Home Forums Explore Media Pastels Soft Pastel Talk Paul deMarrais Pastels?

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  • #989569
    Jason1616
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        Hello All! :wave:

        I was curious as to whether anyone has ever tried or had experience with the Paul deMarrais handmade pastels?

        His website photos are a bit confusing as the one showing the sticks shows a nice value range, but the “2011” color chart seems to be quite lacking in high value range colors. The samples of his own paintings are wonderful and seem to show a nice range of colors.

        I am interested to try these when money permits. :D

        http://www.pauldemarrais.com/store/index.html

        Jason :)

        Jason

        "Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Therefore, I believe we should be economical with it." —Mark Twain
        http://www.WalcottFineArt.com

        #1160003
        Lynndidj
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            Jason, there are so many Fabulous pastels out there to try, these just frankly don’t impress me very much. If you haven’t tried a sampler pack from Dakota i would suggest that you do. I would just hate for you to spend money on something that might not be the same quality as a terry Ludwig or a mount vision or a sennelier. These are tried and true brands used by many great pastel artists. But, if you feel you really want to try his pastels, I would order one or two just to see what they are like before investing a lot of money into them. Just my 2 cents!

            Lynn

            #1160004
            Jason1616
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                Jason, there are so many Fabulous pastels out there to try, these just frankly don’t impress me very much. If you haven’t tried a sampler pack from Dakota i would suggest that you do. I would just hate for you to spend money on something that might not be the same quality as a terry Ludwig or a mount vision or a sennelier. These are tried and true brands used by many great pastel artists. But, if you feel you really want to try his pastels, I would order one or two just to see what they are like before investing a lot of money into them. Just my 2 cents!

                Lynn

                I agree, Lynn. I wouldn’t want to order a whole bunch without trying them first. That’s good advice! :thumbsup: I probably will eventually order one or two sticks, but I was just wondering if anyone here had actually used them and what they thought in terms of quality and texture.

                I have pastels from practically every “known” brand there is! I even have a few half stick Rochés. They are actually quite gritty, almost like a Townsend Terrages. They are OK, but after trying them, I would never spend $9,600 on a full set! :eek:

                Jason :)

                Jason

                "Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Therefore, I believe we should be economical with it." —Mark Twain
                http://www.WalcottFineArt.com

                #1159998
                bluefish
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                    Jason

                    do a search on here….over the years this subject has come up numerous times…….I believe Paula Ford uses them and likes them…….you could always PM her……

                    ‘blue…..:wave:

                    #1160002
                    mercbill
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                        Jason, I have all of the pastels that Paul has made and they are as good as any high end pastel made, The pastels come in a nice range of colors. I have a full set of 1920’s Roche’s that I bought several years ago at an estate sale as crayons, cheap. I like Paul deMarrais pastels a lot better than most of the high priced pastels on the market. If you call him he most likely will send one or two to try out. Bill

                        #1160008
                        lumiere33
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                            the colors seem very nice, especially the blues. I wish I could find some in France to try

                            #1160007
                            SherryC
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                                I searched and searched for a particular color of red and could not find it anywhere. Paul made me a whole set of reds and I like them a lot.

                                Sherry

                                "beauty is God's handwriting - a wayside sacrament" Ralph Waldo Emerson

                                #1159999
                                robertsloan2
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                                    Interesting. I hadn’t heard of this brand. Tempted to get a few turquoise ones sometime – I like those turquoises. The reds look good too. It’s interesting how he approaches it formulating different colors in different ways with less binder if the pigment doesn’t need it. That alone would make it intriguing to get some.

                                    It looks like he hadn’t done that series of tints when he made the chart. But with it being a handmade personal effort, I’m sure I could ask him to send requested tints when I’m ready to get some of these. Might want to try just one hue at first and use them with other pastels, see what they’re like. If I got just one stick I see a dark purple-red that might fit my needs – tried several Terry Ludwig dark reds and all of them were too brownish for what I was looking for.


