Pastelmat is Coming to the US!

I just found out that Colorfin, the makers of PanPastels and Sofft tools, is going to be bringing Pastelmat to the US later in the summer! I'm excited about this because I've used the paper and it's absolutely the BEST with PanPastels, and wonderful with sticks, too. I've even used some of it for gouache paintings, and I love the resulting look. (See Highway Blues.)

Pastelmat has a lightweight, flexible card backing with a sort of velour-like surface, very soft and somewhat velvety, but it also has a slight grittiness similar to the feel of La Carte, which I understand is cork. The first touch invites blending, but it holds up surprisingly well to layers of color, too. The depth is surprising considering the feel of it. I also found it to be forgiving. I could lightly scrub out offending areas with a stiff paintbrush and repaint.

It also accepted spraying with the new fixative I'm using, called SpectraFix. It didn't become gummy or matted, which was my fear.

And the gouache experiments I've done show me that you could easily and successfully use underpainting on this paper, followed by more pastel layers. I liked how it allowed me to build up paint layers, thickening slowly until bright lights sit on top. Very nice.

Deborah
deb@deborahsecor.com

Highway Blues...

Highway Blues, gouache on Pastelmat, 2.75" x 8.75

This was an experiment to see how the gouache would work on the Pastelmat. I have just a few sheets left, but this long narrow one invited a vista such as this. I found it to be quite receptive to the gouache, allowing for some very impasto areas, but when it was wet it was quite soft and blurry. It took longer to dry than other paper, of course, and I rushed things a bit too much now and then. A good learning curve was taking place!

It's along Highway 14, called the Turquoise Trail, near where I lived in the mountains. I love the big sweep of that seemingly top-of-the-world area.

I'll be doing some more on this surface, especially if I can round up more of it...

Deborah Secor

deb@deborahsecor.com

My Moleskine Sketchbook, continued....

Here's a further glimpse into my little 3x5" Moleskine sketchbook. You can see the first page here: A Little Spring.

These last two were completed night before last. I'm sure having fun!

One very nice thing happened at the IAPS convention that was totally unexpected! I was asked if I would like to write a short bit about my little gouache paintings for Watercolor Artist magazine, a sister publication to The Pastel Journal. I had my 'portfolio' (a 10x13" envelope) with me and showed some of my little paintings to a few folks when things were slow. Out of that came this offer, which I'm just delighted to do.

The last two above are standard ATC (Art Trading Card) size, which is 2.5" x 3.5". I'm really getting interested in doing some of the smaller ones for trade, though not these. They'll stay in my sketchbook.

Now, it's just so much like the Lord I know to use a pastel convention to arrange for me to write an article about gouache! Don't tell me He doesn't have a sense of humor--and He is assuredly multi-tasking at all times. I'm delighted, and that's also a sure sign of His fingerprints on things.

Deborah Secor

deb@deborahsecor.com