Studio Pastel Painting Station

Here is the pastel station in my studio. The natural light isn't great, so there is a full-spectrum clamp-on lamp above the easel. I like to have the pastels selection right in front of the painting for finding the right color. The cabinet is a Stanton Cart.  It is only 14" deep, so I don't have to reach very far, (I'm short), which reduces shoulder strain. It's on wheels which occasionally comes in handy, although it is quite heavy full loaded. There is a little dust catcher tray that I made from foam-core under the drawing board.

I almost always use soft pastels now, (especially for live demos and portrait sittings) because of their speed, versatility and richness of color. The only medium that's better is the computer.

Some Pastel Sets

Here are a few of the sets I've put together. The one on the far left is the one at the studio painting station. The one on the lower right is my smallest travel set. The trays are made with foam-core. You can see that they are all arranged with the same color configuration, so that no matter which set I'm using, I know where to go to find the color I need.

At this point I have far more pastels than I will ever use up. I still want to get more, of course, just to make sure I have the right color. It's like getting a brand new box of crayons.