Organizing Your Pastels
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
- In this video, I share my travel and studio pastel palettes with you and how to organize your pastels.
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Alain's Workshops: www.picardstudio.com/workshops/
Imagine having enough pastels to need to organize them
I do.but I really don't have to much space for them.my work space is very small.😧
@@pameladiez4933 having that many pastels is a good problem to have atleast
Thank you for sharing your tips and your encouraging words, Alain! Your videos and PDF sheets are the best pastel information I have found on the Internet! I hope to take a workshop with you when you offer one in Colorado.
You are so welcome! Please consider joining me online for portrait week! You can find out more at www.PortraitWeek.com
Your palettes themselves are art.
thanks for that!
Fabulous video. Really helps
Alain, I totally hear you on the being addicted to buying pastels/art supplies! I was really proud of myself that I paired my pastels down to two main trays and two side boxes of Giraults & Blue Earths. LOL Your ideas for organizing are great! I love those wooden trays. Your work is beautiful and awe inspiring too. Thanks! :)
Hi, I am glad you are finding my ideas helpful. Thanks for your kind words.
Alain
Besides my addiction to colors and pastels, I'm addicted to your tutorials. The more I can watch you the happier and encouraged I get.
You're the best artist I came across, and I hope to be able some day to attend your workshop.
Thank you for enriching your followers.
Yael Shany thank you very much for the encouragement! That is really kind. I will do my best to continue sharing tutorials with great artists like you with the hopes of helping you develop your artistic skills! All the best!
Love it 😍
Very helpful. Thank you.
Amazing, your pastels are a dream!
Thank you for such great information on how to stage my pastels. I have never heard such a beautiful way and why pastels are staged this way. And thanks for the idea of what kind of trays to get, LOVE!
Excellent work
Thanks for the info on pastel and pastel Ikea trays, appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us!
OMG! I need more pastels! And IKEA trays! Thanks! It was very helpful!
Rochés are like the Rolls Royce of pastels!
Amazing explanation, thank you!
just loving your channel! I have gone from acrylics, to pastel pencil, to watercolour & now learning all about soft pastels.
Love it Alain!! Great ideas. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Lisa, great hearing from you!
Great information!!! So helpful, thankful!
Excellent! So glad to hear it.
Your studio is pastel heaven.
My things are all scattered, haha .... feels good to see you kept them so neatly.
Love those wood trays. Will try to find some. Thanks again
Wonderfully helpful! Thank you so much for showing us your system.
My pleasure Colleen, glad it was helpful to you.
love your videos looking forward to seeing more. thank you for sharing.
Thank you. I am glad you are enjoying the videos.
WOW, I have serious pastel envy, with your amazing collection! I have decided I need to organise mine better as they get so dirty and have not got them in colour families and it is all a bit muddled, it is a difficult thing for me, as I am bedbound so was thinking of getting one of those folding boxes, can't get the Heilman ones over here but can get a Jackson's one I think which is similar, and have it in my bed with me! Thanks for the fantastic advice and tutorials, I always follow and love seeing your work on Facebook too! Best Wishes, Rachel Lewis xxx
I'm just a pastel starter but I'm also addicted to them. Every week or so I have to reorganize my pastels because of the space I haven't got. 😂😂I haven't got this many but I love the way you have organized them!
Great video Alain...thanks for sharing!
Thank you Cindy!
This was helpful! Thank you! I admit I have paper removal anxiety 😊. I’m working on it! Take Care and Stay Positive!
Awesome pastel collection!
Thanks James
Thanks AJ! Great Job!
My pleasure, good to hear from you ShawnaLee!
what a wonderful selection of pastels.
Thanks Gerry, it took a while to build them up!
Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.
Wonderful news, Lisa! I'm always glad to hear when these videos meet a specific need for artists like you. Have fun organizing!
