Portait of Old Bearded Dude in PanPastels

I'm sort of a newbie to the whole "art scene" and I haven't had much experience working in different mediums outside of a little bit of watercolor, pen and Copic marker. In October I attended Journalfest, a four day art journaling retreat at Fort Worden in  Port Townsend, Washington. (I cannot recommend this retreat highly enough. It was an one of the more amazing artistic experiences I've had, but that is a subject for a whole other post.) In the three days of classes with various instructors, I had a chance to experiment with other medium and I fell in luuuurve with PanPastels.

On My X-mas Wish List

Up until then, I hadn't been a big fan of pastels. I didn't like the dust, the muss, the lack of detail (probably a lack of skill on my part). But I got a chance to use a brand called PanPastels in two of the classes and was immediately captivated. The big difference between regular stick pastels and PanPastels, is that PanPastels come in a pan. Go figure. They blend and apply like paint, and they're super soft, almost creamy to the touch, but I've found they are less likely to smear once they're down on the paper. (You still have to use fixative though.) They also erase very cleanly.

The downside is the cost - which seems pricey to me. But then so are Copic  markers. The manufacturer claims that PanPastels last a lot longer though, so the price is justifiable. I received a full-sized freebie in my Journalfest swag bag (SCORE!), and I ordered a set of 10 paint colors online as an early Christmas present to myself. I don't use the fancy applicators. I mostly use my fingers, which is waaaay more fun.

Here's a portrait I did using the PanPastels, my fingers, and a pencil erasure.



The Old Bearded Dude - I Call Him Mr. Wisenheimer



Someone looked over my shoulder as I was working and said, "Very German Impressionist". My intelligent response: "Uhhh... what's that?"