Paper, picking up where I left off....

 My quest for the best paper for Pan Pastels according to me may have come to an end. I use all the sanded papers and the pastel papers and none let me show the brilliance of the Pan Pastels as do the black papers. Now I know this isn't going to be true for everyone. There are artists obsessed with finding the blackest black of papers, paints, pastels. Others who can't find the perfect paper for watercolors. Mine is hotpress.

I did a drawing with Pan Pastels of a Bullfinch on Canson Mi Tientes Pastel Paper. Here it is. I didn't like it.

But this morning, I stopped working on this image and decided to use my best go to paper. Black. I have black Stonehenge Cold Press Watercolor paper and using only the brilliant Pan Pastels and an occasional erasure, I painted this image of the Bullfinch.

Yep. There is a definite difference between images. Both are freehand drawings but the black paper reacted so strongly with the pastels that my second image had a life that the first did not.

I really do hope I'm done with the great paper search but I had a reading and was told that the right paper is still out there but I'm going to let it come to me. In the meantime this girl is just gonna have fun with Pan Pastels and black paper. 

When last we spoke....or when last I posted...

 I was still in doubt and I want to say, that while I persist in my pastel work, I am so confused. It's matching my pastel pencils to the best paper and so far I haven't found it. I did a drawing of a crow with pastel pencils and Pan Pastels on Premiere Sanded paper. It was okay. In fact I like this paper the best and I have and use many. I have an embarrassment of sanded paper. This is the project which I am now working on editing for a YouTube time lapse demo. It was for for the bokeh background but not as good as I wanted for the pencils. What's an artist to do. Everyone I watch swears by Pastelmat and Uart but I find them too rough for my pencils. What should I do? Please scroll down below the crow to read my reponse.

Drawing paper. If I can use Pan Pastels on mat photo paper for tinting why not on drawing paper. Okay. There are many grades of paper. I have decided to start with Derwent's Lightfast Paper. Really expensive. I bought a 7 x 10 inch pad and used it once with colored pencils and it was good. If this works well with pastel pencils it may be my go to paper. I have my Strathmore drawing papers and Artagain papers to experiment with. Well the white drawing paper wasn't thick enough. The Derwent Lightfast was okay. Now I'm going to try several brands of water color paper. Whichever one wins is my go to for pastel pencils. I hope it's a clear winner.