                                    Robert A. Sloan, proud member of the Oil Pastel Society
                                    Site owner, artist and writer of http://www.explore-oil-pastels-with-robert-sloan.com
                                    blogs: Rob's Art Lessons and Rob's Daily Painting

                                    #1159997

                                    I love, love, love these pastels. Gigantic, creamy, rich in color – I’m sorry I didn’t buy more when I had the chance at a demo he gave.

                                    #1160001
                                    Colorix
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                                        Looks to me like he is using the inherent value of each hue to great effect in his paintings. And that he’s going for the most intense and pure colour, with a few tints that are necessary for his style of painting. I drool over them, but as I had to bust the bank recently for another brand…

                                        Charlie

                                        Charlie's Site/Blog

                                        #1160000
                                        Sonni
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                                            I’ve used several of Paul’s pastels–sent him a sheet of paper with the colors I wanted from another brand and he did a good job of matching.I also asked him to make me some blues one time and he came up with a good lot. One of his reds was hard to work with. He said red was a difficult color to get the right consistency and he was working on it. This was some time ago, so he has probably solved the problem by now. . I liked the shape and feel of his pastels as they were fat and somewhere between grainy and buttery.

                                            --Hard critiques always welcome.
                                            [FONT=Arial]More stuff at http://www.flickr.com/photos/27594229@N06/
                                            However you choose to paint, get it right in every necessary respect. That does not mean "tight" or detailed. [Richard Schmid]

                                            #1160005
                                            Jason1616
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                                                Thanks for all the input! I am definitely planning to try a few when I have extra cash. Then maybe later I can add more if I like them.

                                                Sonni: Sounds like they might be similar in texture to Mount Visions.

                                                Jason :)

                                                Jason

                                                "Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Therefore, I believe we should be economical with it." —Mark Twain
                                                http://www.WalcottFineArt.com

                                                #1159996
                                                edencompton
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                                                    To add on at the end of this thread – Paul’s pastels are fabulous! I have a set of every pastel available and Paul’s are not like any of the others. He made me a custom set of colors specifically for my Caribbean work and they are quite unique. They are all hand made and I don’t think they are expensive for what you get. I would definitely give them a try. Just my two cents (maybe more!)

                                                    #1159995
                                                    chewie
                                                    Default

                                                        from seeing this thread, I thought I’d try them also. got them this afternoon. they are HUGE! they are heavy! I got 6 pastels of my choosing, and shipping, for $24. he took paypal so it was easy to buy. they go on the uart very nice, slightly gritty-ish but creamy at the same time. (gosh, that’s helpful?!) packaged well, perfect on arrival.

                                                        I am more than pleased, the color seems to be very highly pigmented, even the super light blue, its intense while being very light in value.

                                                        oh yes, these are NIIIICCCEE!!! i WILL be buying more of these. oh yes!:thumbsup:


                                                        [FONT="Comic Sans MS"]A rich person is not one who has the most, but is one who needs the least.
                                                        --- "Interview with God" (author unknown)
                                                        ]

                                                        #1160006
                                                        Jason1616
                                                        Default

                                                            from seeing this thread, I thought I’d try them also. got them this afternoon. they are HUGE! they are heavy! I got 6 pastels of my choosing, and shipping, for $24. he took paypal so it was easy to buy. they go on the uart very nice, slightly gritty-ish but creamy at the same time. (gosh, that’s helpful?!) packaged well, perfect on arrival.

                                                            I am more than pleased, the color seems to be very highly pigmented, even the super light blue, its intense while being very light in value.

                                                            oh yes, these are NIIIICCCEE!!! i WILL be buying more of these. oh yes!:thumbsup:

                                                            Sounds great!! I will definitely have to try them. Thanks for the info Chewie!

                                                            Jason :)

                                                            Jason

                                                            "Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Therefore, I believe we should be economical with it." —Mark Twain
                                                            http://www.WalcottFineArt.com

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