Working on a Piece of Mystery Paper

'Imperfect Beauty'                12x9          pastel           ©Karen Margulis
available $165

It seems as though my daily painting time has moved to the early evening. Baby duty has changed my schedule and I am getting into the routine of a late afternoon painting. Today I pulled out an envelope of sample pastel papers that I had on my paper shelf. Ive had this pack of miscellaneous papers for yeas now. It was given to me by an artist who was changing mediums. I have no idea how old the papers are but there are a couple of sheets of Wallis paper. Today I decided to use a mystery piece of paper.

It was marked 'Windberg' on the back. I had never heard of it before and so I was curious. I really don't like trying mystery paper in case I really really love it and can't find more but my curiosity got the best of me.  The paper was a soft neutral gray tone and felt smooth with a bit of a gentle tooth. The paper seemed like it was a coated rag type and was fairly heavy weight. I wasn't sure how it would take a wet wash so I did a dry block in.

I thoroughly enjoyed working on the paper. It took quite a few pastel layers and workable fixative layers. I like the soft feel. It have some 'give' which I like. I would definitely use it again......if it still can be found!   I googled Windberg pastel paper and found the following. It seems like they just make panels but they use marble dust for tooth which explains the tooth of the paper. The color is the same as my mystery paper.

Here is a link:http://windbergartcenter.com/shop/art-supplies/windberg-multi-media-art-panel/

close up of detail

Dry Wash Underpainting