Art Spectrum Pastel Paper/Unveiling

[Chris Saper]

I finally picked up a piece of Art Spectrum pastel paper, having read and heard about it for some time, and thought I'd post my initial experience.

I prefer a toned surface for pastels, and the Spectrum sheet is available is a mid-value grayed-down green, which I consider an ideal foil for skin tones. Its tooth is sort of large and irregular, although shallow; as I tend to have a somewhat heavy hand, I found that I filled it up too quickly, and that the under layers were more difficult for me to cover with subsequent layers.

As a result, I had the sensation that if I were to sneeze, the entire surface would just blow away. The upside to this is that mistakes lift beautifully with a kneaded eraser..in fact probably more completely than any other surface I've worked on. For pastellists who like to blend and smooth the surface, it is quite amazing as the texture of the surface looks JUST LIKE HUMAN SKIN. (Although I tried to get a close up of the surface, I was unsuccessful)

I plan to find out about whether the surface can be underpainted with a wash of some type and will give it another try.(At this late stage of the game, I doubt that I can change my touch, and actually probably wouldn't want to.)

Here's the tale behind this piece, BTW. This is a repaint of "My Cat Cotton", starring my daughter and our funny little cat. Normally I would be loathe to paint the same piece twice, but unfortunately version number one was stolen several years ago...it was a painting that she dearly loved.

I wasn't sure whether to post it here or in the unveiling section, but I was so interested in this new paper, I thought you might be, too.

Chris