Pastels Plus Links to Tutorials

We love pastels. Nana has taught us to appreciate how beautiful and easy it is to use them. We even keep them close so we can use them for our nature journal entries. I’ve had a few questions about what pastels our children use and where to purchase them. So, I went to the expert – Nana! Below is a suggested list of resources:

What we use. The pastels our children use (below) are Rembrandt. Nana says they are very good ones to start out with and are available at most art supply stores. She thinks you can even get them at your local Michael’s Craft Store.

Handmade by Terri Ludwig. Nana says these are the “most precious to use.” Our children used a few select sticks of Nana’s to create a Tornado in Pastels. Nana’s Terri Ludwig set is pictured below. Beautiful!

Dick Blick. This art supply company makes their own set of pastels you can order online. A set of 48 colors is only $10.39. Click over and watch online videos. A great resource!

Nana’s advice – start small: The student grade Alphacolor set is a good starter for $10.00. This set includes the basic colors to try out. These colors can be layered to achieve whatever color the student wants to use.

Paper. Our very first pastel pictures were made on a roll of newsprint we had close by But for the colors to blend well, good paper is suggested. Nana says a pad of Canson paper is available at Michael’s.

How do I store pastels? The small set of student starter pastels come in a plastic sleeve for storage. The large bin pictured at the top of the post Nana purchased at Michael’s a few years ago. She says, “I think it was supposed to be used to store beads in for necklace and bracelet making – when that was all the rage. It just looked like it would be good for pastels so I bought it.”

-We tuck our set under the kitchen table for easy access.

Nana’s advice - there is no need to make a large pastel purchase or to get a storage container until you have tried pastels, are certain the children will enjoy using them and if mamas want to put up with the mess Remember, pastels are messy. Blessedly messy. We keep a package of baby wipes close by when we use them.

Where do you store finished pictures? Honestly, our house is decorated with children’s pictures. You’ll find them on the chalkboard, the refrigerator and adorning the walls.

You can also find pastel pictures:

•in our nature journals – the finished pictures just rub off a bit on the back of the next picture.

•in a binder – 2nd grader created a binder for finished pictures. She puts a bit of wax paper between each one.

Following are Nana’s pastel tutorials:

• Fireplace # 37
• Chickadee #36
• Tree Silhouette #35
• Harvest Moon (Night scene) #34
• Medieval Castle #33
• Coca-Cola #32
• Fudge Pie #31 + recipe at Heart of the Matter
• Lily Pad #30
• Bird’s Nest #29
• Marsh #28
• Tomato #27
• Fruit Bowl #26
• Sparklers! #25
• Strawberries and Bananas #24
• Blueberries #23
• Watermelon #22
• Macaroni and Cheese #21 – Heart of the Matter’s April 2011 Digital Magazine
• Three Little Chicks #20
• At the Beach #19
• Bubbles #18
• Love birds #17
• Christmas tree in the snow #16
• Tree Reflection # 15
• Leaf #14
• Mug of hot chocolate #13
• Apple or Pumpkin – you decide! #12
• Queen Anne’s Lace #11
• Night blooming cereus #10
• Butterfly #9
• Sunflowers #8
• Weather + bonus #7
• Tree – #6
• Beach Umbrellas #5
• Twilight #4
• Sailboat at Sunset #3
• a Tornado in Pastels #2
• a Path to the Beach – Nana’s first lesson in pastels
• Art by Nana
• Find the positive
• Master Artist - a story of Nana and a tour of artwork in her house

For us, using pastels is sheer joy. We’ve found they are great for making nature journal entries. Click over to see how we used them for our Outdoor Hour Nature study on Dandelions.

The practical aspects of a mess: We always have baby wipes close by to wipe hands. We wear something we don’t mind getting stained or don a smock.

*Read about how we cleaned the floor from a pastels spill in Nana’s 7th lesson, Weather + Bonus.

Nana is a Master Artist in pastels. Pastels are an easy, forgiving medium. Fun for children and adults alike!

Thank you for your patience as I work to update these posts to our new Hodgepodge site. Some of the above pastel tutorials still link to our first site. Please let me know if you have any trouble accessing the lessons by the little email icon at the top right of the site.