Different types of pastel

[smb]

This tip is from Jennifer Blenkinsopp at ArtWanted.com:

You can view her portfolio here:

https://www.artwanted.com/artist.cfm?ArtID=19853

 

Quote

Sometimes, I only use soft pastel - sometimes hard, with soft on top.

I use Rembrant or Rowney soft pastels and Derwent pencils for mainly outlining and fine work.

The pencils, though, are not strictly necessary... you can always break a tiny bit from your soft pastels for fine work.

 

 

[smb]

Quote

Sometimes, I only use soft pastel - sometimes hard for the initial sketch, with soft pastels on top. I use Rembrant or Rowney pastels and Derwent pencils for mainly outlining and fine work. The pencils, though, are not strictly necessary... you can always break a tiny bit from your soft pastels for fine work.

Although Rembrandt are generally classed as a soft pastel - personally speaking, I would tend to put them more towards hard end of "soft", if you know what I mean?! (In other words, they are soft - but there are softer pastels out there...) In any case, when you look at the extremely high standard of Jennifer Blenkinsopp's work, you can tell that they obviously work for her! Personally, I much prefer Schmingke and Senellier soft pastels. These are in a different class of softness - a bit like comparing glass with butter!!! I can't find either Schmingke or Senellier pastels in the Philippines, so I buy them every chance I get when I am abroad. Otherwise, I order these very soft pastels online.

[smb]

Wow! I didn't realise that you can get premium quality soft pastels on Amazon.com...!!

I like Amazon. I have only really ever bought books from them, in the past... I've never had a problem. Those books that I have bought from them have always been delivered on time - (or, very often, in advance of the estimated delivery date) - and in perfect condition.

Also, as an affiliate, they have always been very good to me... Even when artfreaks.com had been suffering and referrals dropped to nothing from one month to the next, they never even hinted at terminating our agreement.

So yes, I like Amazon!

And I am very pleased to see that aside from the Schmingke Soft Pastels and the beautifully boxed sets of Sennelier Soft Pastels that I referred to in the previous post to this topic, I can even order my all-time favourite soft pastels from them...

Unison Soft Pastels

Unison is a true soft pastel. Very nice to work with. But what I like the most is the super vibrancy of some of their colours... Some of them even seem to have an almost fluorescent glow!

The company that makes Unison Soft Pastels is a fairly small enterprise and it is based in the UK.

If I remember correctly, I first came across their wonderful pastels in an art shop in the city of Bruges. I have also seen them in Victoria B.C., Canada so they do seem to be exporting them around the world. And, of course, you can always get hold of them at Amazon.com!

 

You can check out the Unison Colour website here:

https://www.unisoncolour.com/about-us/