Hand made pastels

It's like being invited in to a delivery room to watch a live birth. Participating in a workshop where Kitty Wallis teaches the class how to make pastels, well, it's like watching each person awaken to their playful, technicolor selves.

It's labor intensive, and kind of messy, but look at all of the sticks of pure color we made! I got to take home some of them, too. Now, wait about a week and then I can start to use them! Woo hoo!

Pastel making with Kitty -- Day One

Three and a half inches of snow fell at Kitty's while we were busy making pastels!

A day of pastel making, but this was just part one of a two day project.

we made four batches of white to bring the colors down in value

Yesterday was a great day! It was day one in a two day adventure at Kitty's studio making very special pastels. First we started with pure colors and their values. Hansa Primrose. Azo Yellow. Quinacridone Magenta. Napthol Red. Ultramarine Blue. Pthalo Blue. We mixed and rolled and formed these beautiful pure colors.

While we worked, we didn't really notice that the temperatures were dropping outside. It started to snow around 4:00 and what was at first just a few flakes, quickly became a good snowstorm right at rush hour! People abandoned their cars in the middle of roads. It took four hours to travel ten miles! I was snug at Kitty's house. Three and a half inches fell in Southwest Portland.

I don't drive in the snow. Really. Hey, I'm still a bit of a Valley Girl, I guess. My dear husband picked me up at Kitty's place later that evening.

A Pastel Party ... for ME!

Soon after I lost all of my pastels when I fell into the water in Bremerton, Kitty Wallis told me that she wanted to have a pastel making party to replace them. Many of the pastels I lost were pastels I had made by hand in Kitty's workshops. Nothing that could be replaced at a store, even a great store like Dakota Art Pastels in Mount Vernon, WA.

Today was the day for the pastel making party. Kitty hosted the event at her studio. Five of us worked for many hours to mix, roll, shape, and create the pastels you see above. I got to specify which colors I missed most, and that directed our efforts. I have really missed my purples and greens, the aquas, pinks, oranges. Heck, I missed every pastel stick I made myself. Who am I kidding?

I did not take home all of the pastels you see, but I took a lion's share. When the pastels were done, Kitty and the others waited in another room while I picked out the pastels I wanted to take home.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! My deepest thanks to Kitty for giving back to me the irreplaceable pastels I lost in the water. Thanks, too, to Kimberly, Suzanne, and Slambo for making such beautiful pastels and for giving your day to the party. I am humbled by and grateful for your generosity.

Now I have to wait for these colorful sticks to dry all the way through (they will no longer feel cool to the touch) and I can start to use them.

Woo hoo! A pastel party ... for me! What a great day.

Kitty Wallis Advanced Color Intensive Workshop Day Four

Final day of the workshop and we made our own pastels! Kitty had us put the colors on a giant color wheel to help fix color theory in our minds. I made yellow greens for the big wheel. Later, I made dark olive green and shades. Don't they look beautiful?

Making pastels

I had a great day in Kitty's studio making pastels! Don't they look delicious? Little confections of color.

Pastel making is labor intensive. Hand mixing. Hand rolling. More rolling. More mixing.

Mix the moist pastel pigments in the right combination to achieve the right color. Create values by adding increasing amounts of white pastel. These colors are beautiful and impossible to find in any store. Soon enough, they will find their way into my paintings!