It was a dream to be asked to curate several new soft pastel sets from the 200 colour range of Jackson’s Handmade Soft Pastels. Jackson’s Soft Pastels are high quality, artist grade pastels, they are carefully made by hand which makes them very soft with a smooth buttery consistency. They have a low binder to pigment ratio which makes them rich and luminous, allowing for both subtle and bold mark making. Jackson’s have some themed sets already which are popular so it was great to be able to think how these new sets I was curating would work alongside them.     All 200 colours of the ..read more

We are bringing back Customer Reviews of the Month. Leave an informative and detailed review on Jackson’s Website and be in to win a £25 Jackson’s Voucher as well as have your review published here. This month Derbyshire-based artist Geoff Chilton shares his thoughts on Jackson’s Handmade Soft Pastels.     Jackson’s Handmade Soft Pastels Reviewed by Geoff Chilton A bit like Marmite, pastels are funny things – you either love them or hate them. But once you’re used to painting with pure pigment, there’s nothing quite like it. I’ve been using pastels for over twenty years and the sear ..read more

Here I’ll be giving you my first impressions of the new Unison Colour Soft Pastels: Set of 8 Half Sticks. I have several individual Unison Colour soft pastels, as well as their landscape set of 16 Half Sticks and portrait Set of 8 Sticks, so I’m looking forward to seeing what these smaller sets can offer an artist.   Unison Colour Soft Pastel: Set of 8 Half Sticks Left to Right: Red/Orange, Blue, Natural Earth, Green and Drawing.   Please note: Some of the materials in this article are currently out of stock, but will be back in stock again very soon and you can sign up to be noti ..read more

Sometimes the vast amount of terminology we encounter as artists can be baffling. The same words can have different meanings when referencing different materials and mediums. In this instalment of the ‘Art Terms Explained’ series, we share the definitions of some commonly-used words and phrases in the context of pastel painting.   Abrasive You may come across this term in pastel painting in the context of pastel papers and card. Pastel Papers and cards vary significantly in their texture. Highly abrasive surfaces are known to have a heavy tooth which is desirable for many pastellists beca ..read more

Unison Colour began creating pastels in the early 1980s and today they hand produce over a quarter of a million sticks a year. They are made in Northumberland and contain only pure pigments in a cycle of related hues, meaning the results are intense and bright, rather than being muddied by the blending of colours. We spoke to artist Nina Squire to find out more. In this film, Nina goes into detail about the qualities of Unison Colour soft pastels that make them unique. She shares technical tips about how to get the best results when using soft pastels, and also the tools and materials you may ..read more

Earlier this year, we shared a tried-and-tested method of How to Fix Broken PanPastels and a handful of readers asked us if there was a similar way to repair broken soft pastels. We decided to explore a couple of techniques that could potentially, in theory, fix broken pastel sticks and see if they worked. This article outlines the processes I used in my experiments, the results along with some further hints and tips.   Many artists who use soft pastel sticks know the familiar feeling of opening their pastel box to find that some of the sticks inside have crumbled, or to be using their pa ..read more

Making use of soft pastels for observational drawing on location or in the studio can be an excellent addition to materials you may already be familiar with using. The dry instant colour is exciting to work with and feels very direct and expressive. As they are pure pigment with a clay binder in handy stick format they offer a lovely punch of colour for very little effort.     They are also easy to transport around and lightweight which makes it perfect for location work. Similarly they aren’t too large so don’t take up valuable space on a desk if you have a small studio working spa ..read more

Unison Colour was founded by artist John Hersey in 1987. Light and colour were a life-long obsession, and when he found that industrially made pastels could not give him what he was looking for, he set about creating his own soft pastels. Today, Unison Colour are renowned all over the world for the creaminess and intensity of their handmade soft pastels. Each pastel is made by hand in the workshops and coach house at Thorneyburn, in the heart of Northumberland National Park, UK.   The coach house at the Old Rectory in Thorneyburn, where Unison Colour Pastels are made.   Soft pastel ..read more

PanPastels are professional soft pastel colours packed in a practical and compact pan, allowing them to be mixed and applied like paint. Their design means they are easily portable, however, if dropped the pastel inside may break into separate pieces. Luckily, there is a straightforward way to fix them, returning the pastel into one solid material. The following technique uses affordable equipment that you may already have to spare in your home, and the final result will make your broken PanPastels usable again.       You will need: An isopropyl alcohol solution (also known as ..read more

Pastel papers are textured so that they can hold layers of pastel pigment. The wide variety of textures cater for every kind of approach to the medium. They are either coated or have an imprint of texture. The paper you choose to work on will greatly affect the marks you are able to make and the final look of your painting. They tend to be available in a wider range of colours than paper made for other media, as the paper is often visible between marks. This article, taken from our Paper Guide, explains everything you need to know. Above image, from top: Canson Mi-Teintes Touch, Clairefontaine ..read more