'Peaceful Moment' 8x10 pastel on Canson Touch ©Karen Margulis
purchase painting on Paypal $145
Canson has a new sanded surface! I just got my order and I've been putting it through it's paces. So far I am impressed. The new Canson Mi-Teintes Touch is an acid free,archival sanded surface available in paper and board. It comes in 14 of the most popular Mi-Teintes colors. I tested the flannel gray paper.You can see the colors at Dakota Art Pastels.
It is a screen printed sanded surface that looks and feels a bit like Art Spectrum Colourfix. It feels soft and velvety and I didn't think it would hold too much pastel. I was wrong. I did a layer test and was able to get 90 layers of pastel on my swatch before I started getting mud. 90 layers!! I will never use that many layers but it is nice to know that this paper can handle it.
In today's painting, I did a dry wash underpainting in which I blended my first layer of pastel. Canson Touch does take wet underpaintings and I will report on my experience with that in tomorrow's post. Here is what I like about this new surface:
It is a screen printed sanded surface that looks and feels a bit like Art Spectrum Colourfix. It feels soft and velvety and I didn't think it would hold too much pastel. I was wrong. I did a layer test and was able to get 90 layers of pastel on my swatch before I started getting mud. 90 layers!! I will never use that many layers but it is nice to know that this paper can handle it.
In today's painting, I did a dry wash underpainting in which I blended my first layer of pastel. Canson Touch does take wet underpaintings and I will report on my experience with that in tomorrow's post. Here is what I like about this new surface:
- I like the soft velvety feel...the 'touch'.
- It is easy to blend even with fingers (if you are a blender)
- It has enough tooth for many layers of pastel but smooth enough for detail (fine lines)
- Color choice is nice but I would like to see it in Moonstone. Want to try while as well.
- I like the texture you get after you have a few layers down. It feels much like working on a smooth home-made surface. (enlarge photo to see the texture)
- Nice weight to paper. 353 gsm I haven't tried the board yet.
- Takes wet underpaintings...water and solvent based.
Tomorrow I will share my experience with using wet underpaintings on Canson Touch. Have you tried this new surface yet? What do you think?
P.S. I am now on twitter. Follow me @karenmargulis
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4 comments:
Beautiful...haven't tried yet but you are making a believer out of me...just when I needed a new challenge!
Thanks Cindy! I am really enjoying it! I want to try white paper next!
Hi Karen,
I got some Canson Touch in white and have been experimenting with it for three days. I am frustrated with it. I have tried it as is, then underpaintings - dry brush, alcohol, gouache - but I really am having trouble. It just seems like the pastels lay on top of the texture, and it almost feels waxy and hard to apply the pastel. Perhaps I am being too picky. I am usually not a fan of sanded paper because of the dust and feel of it eating away at my sticks, but had high hopes for this surface being the happy medium.... I do like Pastelmat and softer surfaces with my favorite being suede mat board. Can you give me some suggestions as to how to lay down the pastel on Touch? Do you start with harder going to soft? What type of pressure do you use? Thanks!
Nancy
Hi Nancy,
I can understand your frustration especially if you usually don't like sanded surfaces. I find Pastelmat and suded mat board to be very smooth and the Canson Touch while it initially feels smooth it really does have texture. I happen to like the texture I get with the pastel skipping over the surface but I can see where it wouldn't be what you prefer. It does take a lot of layers and I did find I had more luck with smoother blending when I got several layers going. It's like any new surface, play around with it and see how and if it fits with your painting style! I hope you have better luck with it!
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