It’s that time of year again and I have very little time for painting. But last week I received the 12 x 16 packet of Pastel Premiere in the gray-brown “Italian clay” (I think that’s the name). I’ve been dying to try it out. Today, in between getting ready for a dinner party, raking leaves, and editing the Christmas letter, I actually found an hour to paint!  Thought I’d share my initial reactions with you.

I’ve always loved Wallis Belgian mist and this is the closest anyone has come to it. It might be even better, given how uncertain the color was in the Wallis.  The grit is 320, the white comes in 400, closer to the UART I’ve been using.  But I like this rougher grit and there is no pattern in it, like the UART.  (I know some people really dislike that.)  It’s the perfect color and value for working directly on the paper without an underpainting. I decided to skip using hard pastels and go directly to the soft pastels and Giraults.  Not having any problem.  I don’t want to get too picky with this, but there is a certain amount of detail needed and I’m finding I can achieve it with the Giraults.

I began this painting last Friday during an opening at my studio. Spent most of the time drawing, but when I went for the color, it all ended up purple!  And I REALLY didn’t want purple in this picture!  It’s red and green.  So today, I brushed down as much of the purple (in building on right) as possible and painted over it. No problem. (For some reason, I’m working from right to left with this picture, which probably isn’t a great idea!)

This is Venice, of course, and the buildings  have lots of age, dirt and complexity. I’m finding it easy to lightly layer colors over each other.  (The middle building is just getting going, but the buildings in the back are close to complete.) I think you could use any kind of pastels very successfully with this paper.

It’s not cheap. $5 a sheet on sale.  But I think it’s worth it. The 12 x 16 size is great to try out–$30 a package. I will purchase larger sheets later and have my framer dry mount them for me. I’ll definitely try the white and probably get more of this lovely brown.  It’s amazing what’s available to us these days!

They are promising another bad winter, but it hasn’t hit here yet (we won’t mention Buffalo!).  Whatever the weather, I hope to be painting a lot, either in the studio or here at home. Look forward to sharing with you. Happy holidays to you all and a creative New Year!

Beginnings of painting on Pastel Premiere gray-brown