Painting the Greens of the Southeast

'Down by the Marsh'        11x14        pastel      ©Karen Margulis
click here to purchase $145

'Down in the Meadow'         11x14          pastel
click here to purchase $145

Today I tackled the box of Albert Handell's landscape pastel set by Unison.  I am devoting this week to organizing the sets of pastels I purchased from an artist who was downsizing.  It was not an easy task to break up this beautiful set of pastels.

But if I was going to use them it needed to be done. I found a cigar box and lined it with foam. Then I  removed the wrappers and broke each pastel in half.  I just snapped them in half but if you want to be more precise you can score them with a blade first.  An hour later I was ready to paint!

I was excited to get this set for a couple of reasons. I had attended one of Albert's workshops 6 years ago as a beginner and lusted over his set then but chose to get a Heilman box instead. (I believe at the time the set was Schminke)  I also knew that this set would be perfect for our VERY  GREEN Southeastern landscape.

I took out my notes from the workshop. I use a new notebook for every workshop and keep them all together on a shelf.  I had written down several of Albert's pearls of wisdom and this set of pastels will really be helpful for painting the greens. Here are a couple of 'pearls'

•  The trick to greens is balancing them with Mauves (purples)
• Modify your greens with mauves
• If you want to soften a green and make it go away....then use a mauve.
• "Whenever I think Green...I think Mauve"

See a pattern here?  If you have a look at the set you can see there is a great selection of greens and purples. I had just the paintings to try out the green/mauve idea.  They were unfinished demos of Southeastern Landscapes. Both were very green.  They needed more mauve! I enjoyed working with this set although the Unisons are a bit harder than I usually like.  I will work with them some more and will do a more thorough review.

Here is a link to Albert Handell's website with information about purchasing this set