Friday 31 January 2014

Arches Huile Oil Paper, Paper Rolls and Paper Pads - reviews and prices

Arches Oil Paper Pad (140 lb x 12 sheets)

Below you can find
  • a video by Professor Steve Levin and Canson about the Arches® Oil paper: A new paper for oil painting
  • links to reviews of the Oil Paper and Oil Paper Pads introduced by Arches.
  • details of suppliers and the prices they've got for the different types of Arches oil paper on their websites as of today's post. It includes both UK (£sterling) and USA ($American) so be careful which one you're looking at



Noted characteristics of the paper are:
  • 100% cotton paper - thus much lighter than all normal supports for plein air painting
  • paper is deckle edged 
  • NOT-type surface 
  • range of alternative sizes - from pads to paper to rolls
  • ready to use
Comments about performance include
  • eliminates the need for preparation
  • easy to cut to different sizes
  • easily rolled for transport
  • strong paper - does not degrade when scrubbed
  • capable of taking oil paint without medium or thinners; paint and pigment stay on the surface of the paper and do not sink into the paper - hence no need to prime with gesso
  • can take a lot of solvent - which doesn't leak through paper or under tape - plus paper does not buckle when wet
  • absorbent - but views as to how absorbent it is very much depend on what people usually paint on; experience seems to be generally similar to painting on primed canvas
  • paint takes the same time to dry as other surfaces
  • possible to combine oil paint with other drawing media
  • oil paper pads provide a backing which means no need for a board to paint on 'en plein air'
  • great for oil sketches
  • needs to be framed under glass (that's because framing relates to the nature of the support as much as the media used)

Reviews of Arches Huile Oil Painting Pads

Suppliers

These are the art supplies people who have it in stock - and the prices they're charging


PADS
9 inches x 12inches
PADS
12 inches x 16 inches
PAPER
22 inches x
30 inches
1.3 x 9.15 metres
PAPER
51 inches x
10 yards
No. of reviews
on site
UK





£11.05
£17.45


4 reviews
£13.50
£20.50



£11.10
£17.50
£5.10
£111.00
4 reviews
USA








$156.65
rated 4.7
(3 reviews)
$9.77
$17.19


rated 5.0
(3 reviews)
$12.31
$21.58
(pack of 10 sheets)
$74.06
$201.35

$19.16
$23.96




Remember to check out the cost of shipping goods to you. (Not included above as it depends where you live and how big your order is)

Tuesday 7 January 2014

2014 POLL: Which is your favourite make of artist grade soft pastels?

The new 2014 POLL: Which is your favourite make of artist grade soft pastels? is now open to voting - by pastel artists - on my website Pastels - Resources for Artists.

It will run for the whole of 2014 and I'll do a report on the results at the end of the year (eg see
The Top Five Soft Pastels in 2013)

You can also vote in the polls on:
Do please also leave any comments as to why you like what you like best.

Below is a photograph of two sets of Henri Roche pastels which somebody won at the last annual exhibition of The Pastel Society which I was reviewing.
The Discovery and Earth set of Henri Roche soft pastels
possibly the most expensive pastels in the world



Saturday 4 January 2014

The Top Five Soft Pastels in 2013

This post reviews my poll Which is your favourite make of artist grade soft pastels? which ran on my website Pastels - Resources for Artists during 2013.

Here's the chart of the results for 2013


It's the same Top 5 Pastels again - plus a tweak!

The top Five Soft Pastels, according to people who responded to the poll, were as follows.  Links to more information about the pastels are embedded in the name

  1. Unison Soft Pastels (British) - repeating the pattern of all previous polls - Unison consistently come top.  At the end of the day, pastel artists recognise very high quality products and vote with their wallets!
  2. Sennelier Extra Soft Pastels (French) One of the oldest and possibly the smallest pastels with one of the largest chromatic range of pastels - now offered in 525 shades
  3. Schminke Soft Pastels (German) - Some of the smoothest pastels in existence. As I indicate on my website I've bought this very popular pastel in four different countries on three different continents!
  4. Talens Rembrandt (Dutch) A very popular range which comes midway between soft and hard and one which many people start with - I know I did!
  5. Joint 5th place
    • Terry Ludwig (American) I always think of Terry Ludwig as being very like Unison in the sense of being an independent artisan supplier of soft pastels - who started small and has got bigger through the patronage of very many pastel artists.
    • Girault (French) 
  6. Girault got into the "top five" by virtue of Terry Ludwig having slipped slightly. 
Here you can see a table which gives the relative percentage share over the last few years - according to the poll.


BRAND OF PASTEL
2013
2011-2013

2011
2010
2006-2009
Unison
23%
18%
22.1%
21.9%
19.6%
Sennelier
17%
13%
14.7%
13.3%
15.9%
Schminke
13%
9%
6.6%
15.2%
11.7%
Talens Rembrandt
10%
8%
11.2%
9.4%
9.4%
Terry Ludwig
5%
6%
6.6%
6.1%
11.7%
Winsor & Newton
-
6%

4.7%
6%
Girault
5%
5%

5%
3.1%

As you can see the top four brands are now beginning to pull away from the rest of the pastel brands. I'm guessing this in part relates to the demise of the Winsor & Newton Pastel which can now only be obtained as discounted pastel sets.

Unison has had its best ever year and Schminke is regaining some of the ground it lost in 2011 and 2012.

Of the remainder PanPastels is growing a loyal band of followers and is doing well to achieve 3% of the vote.

Girault crept into Joint 5th place as a result of a slightly worse result by Terry Ludwig.

I've now posted a new Poll for 2014 - but will also be announcing it in a separate post tomorrow.

Past Polls about Soft Pastels


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