The Color of Light: An Artist's Blog

I've had a stash of Somerset printmaking paper in my filing cabinet for quite some time but only recently got around to giving it a try. There are so many different types of papers for a pastellist to choose from these days and I love most of them! Many of them are sanded so that they grip the pastel, but it's also fun to use unsanded papers. 

This printmaking paper is really interesting when pastel is applied. It's very soft and supple, and held an initial alcohol wash quite well, although it did warp just slightly (nothing I couldn't deal with). It held a surprising amount of of layers. And I especially love how I'm able to so easily rub things out that I don't like and reapply pastel in those areas, somthing that isn't quite as easy to do on other papers. I'll definitely be using up my stash of this and will be ordering more. 

I created this still life painting yesterday, from a bouquet my dad brought me. I worked on Somerset and I'm happy with the results.