Starting Pastels? Palette Suggestions

[Sharon Knettell]

Hi,

I have had the good fortune in the last several years to be able to afford many of the complete pastel sets available. Of course this has deep-sixed any new car plans.

As any of you know buying pastels can be a financially daunting task.

I have full sets of Giraults, Nupastels, Unisons, Great Americans, Mt. Visions and Schminkes. Also some Rembrandts and Diane Townsends.

I hope this will help some of you who are thinking about getting into pastels.

There is no getting around the fact that you need a lot of individual pastels to make a picture.I think the best thing to do is to buy one of the larger sets and fill in with some additional colors from other sets.
I have no stock in any of these companies, but are simply observations of what I seem to reorder the most.

I would suggest getting the complete set of Great Americans. They have a large glorious color selection, 460, I believe. Their gradations of color in their skintones are nice, even and subtle.Their softness is akin to Schminkes and they are larger than the Sennieliers, making them more economical. They do not have the dreadful crumbling problem of the Senneliers. I love Unisons as well but they are expensive, a bit much for someone just getting their feet wet in the medium.

That said, there are certain workhorse colors in the Sennelier line that I could not do without.

Sennelier:
Hot Brown #190-191-192-194-195
Bistre: # 57-60-61-62-64-65
Van Dyke Brown #434-436-438-439-440
Red Ochre#67-69-70-71-73-76
Dead Leaf Green #141-143-145-146-147
Yellow Ochre # 113-115-116-117-119
Carmine # 48-49-50-52-54-56
Persian Red # 780-781-782-783-784-785
Venetian Red # 89-90-93-94-95
Van Dyke Violet # 405-406-407-408-409-411
Carmine Brown #45-46-47
Olive Green # 235-236-237-238-239-241
Mummy # 104-105-106-107-108

Some Basic useful Schminkes:
English Red #22, The whole range BDHMO
Caput Mortuum Pale #23 ditto
Caput Mortuum Deep #24 ditto
Quinachridone violet #48B
Cold Green Deep # 81B
Serious Black

Winsor @ Newton
Indian Red # 4

If you just want to buy individual colors of Great Americans, here is a list of the skintones I used the most and some additional useful colors.
Maple #155-155.5
Grumber #175-175.6
Dragons Blood #165-165.6
Macaroon #620-620.5
Bandana #655-655.6
Dead Head #120-120.6
Burnt Reynolds # 125-125.6
French Roast #130-130.6
Mocha #165-165.6
Chestnut #140-140.6
Midnight #255-255.5 (great useful blue)
Smokey Rose #265-265.5
Cinnamon #140-140.6

If I you want some greys, and lights there are none better than the Unisons.

A lot of my work is done from life, so these reflect the colors I see. Every skintone is different, lighter, darker, cooler, warmer and affected by lighting and reflections.

This is by no means a full list and will not cover everything.

If you are just getting started order a small portrait set from a manufacturer to see if you like it's texture, workability etc. Some people work very tight, in that case the Giraults and the Unisons would probably be a better choice.

I hope this list will be of some benefit.

Sincerely,

[Linda Brandon]

Sharon, just for the record, what color is "Dead Head"? My imagination is running amuck.

[Sharon Knettell]

Originally Posted by Linda Brandon

Sharon, just for the record, what color is "Dead Head"? My imagination is running amuck.

I seest you haveth a Law Degree, but did you not studieth Latin?

It is a classic painting skintone color, usually a morgueish purply grey red. Dead Head is a take off on Caput Morte, or Schminkes " Caput Mortuum". Caput being head and Morte or Mortuum being dead.

Actually I am not sure which is correct, Caput Mort or Caput Morte , it depends on whether a head is masculine or feminine.

[Linda Brandon]

Well, I was hoping that it was a Ben & Jerry's type of company, with odd, bizarre ingredients and particles in the mix, as is "Mummy Brown" in oil paint. (I have also been spending too much time in the company of cadavers and taxidermed [is this a word?] animal parts.) I'm rather disappointed to learn it's just plain old caput mortum.

I'm here to say that you can make it through law school with only the most rudimentary Latin skills. But I now live in a household of Latin scholars, including one who just won a National Latin Exam Gold Medal, and they love talking over my head. All you really need to know in law school are phrases such as "pro bono", "res ipsa loquitor", or in my case especially, "mea culpa".

Carpe diem,
Linda

[Sharon Knettell]

I forgot to include Great Americans Mocha on the list, I just added it.

Choosing, what I think, is a limited pastel palette, is a real Solomon's choice. there are favorites that I left off but I was trying to make this list as affordable as possible.

In the 18th century, the height of pastel portraiture, more cross-hatching and optical mixing had to be employed as they did not have the vast array of pastels available today. You can create form and color much more easily today, by picking the right color, rather than cross-hatching or blending, if you choose to do so.

This is an interesting quote I have from "Portraits, 5000 Years, by John Walker, Abrams publisher.
"The pastel as a medium aroused the jealousy of artists who painted in oil. By it's lighter tonality, it's bright sparkling color, a pastel will often "kill" the effect of an oil painting when hung on the same wall. Since in a salon exhibition the primary object of each artist is to make his work "tell" the too exclusive success of the pastellists let the Academy in 1749 to refuse them admission. Perroneau, therefore, painted his reception piece in oil and was thus forced to work in both mediums as was Liotard.

[Mary Sparrow]

Thanks for the list, and thanks for that interesting quote!