Does Paper Color Matter? Pastel Painting Demo 

So useful! Picking a tone of the paper has always been a puzzle for me.

I HAVE DONE SOME OF THE BEST PORTRAITS ON MAROON CANSON....HARD TO WORK WITH IN THE BEGINNING BUT THE GLOW INTHE END IS GRATIFYING....

Thanks Karen! The basics are so important. Pastels are new to me and your videos help so much! I’ve always thought pastels are the most gorgeous medium, and now I don’t feel so intimidated. You’re a wonderful teacher🙏

It was very noticeable the vibrancy. The whole painting took on a new mood. Thanks Karen.

Thank you, excellent demo! This gave me some insight into really seeing how a choice of paper colour can affect the brightness of some pastels, also the overall mood of the painting. I am new to pastel painting and am enjoying learning from your videos.

Thank you Karen. This was a great demo.

I'm always a little surprised that more artists don't use the tone of the paper as part of the art more intentionally. I saw a video where Lindsay Whitton uses the Terry Ludwig Intense Darks set and paints a scene from inside a cave, using this type of orangey-clay colored paper as the base color of the cave. I would have thought more people would do this.

Great teaching video on paper color, just what I needed to learn about! Thank you so much Karen.

Thank you Karen for another great lesson. You are such a good teacher. I hope when Covid is over I can go to one of your workshops.

Loved and learned from this tutorial... and always appreciate when Canson paper is used to show it can still produce great pieces despite its limitations.

Thank you Karen. I love your lessons. Lessons learned here help me in all my pastel endeavors.

I’m an oil and acrylic painter, but want to add pastels to my painting methods. Underpainting is so important, the more layers the better! The depth it gives the final product is amazing. Love your video!!

Thank you Karen great lesson!

Thank you Karen. Always good to review these basics as we tend to jump in painting and forget to consider paper/underpainting colour(s).

Thank you! It logically follows that this will apply to underpaintings using watercolor or alcohol washes as well. Great lesson!

Fantastic lesson!! Thank you Karen!

Thank you! I just came over to look up about color of paper!! You gave us so much useful information! As always good info and very timely.

What a difference - really emphasises the need for an appropriate underpainting too !! Gorgeous image - thankyou.

Thank you for this wonderful video showing the difference between paper colors. I'm leaning towards the one on the right though both are lovely. Your videos inspired me to take up pastel painting some years back so thank you for bringing something that I cherish into my life.

Very beautiful your work

I often wondered about paper color affecting brightness. Thanks for clarifying. Watching artists doing animal drawings often choose grey paper. Looking forward to further paper info.

It’s a big difference! Thank you!🌼

Very helpful !

Thank you, Karen! I always love your lessons!

Thank you so much Karen! Always such useful and entertaining content. Timely video too- I was wondering about the colours of my paper and how I can optimize its usage. I bought Clairfontaine Pastelmat with an assortment of yellow and gray paper, along with my first Terry Ludwig pastels! Courtesy of you for exposing me to that brand! Happy painting

Thank you so Michael from Denmark, your Are fantastic I learn so much

Wonderful ! Thank you .

It's like the paper color is the underpainting

Very useful thanks

Thank you, Karen for this video. I ordered some Rembrandt pastels and received some free Rembrandt Sanguine red paper. I was wondering what to do with it. Ant suggestions for subject matter?

👍🏻

Dear Karen! I paint with you in Russia) this is my version of your tutorial. Oh, sorry, I can't load my picture here (

When would you use black paper?

Dear Karen