Landscape and New Paper

I went to the kitchen to take a break and make some tea, but I ended up bringing everything imaginable from my desk with me. In front of me are my to-do lists for the day and the month, yet I find myself gazing out the window.

I caught myself thinking about Pastelmat and its properties. I’m wondering why working on it feels so challenging for me. Perhaps it restricts movement and lacks the ease I need for working on large formats.

I don’t use this paper often.

What I dislike is its tendency to hold pigment so firmly that blending colors through blending becomes nearly impossible. However, if the goal is to work with patches of color, placing hues side by side or layering them on top of each other, then this paper is an excellent choice.
Mule Road
Pastels adhere beautifully to its surface, hold firmly, and appear rich and vibrant. The final artwork takes on a velvety appearance, and while working, the texture under your fingertips is smooth and soft, not abrasive. Tactilely, this paper certainly outshines my favorite primed surfaces.

However, this paper demands a wide palette. If you don’t have the exact color in your sticks, it’s challenging to mix it directly on the paper. I only managed some small localized blending by the fourth or fifth layer.

So, broad sweeping gestures and color-mixing skills won’t be much help here.

One clear advantage is the lack of dust when working on this velvety surface. Pigments settle neatly, with virtually no excess pastel falling onto the shelf beneath the work.

Of course, I put the paper through my favorite experiment. I applied a watery gouache layer as an underpainting for the pastel work. Starting with broad strokes from a brush, the color soaked into the paper, dried, and darkened. I returned twice to adjust the tonal quality of a bright piece of sky to get the exact shade I wanted.
Gouache underpainting
The paper handled water beautifully—it dried slowly but fully recovered without any deformation. Technically, I didn’t notice much difference between working on the gouache underpainting and directly on the paper’s color. The velvety texture remained consistent in both cases.

However, working with the gouache underpainting was more engaging for me, even though it was almost entirely covered by layers of pastel in the end.
When I started working with pastels on the dried paper, I realized that I would end up covering almost the entire layer of paint. So why was it needed? I think it was the brushstrokes of paint that created a sense of lightness and spontaneity. For me, it’s more interesting to work with a predetermined rhythm than just on the dark anthracite color.

These are the thoughts running through my mind instead of plans for the month.

Now for the news!

Registration is now open on Lectoroom for my new online landscape course.

This is a logical continuation of my first course, "Color and Light in Pastel Painting," but it can also be taken as a standalone program.

Wishing everyone a great mood!

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