Several years ago, when I decided that I wanted to work in pastels, I had visions of creating amazing paintings.  Don’t we all when we embark on something new?  The reality was, it wasn’t that easy.  I did what anyone would have done.  I went to my local art supply store and from a very small selection, purchased some pastels and a pastel surface.

I began making marks.  It wasn’t close to what I envisioned.  I had no idea what I was doing.  As I worked, I created a lot of pastel dust.  I ended up applying the pastel in a cross-hatch pattern and over sprayed with fixative to make it stick.  This destroyed my colors by muting and darkening them.

I discovered a publication devoted to pastels and devoured every article to discover the surfaces that other pastelists worked on.  I experimented of course, trying “this and that” and then eliminated a surface after exploring three surfaces.  I tried 5 or 6 different surfaces and narrowed my favorites down to two/three.

I read that my favorite surface was “going to go away.”  I don’t remember the reasons why at this point, but I had tried a few recipes for creating my own ground – something like a primer that you put on a surface before painting.  Some of the recipes promised results to be just like this or that fav.  I tried two recipes and was disappointed.  But really!  Did that matter?  I was using at least one very popular surface.  I told myself, “It wasn’t going to go away.”

I noticed a manufacturing issue, a line randomly going through the surface – an area of resist, something like an indent in the surface that could not be worked around.  I bought rolls of paper and cut them to size and was able to cut around the issue.  And I just knew this would get this fixed.

Another surface went away during the Obama presidency.  The price of fuel was at record highs, and the surface that I was interested in came from Europe, and I believe from doing some research, that it was actually a surface that Degas and other pastelists of that time period used.  It was cost prohibitive to ship this surface to America.

Recently I decided it was time to get back to painting, now that my kids are older.  I was truly shocked to discover that my very favorite surface never came back.

And so, I am exploring the surfaces again.  I purchased a sample pack and am sharing my thoughts.  Keep in mind that I am not saying that any of these surfaces are good or bad.  We all work in different ways, with different approaches. I am just sharing my thoughts about the surfaces based upon the way that I work.

First up: Velour.  To hear my thoughts, check out this video.

https://rumble.com/vhv5k5-exploring-the-surfaces-painting-with-pastel.html

“I’m still learning.” – Michelangelo at age 87.