Pastel Palette

This will be the first of a series on working with chalk pastels.
After teaching pastels over the past 7 years, I have come to find that Nu Pastels 96 piece set is the best beginning palette with which to work. Here is why.
1. The colors are fairly neutral. What that means is that they are purer hues not mixes.
2. The hues are intense. Colors can always be greyed. But a greyed hue can not be made more intense.
3. Color range is good.
4. Individual sticks can be replaced. This is critical. Never buy a set unless individual sticks can be replaced. You will find there are some sticks you use far more than others.
5. This set is relatively inexpensive.
6. The sticks are harder and so one is more apt to practice different pressures when painting.
7. The edges help with final details.
Once you begin collecting pastels, think about keeping a journal recording brand, name/number and color swatch of the stick. Put wax paper between the swatch papers to keep pastel from rubbing off on other paper. By recording this you will be freer to take of hindering paper wrappers and breaking pastel sticks to suit your purposes.
After playing with a beginning palette exploring what you can and can not achieve with the colors, there will come a time when frustration sets in because some darks and lights will not be able to be achieved. Then it will be time to start adding stick by stick to your palette.
There are many brands and each has distinct properties both in regards to texture as well as color.
Color selection is so personal. There is of course individual taste, but also the location where one is painting. One brands greens, I find are too chalky for the coast of Maine. I think they would be perfect if I lived in southern France however.
What I will cover in the next entry will be pictures of various brands and descriptions of texture and color. Hopefully including enough information for folks to make selections according to individual need and interest.
PAPERS
There are many kinds of paper as well. Visit Dakota Arts for good generic descriptions. I write here my observations.
1.Canson is well known and readily available in local stores. It tends to have a regular texture which comes through even well layered painting. Some of the colors have dimples which are very hard to fill.However, if painting on a colored surface is of interest, this product offers a wide range.
2. Sennelier makes a textured surface with a variety of tones. However this surface is not waterproof. If it gets wet the texture comes off. I use this paper if I am combining pastel with gold leaf.
3. Wallis is my personal favorite. It has an excellent tooth onto which I can get 12-15 layers. When layering color, I do not choose a color that is the local color, I choose 10-15 colors which will create the local color. This results in a physical as well as visual depth. This paper is waterproof.
4. There is a new sanded paper out but I have had trouble acquiring it because it is always sold out! The company sent samples-- now why didnt I think of that for all the papers??

5. There is a new product called Pastel Mat. I have tried several paintings on this surface. It is very smooth but takes multiple layers but not as many as Wallis. Wallis is still a favorite for portraits because the tooth is deep but does not impose itself on the painting visual results.