Pushing the limits of a Budget Pastel Set

'Simple Pleasure'                 9x12                 pastel                  ©Karen Margulis
available $175

 I was a bit worried. Did I over promise? Would I be able to deliver? This month I have been working with a set of 16 assorted soft pastels by Daler Rowney. They are a challenging selection of bright middle value colors. I challenged myself to do a demo video using ONLY the set. Whew!

It was a lot of fun though. I didn't have any light value pastels for the sky and water so I knew I would use the white pastel to lighten my colors. I went out on a limb and added some yellow and green to the sky. Did it work? I think it creates an interesting mood!

TIP: Because of the limited value and intensity range of this set I had to make use of the dark blue and the white to change the value of some of the colors. I also needed to layer colors to dull them down. It was a great learning experience!

The reference photo and painting WIP

I know many of you are Patreon members so be sure to see this video demo of this painting. If you aren't members maybe this is the month to join! Especially if you have been wanting tips for working with a budget set of pastels. www.patreon.com/karenmargulis

The aftermath.....Daler Rowney Pastel set of 16 assorted pastels