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| pastel rubbed in for underpainting with pastel on top |
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| pastel brushed with Turpenoid under pastel painting |
Today I experimented with Somerset paper. I did four paintings, using different techniques to see what I thought about this pastel surface.
Per Loriann Signori's suggestion, I tried using a light pastel application washed over with Turpenoid for my under painting and then added more pastel on top. I liked the melting effect of the pastel into the paper, but the Turpenoid dried or absorbed so quickly into the paper, I did not achieve any washy, watery movement of color. Judging from the white paper showing through, I may have not applied enough pastel with my under painting to get the full effect of this technique. I will try it again.
Somerset is a hardy paper and seemed to handle my scrubbing and rubbing on it, as I did in the example at the top of this post. I did not observe any felting of the paper and I was able to put on many pastel layers (8 or more in some places).
My least successful experiment involved a light pastel application washed with rubbing alcohol. I had a lot of warping and buckling of the paper from the alcohol and that made the dry pastel application later much more difficult to control.
A good day for experimenting. I have some Twinrocker paper waiting some experiments next time!
