Monday, March 16, 2009

Yarg. Pan Pastel


2 days before the con I was in the art store and found these panPastel things. They are little trays of pastel that have so little binder in them that they don't hold together in a stick. You apply them with what look like makeup sponges on sticks. This is my first shot, done during Wondercon. Extremely fun stuff. I'm not a pastel guy, but I can see why painters are drawn to the medium. This stuff in particular is as much paint as any wet medium I've tried.
There's a quick guache wash for a base and prismacolor under, over, etc. It's all done on this great Wallis pastel paper which is really expensive sandpaper.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool painting.
I like his expression.
You've got such a distinctive style. If I saw this somewhere on the web I'd tell it was yours right away!

It looks like acrylic with a watercolor underpainting. Did you enjoy using this medium?

Anonymous said...

Sorry for my english but, Your blog is fantastic. Thank you for the vidéos

Marco Bucci said...

very very cool. The edges between strokes have this soft 'wispiness' that is really nice in some abstract way.

Julia Lundman said...

that's really cool! might have to look for those next time at the art store. i love the softness you got in this.

Erik van Elven said...

Looks really painterly Mark, very cool. I was a little skeptical about these pastels but apparently they can be awesome.
Have your tried open acrylics some more? I finished a painting in open acrylics last week, and actually I quite enjoyed them. I read somewhere to use very little water with them and instead thin the paint with the medium or thinner.
I've bought some atelier paints as well, looking forward to give them a try.

Mark Behm said...

Hey Erik,
That's a great idea, especially since I think it's that moment the water dries that I start to dislike them so much. I'll give it a try. Thanks!
Mark

James Chiang said...

brilliant look Mark! thanks for sharing that. pastels are cool, but i'm allergic to many of them. =0(