Yarka pastels?
 

I'm getting ready to purchase a 185 set of pastels made by Yarka. I was wondering if anyone knows of their quality because they seem relatively cheap. They describe them as water-soluable and sharpenable. Both of which appeal to me.

If anyone has any experience or knowledge about them, please let me know. I don't want to make a bad purchase.

Hi Nathan,

You might want to try a very limited set to check out the exact properties of the sticks. It looks like there are a lot of redundancies in the grays, especially. I've really enjoyed playing around with my box of Yarka "sauce" but am not sure if their "pastels" are the same composition; I could not tell from the literature.

My experience: experiment with as little a financial outlay as possible. We all have closets full of materials we will never touch twice.

I haven't used Yarka pastels. My limited experience with some of their other products is that the quality is uneven. Try before you buy.

A Rembrandt set, together with a set of darks from Unison, and the big (96) set of NuPastels would be a great way to start. Then you can sample other brands by the stick so you become familiar with their differences.

Chris are these the thin, hard sticks? If so, do you use these a lot or just for detailing?

Yes, Beth. They can be sharpened if you like.


Here's an example of of their use in conjunction with charcoal. Or here using the black and white.

It would be rare for me not to use any in a pastel painting.

They are great for drawing, layering, knocking off too mush pastel, unifying color. Some people use them in the early layers (Daniel Greene for one) and some for the finishing work.

Nathan, I hope you don't mind me jumping in and asking questions on your thread, but I thought they were pastel related.

Chris, I forgot to ask - when you have a subject you want to paint which is not a commission, in other words you get to chose the medium. How do you decide oil vs. pastel?

Yarka is one of the largest art supply manufacturers in Russia from what I've heard. I do like their quality. I recently purchased Yarka Sanguine & Sepia drawing crayons from Dick Blick and I'm happy with the quality especially for the price I paid for them. I want to eventually pick up their watercolor pan set.


http://www.dick-blick.com/items/200/46/20046-OAww.gifhttp://www.dick-blick.com/items/003/35/00335-OEww.gif

Pastel thread
 

Hi Nathan,

Check out the pastel thread dealing with substrates, methods, materials etc. There are some concerns about which pastels are lightfast as evidenced by the ongoing testing by the ASTM.

As a response to the findings at present, I would recommend the Windsor Newtons. They are reasonable, lightfast and hard enough to get a sharp point.

www.dakotapastels.com has a descending list of pastels in order of hardness.

My personal favorite is Unisons, soft, but they hold a great point. They are rather expensive however.

Sincerely,

Cheap pastels
 

Hi Nathan,

Another thing you might want to consider when buying pastels; can you get individual replacements for the colors you use? If not I would pass, nothing is more frustrating than not being able to replace a particular color when you need it.

Sincerely,

Sharon is absolutey right. Start out with the most lightfast pastels you can get. Although you'll need to replace some of them as you use them, there are many others that you'll have for years.