One traditional drawing medium that is now considered more of a dry
painting medium is pastel. I worked with pastel first in elementary
school. A still life that I made was displayed at a school district art
show, and my teacher said I had a talent for blending colors. I worked
with pastel a bit in high school, as well, but left the medium alone
for many years.
I became really inspired to learn more
about pastel when I saw an art exhibit of the architect Louis Kahn at
the Kimbell Art Museum. Kahn had a large set of pastels and traveled
around the world with them, making vibrant paintings of architectural
ruins at different times of the day. I was struck by the vibrancy of
the colors.
Additionally, I saw Kara English work with PanPastel, which is a new form of the soft pastel, and was especially intrigued to use this medium. I was working with colored pencils before I got my first set of PanPastels, and I couldn't believe the ease and speed of application. I blogged about my first PanPastel experience here:
http://erinreaumesketches.blogspot.com/2017/03/hilly-landscape-with-panpastels.html
I have a lot to learn about the pastel medium. I bought a book about pastel techniques that I still need to work with. I still have only the basic 20 colors in my PanPastel set, though I also have pastel colored pencils. I don't enjoy working with the pastel pencils. The PanPastel set I have is limiting, because it is very difficult to blend with the white. I really need a set of tints, as well as a set of shades. I plan to get these eventually.
Here is a collection of pastel paintings I have collected on my Pintrest:
https://pin.it/q7j7b3e5b4rwbv
Most of these are Louis Kahn's, though I also have some of Jan Sirks' and a few other artists.
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