adding pumice OR marble dust (pumice maybe bought at a home supply / hardware store or you may bought marble dust or lava medium from an art supply store. Premixed mediums are available from Liquitex or Golden Pumice Gel OR Golden Pumice Gel Acrylic Medium). Individual sheets of paper and pads are available in 1/4 sheet, 1/2 sheet and full sheet sizes.
Other Boards Extra toothy surfaces, such as Art Spectrum Colourfix Supertooth Board (10 packs of 20” x 28” are $9.09 at Dick Blick. I have never used any of the Art Spectrum products for pastel. This seems to be a good buy and decent paper that can be used for some of the smaller quicker assignments. This is made with watercolor paper that has been primed with a clear acrylic primer that contains silica particles. The same company makes a “Multimedia” board (Art Spectrum Colourfix Multimedia Painting Board) that comes in a variety of colors, though limited in size to 12” x 16” art area. Though this claims to be a multimedia board, it also has a fine tooth surface. Dick Blick sells this board for $7.39, however I won’t recommend it since I haven’t used it or felt it with my hands.
Watercolor paper is a good surface for a pastel painting when a watercolor or acrylic under-painting is first painted and then pastel applied on top. Less layers of pastel are needed or doable when using this method (watercolor paper has less fiber or abrasion than traditional pastel papers in order for the application of multiple pastel layers, so much of the painting should be worked out first in the under-painting).
One last remark on summing up choosing a paper is that the student should first consider the subject and size being planned to approach, then consider the pastel set that you own. Soft pastels will vary in their consistency and how they lay down on paper. Some brands are more hard, some brands are considered medium in hardness, and some are very soft or buttery. In a painting with multiple layers the “medium” or “hard” soft pastel is applied during the first layers, while the soft buttery pastel is applied last. The reason for this is that the extra soft, creamy pastels will fill in the tooth of the surface quickly because it goes on thick. Of course to work this way, it takes having more than one brand of pastel. Which is fine if you own a smaller set (and decide you love pastel and want to continue working with it), you can add another set later on or add individual sticks or make your own. In the mean time, I recommend that you buy a medium hard set such as Rembrandt’s because they are a wonderful all around pastel. It’s okay to use the same pastel for multiple layers, but the softer the pastel the less layers can be used on a paper.
When choosing paper, pastelists should know that water cannot be applied to a vegetable made paper, so be sure to choose a correct paper if mixed medium is planned for a painting.
Here is a fantastic link to an abundance of information related to pastels. It includes making your own pastels, and reviews on pastels. It is http://www.squidoo.com/pastels#module1568060
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