New Pastels and latest Pet Portrait

Over the last 10 years, I have built a collection of pastel brands and colors that are made in several countries around the world. 

My 'forever-growing collection of brands' adds their own unique colors and surface actions. No two pastel brands cover the various papers in the same way. It's also in the pastel artist's best interest to experiment and find the papers to apply the pastels.

 Listed are the brands I have currently purchased and used: Rembrandt, Unison, Sennelier, Schminke, Holbein, 1930s Reeves, Henry Roche, and new Mount Vision.    

Quote from a pastel artist, Richard McKinley, "...the one with the most pastels when they die, wins!" 

I recently added new sandpaper called UART as my surface for pastel painting. I am very pleased with the selection of grit surfaces, which provide an excellent build-up of pastel textures, allowing for several layers of pastel to be applied, and creating more depth and painterly-like surfaces rather than a flat drawing. I had first purchased this new paper from New York on an online store called Fineartstore.com. They were invaluable over the phone, answered my questions, and have several pastel demos on YouTube, which I have featured a few in this blog article.

I had typically used a 9"x11" black sandpaper that is used for sanding wet metal surfaces. My Russian art instructor, Natalia Vetrova, had first introduced me to this surface, which I fell in love with due to its diamond grit-grabbing pastel and layering capabilities. I went on a search to find larger sheets of it, even contacting manufacturers to purchase a roll of it, with no success. 

I had tried other pastel papers, and each one brings its own unique result, but nothing like the industrial sandpaper until I found a new American-made paper called UART. Now, with UART, I can achieve a variety of courses to finer-grit surfaces while also guaranteeing an archival quality of the paper. With its beige, neutral surface, I can apply a wash of artist-quality ink to create an underlying color of my choice. 

Recently, I made a significant purchase of Mount Vision pastels (www.mountvisionpastels.com), which are handmade in Tampa, Florida. The colors and action are outstanding, and the pastels are large in size. They are not crumbly but hold together well and give a bit of sparkly essence with a gritty texture from the marble dust mixed into the pastel. This type of pastel allows for mark-making on paper that is more durable than the delicate Sennelier pastels.  I used a lot of the Mount Vision pastels within this latest painting on UART sandpaper. 

Close-up of  Mount Vision Pastels. 

The brilliant pinks & crisp greens are Mount Vision as well as some of the tonal textures & shades in the dogs, etc.

View more pet portraits here.

The texture, colors, and surface action with Mount Vision pastels are amazing. There is some grit within his pigments, leaving a secure build-up of textural surfaces once applied to the paper. I also love Schimke pastels from Germany, which I affectionately refer to as my butter. Both of these pastels allow for a painterly, chunky surface, which I appreciate in the final results. 

I do not use pastel sprays during or after my pastel paintings when using the UART sandpaper which holds firmly the layers of pastels without sprays. Pastel sprays do alter the color and texture of pastels, but in that action, sometimes it is used creatively and on some smoother papers, which do not have the gripping surface that UART sandpaper offers.

This featured portrait commission of Penny & Tess was once again an enjoyable subject to paint. The original photo had these two postings intently in a garden with bright pink flowers zig-zagging in the background.  My new art collector, Alyssa, was allowed to select her favorite colors among all my pastel collections, and it was the new Mount Vision pink pastel, which was a must to add to the pet portrait she commissioned.

I create pets with a realistic impressionist style of painting, which involves layers of pastel strokes that add texture and depth through numerous layers of color. The background is done with design concepts, picking up clues in the photograph and giving the dogs a place to tell their story.

The original photo was taken by Alyssa's dad, who used tricks to get  Tess & Penny to sit still while sporting a serious look of intent, focused on their cookie reward! It is hard enough to get one dog to sit still, but two pets, awake & sitting together... that is amazing!

One bonus of being a painter versus a photographer is that I can do what I wish... I add the ball to the composition , featuring its name, and it is made with Schminke's metallic silver pastel, which gives the ball a glow under reflected lights. 

Photography rarely captures the realistic eye of moving dogs with lots of hair around their faces unless the flash is positioned close to their eyes, which dogs and cats dislike. As a painter of pet portraits, I add dimensional highlights, allowing the expressive eyes to stand out. My signature is hiding within the pink flowers where I will be watching over their playtime!

Come Play... Minaz