Thank you! I'm new to pastels about one year in and I'm inconsistent since I'm mixing them in with my usual watercolor sessions. However.....I am now removing all the paper from my pastels! That's a job in itself. I'm in the process of organizing a plein air box too. My pastel collection pales in comparison to yours...haha but my watercolor collection is massive. I really need to pull the trigger and try Terry Ludwigs since I hear so much about them from multiple artists. Thanks for all your tutorials.
Glad it was helpful! Keep painting!
Awesome! I was just re-ordering my pochade boxes and tray for home! perfect timing!
Glad I can help Liz. All the best!
Alain Picard is the best!
You are kind Debra.
Hey! That Ikea tray idea is wonderful. Now, I know what I'm going to do with my new full set of Mount Vision pastels. Thanks, Alain.
You are welcome Mike!
love it! thank you
I'm a pastel newbie. WOW about your collection is all I can say!
Thank you Bonnie
This was really helpful, now ready to get mine more organized.
Awesome. Go for it Ginny! Your first painting after organizing your pastels will have fresher color!
Oh HELP Alain......I have a mess on my hands....I only came to know the joy of pastels about a year ago...of course I wanted to try out all types and now I have so many and afraid to take out of their boxes so,I am paralyzed can’t do a thing .....I am lucky to have mostly terry Ludwig........I need an encouraging word from you that frees me and gives me the confidence to free those precious sticks...I bought the ikea boxes and I have a large heilman.....which I take to classes and work out of in my studio....once I get that right I can out the left overs in ikea trays......so please give me a mental shove....love ALL of your demos and videos...thanks, Connie
Enjoyed this demo really helped me to organize my Hellman box. Jane Martin
Jane Martin, that's great news! So glad it was helpful. Are you using those pastels more now?!
I'm a hoarder too! I just can't get enough
Thank you so much for the videos. I am mildly tritan colorblind so I don't think I will be taking the wrappers completely off. I can still see beautiful colors but interesting things happen like sometimes the mountains will be green & sometimes purple in the same painting, & also a problem with purple & green towels when I think I have a matching set out. I have a lot of trouble telling the most pastel shades apart, also.
Alain, you sure love your pastels. Despite how many you have I bet at times you still can't find that colour you are looking for. Time to buy even more. 😊
so true! But organizing your pastels means a limited palette can still work for you in any situation.
Thank you so much Alain Picard, I just discovered you on UTube and what a find!! Thank you for all of your great tips on storing pastels! I would like to try some Terry Ludwig pastels and would love your recommendation on which set to purchase? I mostly paint animals and people portraits. Thank you so much!
HI Kim. Terry Ludwig pastels are beautiful. If you can ever swing it, the 60 piece Portrait II set is great for you as a portrait artist. I have always been a huge fan of the Intense Darks II set as well. So many beautiful colorful darks.
Here's a link to the 60 piece portrait set: www.dickblick.com/items/21937-1060/
Intense Darks II set: www.dickblick.com/items/21937-1029/
Great video! I’d love to see a video where you go in depth on your flesh tones palette.
Thanks, that's good to know. I'll consider that in future videos. I also created a skin tones video with ArtistsNetwork.tv at one point that dives deeper into pastel skin tones. Here's the link if you're interested!
www.picardstudio.com/store/painting-skin-tones-in-pastel-with-alain-picard
it sure does encourage me, Alain... to buy mre pastels!! ha ha
Yes ,both Whistler and Seago always allowed the truth of colour /tone selection to dominate in such a way that the 'casual' viewer is oblivious even to it's existance. You do the same and highlighting the technical precurser thinking even down to the logistics in organising the actual sticks into graduated tones.shades .colours etc is wonderful and deserves all credit.Sort of like being a painter in oils with an infinity of possiblities with mixings. Thanks
jon yoda thank you for your reflection on the impact of an organized palette. It never ceases to amaze me that even with all these options, i am still searching at times for the best color! I have always said, fresh palette, fresh painting. All the best to you in your creative pursuits!
