Potential of Pastel

For beginners and improvers

Please bring the following on your first day of class:

PASTELS

A range of soft and hard pastels of “artist quality” (brands such as rembrandt, faber castell hard, art spectrum, unison and schmincke are all good options) in all the colour families (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet)

Pastel pencils are optional.

PAPER

Pastel paper – bring a variety of pastel papers of colours that you enjoy.

Sanded papers such as Art Spectrum Colour fix (Sand paper type surface) and pastel papers such as the Canson pad of pastel papers are fine. The grey tones pad is ideal with the Canson Mi teintes in an A3 or A4 size. The 10 small colour studies will be approximately A4 in size.

GENERAL SUPPLIES

• Charcoal (willow and compressed – whatever you have at home)
• Kneaded eraser (Faber Castell brand is far superior to any other)
• Wet ones or rags to clean your hands.
• Cloth to cover your workspace
• Table easels and a backing board with clips to attach your paper
• Scissors and masking tape
• Newspaper to create a catch tray for pastel dust
• Fine Spray bottle for water, soft cheap synthetic 1-inch flat brush
• Clear pastel primer (Art Spectrum brand is preferred) and an old sponge to apply
• A few sheets of glassine paper to allow for easy transporting of your pastel artwork back to home
• Fixative if desired – preferably Spectra Fix – available online and in stores
• Notebook or visual diary for notes and sketches, pen and or pencils
• Your own rubbish bags
• Your own hand sanitiser
• Face masks in the event you have a cough etc
• Personal tissues
• Coffee cup and supplies for making your own hot
• A small battery powered lamp to illuminate any props that you bring – nothing with a cord please for safety reasons. BIG W sell one for $29 – rechargeable

REFERENCES

• Bring along A4 photos of subjects that you enjoy – enough for the whole week
• Feel free to bring along any props from which you may also work

PHOTOS AND/OR PROPS

Either photograph something like the following or bring along the actual prop. Here are some ideas on subjects suitable for each colour family. Props will always give you more satisfactory and accurate colour than photos provide.

Items in bold are what will be used in the demonstration

• GREEN – Gum leaves – dried is best – a bunch, still on a stem
• YELLOW – lemons with green leaves
• ORANGE – cut pumpkin, mandarins etc
• RED – mug or cup – patterned or plain
• VIOLET – Anything violet – a glass bottle or drinking glass, cushion etc.
• BLUE – pot or vase in predominately a rich blue colour, or any still life prop that is mostly a rich blue
• WHITE – white crockery item or similar on a white cloth
• BLACK – something with black stripes or a black and white pattern– a mug, a piece of fabric etc
• NEUTRALS – the boiled egg – brown
• LIGHTS – sky luminosity or pearls