Friday, June 27, 2008

Artists, Please Chime In

I've found a new addiction: soft pastels. I blame it on that Chalk Fest near the Inner Harbor Marriott last weekend. Came home, did a floral. Then another, then another. Next day (last Sunday) I did a Baltimore oriole, a song sparrow, a summer tanager, and a yellow finch. These are for greeting cards. The sparrow's eye didn't turn out right. I put it on last. Now I've learned to start with the eye, and if it "goes south " (for non-seasonal reasons) I start over .

Pastels are so forgiving because of their blendability. Yet the color does stick to the fingers .(Washes off easily, so give it a try!)

I bought a spray preservative called "Preserve-it!" at Michael's. Even spraying it in the open air gave me a nice high. Just kidding. I happen to like chemical smells, that's all. However, I still feel like the pastel isn't "set" into the paper, as if it "rubs off" just a tad. Maybe it's my imagination?


Question: is there a better preservative and how much does it cost? This can was 4.99. I get a discount since my girl works there, but she is planning to quit at the end of summer, so I want to scoop up the things that I'd use that aren't normally on sale. Any suggestions for preservative?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I often just use hairspray. For real! :) And they've held up well over the years. I still have some nice figures from figure drawing class that look great!