What Can You Paint with 30 Pastels? Using Sennelier 30 piece Half Sticks.

'High Country II'                   9x12                pastel          ©Karen Margulis
available $175

I bought this small set on a whim. I am trying various small sets of pastels that are under $50 to review for my Patreon group. I though this set of 30 Sennelier  'Plein Air' half stick pastels couple also be useful as a small set to throw in my backpack for Plein air outings. I have been using them all month and I am surprised at how much I am enjoying them. Of course they could never replace my favorite Terry Ludwig pastels but it has been fun to explore pastels with a different feel. 

For today's painting I wanted to try the set on a piece of unsanded Canson paper. I selected my favorite color, Moonstone.  The pastels worked well on the unsanded paper and I was able to build up quite a few layers as long as I used a light touch for most of the painting. 

TIP: How do you know if your touch or pressure is light enough? If you can still see the paper color after the first layer and the colors underneath as you build layers then you have a light enough touch.

The final marks are where these pastels shine. Pressing down hard leaves a wonderful thick, rich mark. The pastels are a bit creamy so it makes these final marks even more satisfying. 

I did end up supplementing the set with a few extra pastels. 

Join us on Patreon to see a complete step by step photo demo of this painting. We are exploring composition this month and I share my thoughts on the design of this painting as well. 
www.patreon.com/karenmargulis