Hi folks,
You have probably all gotten your Jerry's catalogue and are having sticker shock at the very high (for Jerry's anyway) prices. This is of course due to the devaluation of the dollar.
Some pastels are not even being carried in open stock, like my favorite Great Americans.
May I suggest,
www.dakotapastels.com. They may be a bit more but they only charge a flat fee of $8.95 for shipping.
The difference for example is Jerry's $2.99 for a Sennelier to Dakotas' $3.10. The Great Americans are $3.10, 11 cents more than a Sennelier, and in my opinion, which you ALL KNOW IS FABULOUS, is a MUCH BETTER PASTEL. It is an especially useful pastel for the portrait artist as it has a range of wonderful and subtle skin tones. They are also evenly sequenced so if you need one lighter or darker they do not shift color and say, become redder or yellower. They DO NOT crumble and fall to the floor like Senneliers. I don't know if you have had this experience with Senneliers, that they sometimes disintegrate when taking off the wrapper. Great Americans do not do that and can hold quite a fine edge.
Dakota Pastels are a wonderful and professional company to deal with. You get the pastels you ordered plus a knowledgeable and efficient staff.
They are always adding new items . One of interest to the portrait artist are the samplers at $25 ea. They are made up of pastels from different manufactures, so you can try out some new ones you may not be familiar with. One is dedicated simply to flesh tones .
Another REALLY USEFUL item they carry is their handmade color charts.They are really handy when you want to find that perfect peach color for a cheek and don't know what manufacturer has it. The printed and web charts are so innacurate.