New Pastel Painting Discovery / Real Time Tutorial

I love making new discoveries in my Pastel Painting Journey!! And this is one I will be sure to use for many paintings.

Over the years, I have created many videos on making your own homemade soft pastel surfaces, which is a great savings since so many professional pastel papers are quite expensive. One technique I use often is using watercolor paper and clear gesso to create a pastel surface that works quite well. A challenge to this technique, however, is that often the watercolor paper can buckle or curl when you add wet mediums... such as creating a wet underpainting, and then adding the clear gesso. This makes it a bit cumbersome when applying pastels. The paper usually flattens out after some time, but never completely flat in my case.

So, that's why using this new product was so exciting for me! I wanted to try using 300 lb watercolor paper. In the past, I had only used 140 lb paper. So, I ordered some that happened to be what's called a "watercolor block". This means the pages are glued together on the sides, which keeps the paper nice and flat when adding any liquid mediums. Also, since the paper is 300 lb it is much thicker and takes lots of water without buckling.

Not only did the surface stay completely flat while working, when I removed the top sheet from the watercolor block I was pleased to see that it was still flat and quite sturdy. The thickness of the paper also made the painting feel more professional than the thinner watercolor papers.

This was an accidental discovery for me, and you know me.... I just had to share!

Products Used in This Lesson:
Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper / 300lb Block / 6 x 8 (comes in other sizes):
https://amzn.to/3UySQn4
Mount Vision Iridescent Pastels (set of 15): https://amzn.to/3LD109U
Clear Gesso: https://amzn.to/3y6d0LB

Reference Photo from Juniper Canyon Flower Farm. Please only use this photo as a reference for painting. If you share your results, please give credit to the flower farm and this channel. (Artist's Etiquette: never sell your paintings that have been created from a tutorial). https://www.facebook.com/JuniperCanyonFlowerFarm/photos/404970441577970

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