I’d like discussion on keeping the pastels in their original boxes or mixing them as you have.
Hi Charlotte. I am an advocate of using a pastel palette. Watch this video to find out much more on my thinking about it. All the best! th-cam.com/video/OvR3P4fE71s/w-d-xo.html
Excellent
Thank you Jon.
Awesome video 👍
Thank you Beverly!
So helpful! I find my expanding pastel collection hard to manage - thank you for offering insight on how you manage yours. One thing I'd love to see is how you access your trays while you are actually creating. And then do you clean up and replace all the sticks in their respective places after each piece, or while you are working?
I have a large side table, kind of like a dining room console, and I keep my trays on that. I just grab the one I need, pull it out, use it, then stack the tray back on the side console when I don't need it. I don't clean up all the time, I tend to work for a while, then I spend a 1/2 day cleaning up. The travel Hellman box trays have to be cleaned up more often so I can take them out of studio. That happens once or twice a week. Hope this helps!
Hi Alain, I’m addicted to pastel chalks, to! Warm regards from Germany!
Wow, kannst du deutsch sprechen? Love your German regards, thank you, Alain! :-D
Ich spreche Ein bisschen Deutsch.
This was just what I was looking for. Perfect Alain! I think I am on the right track. I have a Heilman mini double and a Dakota small traveler. Similar to your trays, I have a drawer cabinet I use for storage of surplus pastels and new, unused wrapped pastels. I just had a hard time laying out the colors and values, but this video really helped!
Sounds like you are doing great! It takes time to lay them out, but it's so worth it in the end. Keep it up!
I am close to Flint, Mi. Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Debra Kalush that’s great! I look forward to visiting Flint next year for the workshop!
I am curious how you handle replacing colors if you take the wrappers off. Or do you just not worry about a specific color and just replace it will something similar?
Thankyou very much
But do let us know how you keep pastels in their place in your travelling box - they tend to shuffle around
I can not believe I have not commented on one of my 3 viewings of this video! I would love to see a video on removing wrappers and breaking pastels! I have mixed my small collection and arranged them as you have not as wide a range as you but usable I hope! I did lose a lot of pastel stick when breaking my Schmincke and Sennelier sticks!! Even just removing paper on the Sennelier sticks I messed up and lost pastel pigment! I am sure it is simple for you, but Maybe as an intro in one of your videos? Thanks and keep painting!
Great thank u!
You are welcome Valeria.
What do you think about the Terry Ludwig portrait set? Is there another portrait set you prefer? Did I hear that you were working on a set of portrait pastels for someone? Thank you for your very helpful videos
Haha, totally addicted to pastels, I must have over 2000 plus a few hundred pastel pencils for detail pieces. Love the Ikea trays, but do you have foam on the bottom outside to protect the pastels you are setting the tray upon or just on the inside of the tray? I would worry about my Schminke and Sennelier pastels.
thanks!
Cool
Thank you so much.first I want to mention,the beautiful portraits that you created are very beautiful.of the children.amazing colors,stunning.wow you do have alot of pastels.because of you I bought today,a pack of 64 soft pastels.i forgot the name of the company.but they are really beautiful.i don't want to but to many of them,because my work space is very small.and I do have lots of different paints.i work with acrylics alot.i have lots of them.i have gelatos,that I love to work with so much.watercolors.crayons.pencils.alot of oil pastels.but I do love soft pastels.i usto work with them,but it has been a while.i do what I can,when I have time.thank you.look forward to see your videos of your classes.thank you.😁🤑🌟💖😂☕
Oh yes that was what I bought today mundgo pastels.thats ok,but I really want the faber castel vivid square soft pastels.that will be my next purchase later on.i love them.they remind me of my gelatos.i love to work with,so much.😁🤑💖😂🌟💯👍☕
That's alot of pastels sir alain🥺
How i wish to have those too, i only own a 48-color set of mungyo soft pastel🥺
I have a few great pastels, and many medium brands. I've yet to have Terry Ludwigs, that's my goal. They are very expensive to me. Thanks for showing how you set up your artist pastels. Does it erk you as it does me when they are called chalk?
