Sunday, March 27, 2016

Did you Know? Reuse Pastelmat?

I recently learned that I could wipe out a failed pastel painting on Pastelmat paper! That paper is one of my favorites as it grabs the pastel and holds on tight with very little dust. I thought I'd try removing a little 5x7 painting. Here is the before:
 The magic removal tool? Baking soda! You sprinkle dry baking soda on the paper, and rub it around with your hands until most of the old painting is removed. This was a medium grey color paper and this technique removed quite a bit of the painting.


I decided to paint a pastel version of an oil painting I did plein air as reference - top middle of this photo:
 And here's the finished little pastel:
Not bad, but not sure I'd bother removing an old pastel on a large sheet of Pastelmat this way.
While my hands were dusty, I got both my Heilman pastel boxes out and organized them for the upcoming plein air season! Yes, I like lots of greens and blues for my landscapes. These are the "Double Sketchbox" (smaller size one) and the "Backpacker" size Heilmans. These are the best pastel cases made - beautiful workmanship!

Backpacker size

Double Sketchbox size

1 comment:

Michael Chesley Johnson, Artist / Writer said...

I imagine this would work too if you wanted to make corrections or repaint just an area? Good to know, and thanks for the tip!