Pastel Papers Experience

Over the years of painting with soft pastels, I have tried a few different types of paper and the
following are my personal opinions only. Like everything, everyone will react to different papers
in different ways. The best way to find out your favourite is to have hands on experience!!

I will start with one of my favourites, Pastemat. It is manufactured by Clairefontaine in
France. It has a velvety surface but has a large amount of tooth typically found with sanded
papers. With my process, I do an underpainting with a wet application. Pastelmat will accept a
couple of wet layers of 70% alcohol or water. For me this helps set the pastel into the paper and
I enjoy the spontaneity of the end result. Pastelmat also accepts multiple layers of dry pastels
that creates beautiful layering.

With the soft velvet feel, it is also gentle on your fingers if you
tend to smudge a bit using your hands. Another benefit of Pastelmat is that it doesn't seem to
eat up the pastel as fast as sanded paper, but still removes enough pastel to create beautiful
marks. The manufacturer claims that Pastelmat also accepts Pan Pastels and other powder type
mediums. I can't attest to this as I don't use this type of pastel. It is acid free and PH balanced.
Pastelmat comes in a variety of coloured paper in various sizes. In pads it comes in
7”x 9 1/2”, 9 ½” x 12” and 12” x 15 ½”. In sheets it comes in 9 ½” x 12 ½”, 19 ½” x 27 ½” and 27
½” x 39 ½”.

Another favourite of mine is Lux Archival. This is a sanded pastel paper with the base
paper being 100% cotton. It feels softer to me than say UArt 400. Like Pastelmat this paper will
also accept a wet underpainting, but in my experience, only one before you start to damage the
paper. It is considered a 400 grit and the grit has no visible pattern. It grabs the pastel much
more aggressively than Pastelmat, but with practise, it can be used to achieve beautiful results.
It has lots of tooth so you can apply multiple layers. This paper is not so kind to your fingers like
all sanded paper. Lux Archival only comes in sheets of white, sizes are 8"x 10", 11"x 14", 16"x
20" & 24"x 36".

Another type of paper that I use in Canson Mi-Teintes. It is a heavy, 98 lb sheet, with a
high rag content (66%), acid free and light fast. It comes in pads and sheets in 6 various colours.
Each sheet is double sided with one side smooth and the other is considered textured. In all
honesty, I can rarely tell them apart! The manufacturer claims you can use watercolour and
acrylic on the paper, but I have never had luck using a wet application on this paper. I typically
use this paper for studies. There doesn't seem to be a lot of tooth and the pastel “falls off”. Also
on both sides there is a pattern that the pastel skips over and you have to press pretty hard to
fill it in.

Stepping away from “Pastel Paper”, I have used good quality water colour paper on a
board, like Canson Watercolour Board. I wet it to raise the grain and it does accept pastel quite
nicely. I do use a fixative on these as the pastel will fall off eventually. Also, there is a product
that is an acrylic primer with grit added so you can create a sanded pastel surface on pretty
much any solid support. I apply it to Mason Board or those birch panels available at the Dollar
store. It is made by Golden Acrylics and is called Pastel Ground.
Thank you for your time and I hope I have helped you a bit along your pastel journey!

Kelly