Beautiful
Hi Alain, Thanks for sharing. I love your videos, they are always so helpful & encouraging. I have a few sets of Pastels in their boxes, & my Hubby is going to make me a tray with compartments so I can set them up. I am a little afraid of removing the wrappers altogether, save if I need to replace a certain colour. And thought I should document the colours in a book, showing the colour, Brand, name & number. Do you do this or do you just get to know your colours with use and experience? Thanks 😃
Rhonda Willington Im glad you found the video helpful! I purchased the full handmade color chart for Terry Ludwig pastels, and have kept a few more printed color charts for my favorite pastels. Ive made handmade charts for my NuPastel skin tone colors as well. Honestly though i rarely reference them. I look to replace colors in specific color shades and intensities, and usually replace with sets more than singles. I think its a great idea to make charts for reference. Then get those wrappers off those pastels! All the best.
Alain Picard ~ Great thanks Alain. 😃
Love it! Where did you find those trays? I have utility plasic trays ( the kind you use for knife, forks, etc,
my trays are from Ikea glad you like it!
THank you Alain - VERY helpful! Where did you purchase or did you make the trays that are used here for your pastels??
Shelly Medernach i bought the trays at Ikea in the kitchen/dining section. Then i lined them with 1/2” foam from JoAnn Fabric. Very inexpensive!
Thank you! Gosh, that was a quick reply!!
What type of foam do you line the IKEA trays with? Is it easily sourced?
Hi Alain, I began watching your videos a few weeks ago and I really enjoy your easy going manner as you explain how to use pastels. I tried to find those Ikea trays, but was unable to. I wonder if you can provide a link to find them. Thanks for all you do!
Hi Ruth, thanks for kind words! Those trays are called the KLACK Tray, here's a link:
www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/06410406/?msclkid=18d71986736b1edf9d6c454ee1ec748f
hope that helps you Ruth!
@@AlainPicard Thanks so much!!!
Alain wishing you and family a merry Christmas, which video do you sharp nupastels, would like to refer to a friend ty
Thanks Lyne! Merry Christmas to you as well. Here is a link to the video: th-cam.com/video/J5lqMyEq_sc/w-d-xo.html
Hi Alain, very clever solution using these nesting trays. What kind of foam you use to line them, and where do you find it?
Thanks!
JoAnne's Fabric sells foam for making cushions and such. I bought it there, about 3/4" thick. Works pretty well, memory foam would have been even better.
www.joann.com/airtex-half-inch-regular-density-foam-slab%C2%A0/14759567.html#q=foam&start=1
Could you please tell us "addicted followers" where you get the boxes?
Thank you so much
When you are working, do you keep a lot of colors out that you are using? Then I I guess it’s key to put them back in the correct tray.
Thanks for the video.
Yes and yes. I pull a custom palette for the painting, and put away the pastels when I am finished.
@@AlainPicard first of all thank you for your quick reply. I’m not sure I’m organized enough to choose the colors ahead of time for what I am going to paint. I look forward to more of your TH-cam posts. My son, @paintcoach teaches oil painting. I have always liked to work in pastels, but was never taught. I also wanted to know if you are familiar with Mount vision, pastels handmade in Tampa Florida? I love them but I’m looking at your suggestions that I signed up to receive. Thank you again!! Cindy
Alain I have been enjoying watching your videos, so helpful and love your art. Thank you so much for sharing. A couple of questions; I would love to take a workshop but I live close to the white plains NY area. What would you suggest? Also, do you have any comments or opinions on Rembrandt pastels, I am not familiar with them but they were given to me as a gift. Thoughts? Thanks so much
Hi Annette, thanks for your kind reply! Great to meet you. You live about an hour from me in Southbury CT. My spring weekend "Painterly Landscape" workshop would be a great option for you. Keep an eye on my Workshops page found on my website here: picardstudio.com/workshops/
Regarding Rembrandt pastels, they are a medium density pastel. You can build up the drawing, but it's hard to do painterly work with them as they aren't soft enough. They work well alongside a set of softer pastels like Ludwig, Great American, Schminke, etc.
