Speaking of Art Blog

I have to confess that when I first started concentrating on seriously improving my pastel skills about 15 years, I was drawn to the bright, bold colors. None of those wimpy colors for me. So as I accumulated more small sets of pastels of various brands, I would veer toward the sets with the brightest colored sticks.  Over time, my collection of sticks at my easel practically took on a neon glow! But then I took a pastel workshop, and I don’t even remember who the instructor was, but I do remember the advice from a student standing next to me. She glanced over at my array of pastels and told me, “You could use some grays. Go online and have a look at the Mt Vision Thunderstorm Grey set.” So I did, and I discovered that I really had no grayed tones to speak of in my collection. But before I invested in the set, I started to study the pastel work of some of my art idols, and what I suddenly noticed was that their bright bold colors in their artwork stood out mainly because they had carefully placed grays next to the pure color notes, which made the bright notes stand out even more.

I’m not talking about steel gray only. I’m talking about muted colors of the whole rainbow – not only gray-blue, but also gray-red and gray-violet. So I purchased the Mt Vision set and was determined to USE THEM. What I found was that not only was it easier than I thought, but they made rendering background shapes and negative spaces so much easier. They also made my bright colored stars of the show that much brighter looking next to those grays. I found myself reaching for them in every single painting! 

But I ran into one snag. The Thunderstorm Grey set was created by the manufacturer to mimic the colors of a thunderstorm. I must say they did a great job, but the warm color notes, like gray-orange and gray-red and gray-yellow were missing, and there were very few gray-greens too. So after recently finding out more about the new-ish pastel brand called Blue Earth, I decided to try some of the grayed tones (inventory numbers ending with C and D) of their red, orange, yellow, and a few greens. Thus far, I am pleased. Oh, I also recently purchased the Unison set of 8 Shadow colors. While they are mostly cool colors similar to the Thunderstorm Greys, they are still different enough that I did not duplicate any of my cool colors.

Are there any other gray toned pastel sets out there? Oh yes. Terry Ludwig has a set called 30 Shades of Nature, and he also carries an older set called Maggie Price Essential Grays. Girault has a set called Neutrals & Friends, which were specially selected by Richard McKinley, and Great American Artworks has a set of 39 Grays. I’m sure there are more sets, but those are the ones that come to mind.

So do my gray color pastels glow in the dark like my bright, bold colors?  Heavens, no.  But they make me happy as they recede nicely into the background so that their brighter neighbors can shine.  I was told by an artist friend recently that one mark of a sophisticated artist is in their masterful use of grays.  I couldn't agree more.  Gray truly matters. 

   Carolina Wren 

   by Mary Ann Pals
   pastel
   9 x 9 (in)