A Tip For Controlling Pastel Dust

'Light Up the Night Sky'        11x14        pastel          ©Karen Margulis  SOLD

A shower of pastel dust falls gently as I paint. What to do with this dust is the question. Pastel artists are quite resourceful and have devised ways to collect this dust. If we don't control it somehow it will fall from our paper and cover the floor or our shoes!  I have been using a piece of folded kraft paper that I place under my drawing board. I call it my paper gutter and it has done a good job of collecting the dust as it falls. That is until now.

My new dust collecting gutter.....a piece of metal flashing

I have a very creative student who is always finding ways to repurpose materials into art supplies. She was frustrated by the paper gutter. It got in the way of her hand and it just didn't hold up for long.  She was on a hunt for a better gutter at where else....Home Depot!  She found a great solution. It is a piece of lightweight metal flashing. The best part of this goody is the price....it is just 99 cents for a 42 inch piece!

•  It is the perfect size and shape for resting under a drawing board. 
• It comes with the front edge already bent so it sits nicely on the easel ledge.
• It is lightweight and stack-able if you want them for more than one easel.
• The slick surface means that pastel dust slides right off into the trash or a collection jar (in case you want to make pastels from your dust)
• She recommends cleaning the gutter with pledge to make it even slicker. The dust just slides right off for cleaning.
• The edges are sharp so I taped mine with artist tape. Another friend recommended coating the edges with rubber paint.

Here is a closer view of the new dust collecting gutter

 Today's painting is my interpretation of a meteor shower in honor of the Perseid Meteor Shower. It is based on a night photo I took out west at Jackson Hole Wyoming.