Wow, thanks so much for your reply. I think I will register for the Painterly landscape workshop. I have a schminche 60 set but I would love to try the Terry Ludwig in place of that Rembrandt set. I tend to do more portraits and still lifes which set would you recommend of the Terry Ludwig to start with?
annette meglino it would be great to see you at the Painterly Landscape workshop! You would love the Terry Ludwig pastels. They have a great 30 and 60 piece portrait set. I also absolutely love their dark set, “Intense Darks II”. Its awesome. Dont get me started though, their greens are amazing as well! If you do portaits alot, go for that to start.
Alain--love your work.....Do you have any pastel pencil favorites at all? Thanks, Frank....
F F my favorites are PITT by FaberCastell then Cretacolor pastel pencils. Both work well for sketching and detail.
Thanks Sir....
@@AlainPicard
Question: How do you remember what number color you ran out of when you've removed the wrapper?
Great video! As are all of your videos! I have a question about the trays - when you stack them, are the pastels underneath "touching" the bottom of the tray on top, and if so (they look like they do) does it not damage the pastels below? Thanks!
They don't touch, Denise, you just need to buffer the edges of the trays with a line of foam, as the edge is the one place where they could get squeezed. But otherwise with .5" foam it's a safe stack with no touching.
@@AlainPicard Oh okay yeah, that makes sense. I looked back again at them and now I see that. Thanks!
Thanks Alain. Where did you find the foam of appropriate thickness?
I bought the foam at my local JoAnne's Fabric store. It wasn't too thick, probably about 3/4" depth for making cushions. If I could have gotten anything, I would love to have memory foam, but I'm not sure where to get it.
www.joann.com/airtex-half-inch-regular-density-foam-slab%C2%A0/14759567.html#q=foam&start=1
But when you take the label off how do you know how to replace it when it runs out? You wont know the shade anymore
How do you fold up and take one of your, say, portrait boxes, all organized so beautifully, somewhere? Or are these individual boxes for just in your studio?
Of course, I’m probably going to find that answer in another video, right? Lol
Hello
I'm trying to organize my pastels in the studio , of course i try to have all my pastels in my palette . i'm having a problem with all my greys and browns .Any sugestions on how i can organize them?
Hi Alian, great video, I've been looking for the trays in IKEA uk, could you please tell me if they are the klack rubber wood trays. Thanks Collette.
They totally look like them.
Man where can i find those boxes!?
How do you sharpen your nupastels to such a fine point? I imagine using a sanding wheel would be extremely dusty.
I use a single edge razor blade to sharpen them. I made a video a while back showing how, you can see it here!
th-cam.com/video/d6LX40XuoWY/w-d-xo.html
All the best.
Thank you for sharing. Years ago I took my husband's grinder out in the backyard and 'sharpened' my nupastels - it was a mess as you can imagine.
Sharon Haney i have tried so many methods of sharpening nupastels amd the single edge razor blade is the simplest and most effective foe me. They are all pretty messy though!
Do you have a video comparing OIL PASTELS???
This may be a silly question, but how do you keep track of what pastels you need to replace when you take all the wrappers off? I totally see the benefit of doing it, but I have always been unsure of how I would know what I needed to replace! (brand, color etc)
I personally bought all the brand swatches chart from Dakota pastels. And when I'm just about to run out, I'll compare against the charts to find the color. It's tricky to guess once the wrappers come off! But the swatch charts have been invaluable for me.
