Paint Anything With This Box of Pastels

Paint Anything With This Box of Pastels 1

I’m a gal who loves bright colours. Brown and grey pastels?…I just can’t get excited about them. Give me a lipstick red, a canary yellow, an ocean blue, a plum purple, a sunset orange, a lime green, and I’m in heaven. Knowing this, you might understand why the browns and greys languish and remain unused in my pastel sets. I prefer making my neutrals by mixing saturated colours.

You may be asking, Sets? Why sets?

Along my pastel journey, I became enamoured with a limited palette. I could see the benefit of using it in my own work – colour harmony, less time spent trying to pick the perfect colour, more experimentation and possibility with a restricted palette, fewer pastels to travel with. Using a limited palette means making use of layering to create new colours and I love the qualities that layering bring to a piece – a sparkle, depth, and cohesion. So I started a project of trying out starter sets from different brands and seeing what I could do with them.

It was a fascinating exploration for sure, creating work solely with pastels out of the box. But I have to say, sometimes I was frustrated by the number of grey or brown pastels in some boxes. So I decided that one day, I would create my own set, one full of colourful pastels.

The opportunity arrived in the form of an invitation to join Unison Colour as an Associate Artist. I was honoured and happily accepted. I’d been a Unison Colour pastel fan and ‘user’ since the early 2000s when a local store started carrying them. (Sadly they no longer stock these pastels.) With the Unison Colour invitation came my chance to create my very own set!

I thought it would be all sorted within a year. Hah!  My goal was to create a set with a selection of pastels with which a pastellist – using a bit of liberty with colour interpretation – could paint any subject. In order to reach this goal, I needed to select pastels that I knew, through my own work, could do just that.

From the start, I wanted pastels of primaries and secondaries, and where possible and appropriate, warm and cool versions of each. Each colour would then have a light, middle, and dark value/tone where applicable. So I made my initial selection and went to work. And then came the months and months and months of trial and error.

Along the way, I added colours. And I removed colours. And I added and removed more as I painted my way through various subjects (landscapes, portraits, figures, still life), making sure I had what I needed in the set. Last year, I made a chart to see which colours I was actually using. This was during our HowToPastel 31-pastels-in-31-days challenge when I painted something different each day. There were some surprises. For instance, there was a dark purple I didn’t use once. The same went for a cool bright white. Another discovery was that I kept wanting to reach for an orange that wasn’t in the set (but now is).

Finally, I thought, “Gail, you need to make a decision!” This project has already been two years in the making. And, like a painting, it could go on forever. I just had to decide that it was finished! And so here we are.

As scary as it was to make that final commitment, I’m delighted with the outcome and excited to see what others will create with the vibrant luscious Unison Colour pastel sticks in this box. Let’s celebrate by painting up a storm of colour!

What’s in the box?
Left Side
BV 12
BV12
BV 10
BV10
BV 8
BV8
BG 8
BG8
BG 9
BG9
BG 11
BG11
GRN 1
GRN1
GRN 26
GRN26
GRN 5
GRN5
GRN 14
GRN14
GRN 15
GRN15
GRN 33
GRN33
Red 8
Red8
Red 9
Red9
Red 10
Red10
Red 5
Red5
Red 12
Red12
Red 13
Red13
Right Side
BV 5
BV5
BV 4
BV4
BV 2
BV2
Grey 36
Grey36
Grey 27
Grey27
BGE 16
BGE16
Green 12
GRN12
BE 12
BE12
Yellow 1
Y1
Yellow 9
Y9
Yellow 10
Y10
Yellow 12
Y12
Red 15
Red15
Red 16
Red16
Red 17
Red17
ADD 14
ADD14
ADD 13
ADD13
Orange 3
O3

TAKE ME TO THE PASTELS!

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24 Responses

  1. I am unable to find the price of these pastels. As a disabled pensioner with limited money, this is very important before considering purchasing anything these days. Thank you
    Theresa Rose

  2. Gail!! I’m so excited for you!! The colors look luscious!!! I’ll be checking it out for sure!!! The best of success in all you do!!

  3. Gorgeous colours. I’m totally with you in loving bright colours and this set looks fabulous. I’m going to start dropping leaden hints for ….. I can’t bear to say the word in September!

  4. I would love this in a half stick set, plein air to go! I prefer not having to break them myself, it feels like sacrilege! Good selections!

    1. Helen…I know how it feels to break these babies but just do it! Run your fingernail around the pastel where you want the break and snap! The whole sticks mean you’ll have the colours for longer 😁

  5. Gail!!! This is fantastic! I love my Unisons, and am fascinated by your process and goal! I will be paying much more attention about which colors I am reaching for and cannot find. I’ll also compare which colors you have chosen, with which I have chosen. I agree totally with the orange that I was looking for! Again, you continue to help me think and see differently! I will look forward to the 31 challenge with these thoughts!

    1. Sue thanks so much for sharing your insights and thoughts! Going through the long process of selection really did have me looking more deeply at the colour and stick choices I make and why I make them. And what pastels I absolutely never use!!
      See you in the HowToPastel 31in31 Challenge!

  6. I also love bright pure colors, and in the ready-made sets there are few orange and yellow for me, an excellent set, congratulations!

  7. Congrats Gail! I love Unisons pastels, I too love bright pure colours and always struggled to get these. So I am absolutely thrilled with this set of colours!
    Thank you!

  8. Congratulations Gail! I learn from your blog posts and enjoyed reading about how you chose your colors – very vibrant. You’ll find me in the shades of Browns and Greys, but I WILL make room for a pop of color, too!

    1. Thanks Lori! Love hearing the blog posts over on HowToPastel.com are valuable to you.

      And I do I love greys and browns too….I just prefer to create them myself using vibrant colours 😬

  9. (Translated)Beautiful pastel colours! Beautiful Unison!

    (Original)Прекрасные цвета пастели! Прекрасная Юнисон!

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Achieving Enlightenment

For a painting to work effectively, it should include a range of values as well as a variety of warm and cool colors. In addition, color harmony will be more successfully achieved when utilizing a limited palette.

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