My Favorite Spicy Pastels

'Texas Spring II'              5x7           pastel           ©Karen Margulis
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I love pastels. Hard, soft, square or round. I can find a good use for just about any brand of pastels. Sure I have my favorites. Certain brands work best on certain surfaces. Some brands are better for underpainting. Others are best for finishing touches. I call my finishing marks spices.  Done well, they are the marks that make an ordinary painting into a more intriguing painting.

I was very happy that my recent merit award for my painting 'Sunshine on a Cloudy Day' included two boxes of Schmincke pastels. These are my favorite pastels for adding the finishing spicy touches to a painting.

My award from Chart-pak....a nice box of Schmincke pastels

Schmincke pastels are quite soft. I find them to be very rich and creamy. In fact they are so soft and rich that when applied heavily they can create texture almost like oil paint. I use them sparingly and usually for my final marks. Look at the painting in today's post. I used the yellow and violet Schmincke pastels to paint the flowers. I simply rolled the pastel across the paper and it left a trail of thick creamy marks. The perfect spice...just a sprinkle of rich color.  I like to have a variety of spicy Schminke colors such as bright yellows, reds, violets and greens. I love their blues as well. I'm going to enjoy this new set!

The Schmincke website has a great flyer with information and a color chart of their soft pastels. Click here for the pdf.