Question, Alain, what is the name of the travel box company you use? I couldn’t decipher it from the video. Thanks
Mary Lewis, I had trouble understanding the name, also, but think I've found it. It's expensive, but looks wonderful!
heilmandesigns.com/?product=heilman-backpack-pastel-box
I’m new to pastels. I’m wondering if leaving pastels open on a table top will cause them to fade from ultraviolet light?
not if they are of good quality, this should not be a concern. I leave mine out all the time in the studio under lights. All my best!
Hello Alain, thank you so much for your video. I come from Croatia- Dalmatia, and i would really like to know who from Croatia made you that pastells, and how can I get in touch with ? Thank you, Jasna
Gordan Becin made the pastels, and he is available for contact on Facebook here! facebook.com/gordan.becin?mibextid=LQQJ4d
What do you do with your very dry skin problem
For dry skin and protecting yourself from toxins in the pastels, use Gloves In A Bottle. It's great!
www.amazon.com/Gloves-Bottle-Shielding-Lotion-8-ounce/dp/B000UBN5S8/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1513697339&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=gloves+in+a+bottle&psc=1
In your travel palette there is only one orange pastel. Is orange not used that often?
If you remove all the wrappers how do you remember what to reorder?
you can make color charts and save them in a binder for reference with brand and number and a color swatch.
You keep referring to soft pastels in the box, do you have a variety of hardnesses in the box? Should you have soft, hard and semi-hard?
What did you call that box at 1:38?
Heilman Box, by Heilmandesigns.com the Backpack Box is good for outdoor work. All my best
I'm sure that I'm not the first to express this problem.
I have accumulated pastels from a variety of sources.
Gifts, thrift stores, close out sales at art supply stores etc.
I can see what I have but I don't know how to identify each pastel.
When I go to the art store, I see the vast array of choices but I hesitate to buy anything because I don't know if I already have that color/value.
Only Nupastel Prismacolor hard pastels have identifying marks so I know what I have and what I need to buy.
I end up not buying anything lest I buy something I already have.
Is there a solution?
Also, as I try to organize my pastels, I come across secondary and tertiary colors that could be seen as either a green or a yellow
Either a red or a purple . I have red-purples and blue-purples.
I have red-oranges and yellow-oranges.
And there are various values among those hues!
It drives me crazy trying to place these pieces !
I have terrible color memory, and when I need to replace a color, I always get it wrong, too light, too dark, too red, etc. without the wrappers how do you replace your colors? I know it does not have to exact, but the replacement needs to close. This may sound silly since I could just take a piece of the pastel to the art store and match it, but where I live in Mexico pastels are only sold in sets, and I have to buy replacements on occasional trips to the US without bits and pieces of pastel to match.
Thomas R. Wheaton great question! Making your own color charts by brand is the best method, and putting them into 3 ring binders for reference and protection. Dakota Pastels will make them for you for a price. You just need to make square marks with the new pastel and write the color number/coding below. Dakota sells blanck sheets that you can fill in too. Good luck!
That should do it, thanks.
что это за пастель? очень хорошо ложится
Pastel envy much,lol.
Problem I'm dealing with is, when I need to order another color online of a particular hue,I need the number associated with that,so removal of the wrapper can make that difficult.
Make charts with swatches and the names/numbers. Or you can buy them too
Wow, that's got to be at least 7,000$ worth of soft pastels!
Name of the trays? Or maybe I missed it. LOL. Thx. Messy Mendy 🙏🏻🤗🖌
Just saw a comment below. Travel Hellman Box Trays. 👍
No pastel pencils?
Hi Linda, If you watch my video on "What Pastels Should I Use" you'll see the pastel pencils that I recommend. I don't put them in my palette box though, they stay separate with drawing materials. Hope that helps! I like Pitt Pastel Pencils for sketching.
Thank you@@AlainPicard
@@AlainPicard How do you set up your pastel pencils? I will look for that video that you mentioned.