Roche pastels?
 

Anyone here used Roche pastels? Saw them at www.fineartstore.com - handmade in Paris since 1720!, used by Degas, Sisley, Whistler. They look gorgeous and the range of tints look incredibly deep - but man, are they expensive!!

Are they worth it?

....Sharon?

David,

I have never used them. I heard they were a tad crumbly from an art store owner who declined to sell them. But who knows.

I have been very, very happy with the Great Americans, great skintones, velvety texture, rich darks. If you want to work more tightly, the Unisons would be a better bet, but I find that I am using the Great American skintones over and over again.

That and a set of Giraults ( thinner, harder ) would be a good start.

I posted my favorite pastel skintone colors under the palette section here. I would only get the Senneliers, and the Schminkes listed. The Senneliers are really crumbly, but have some invaluable skin colors.

Then if you are feeling really flush get the whole set of Unisons.

I have whole sets of Great Americans, Schminkes,Senneliers, Unisons, Giraults, Mt. Vision and NuPastels.

I feel like with what I've got and mixing it up, I can pretty much get the medium range (value) skin tones I need. What I'm missing most are the darker tones, whether browns, reds, blues, etc. It's like, I've got black, and then next value up (any color) is quite a jump. I like the Great Americans a lot for all but the finer detail work - very painterly, they go on thick - but I guess I have a pretty limited set. (36 color portrait/figure set) I'm just missing darks!

For really deep rich darks, what would you recommend?

David,

I like the Great Americans generally for their darks especially their Midnight, #250, Bismark #235, Sexan # 260, Vermont #280, Aubergine #240 and Merlot #275.

These Schminckes are good also. Serious Black, #97D, Quin Violet, #48B, Red Violet Deep, #55, Bluish Green Deep # 69B, Pht Green Deep, # 74B, Cold Green Deep #81B and Leaf Green Deep # 70B.

Perfect!!

Thank you so much! It's all I need.

Sharon, As you know, I don't have a full set of anything, but have got an assortment of Unison, Schminke, Sennelier and GA and of course now Doaks. My two favorite being the Sennelier and GA's. To me the Sennelier and GA's are equal in their beauty, but the GA's win out because they are sturdier and don't fall apart so much. I remember you mentioning somewhere (at least I think it was you) that the Senneliers hadn't changed their formula in a VERY long time and that was part of their problem.

Well, I came across this on senneliers the other day when looking for random art related things and was wondering if you knew anything about it or if you had tried any of these "new improved" ones.

[I]Sennelier Soft Pastels:
News for pastel fans! Sennelier Pastels, long regarded for quality have just gotten better, and 108 new colors are just the start. Each new stick is longer, thicker, and more stable than before. We wanted to be the first to offer you every color in this new range.

More new products for pastel artists have been developed in the last five years than in the previous five decades. This news is truly the most exciting we've heard in the last few years. If you're committed to Sennelier Pastels you'll have to dig into this new batch. If you've never explored this line you're got more reason than ever to give them a try.

Sennelier uses only the purest pigments, mixed with minimal amounts of natural binders in an exclusive formula that yields lightfast, water-soluble pastels. They are highly concentrated and so soft that a gentle stroke will deliver a solid, powerful line of brilliant color.

Sticks are 2-1/2" long

Mary,

When was that article posted and by who? They had completely reformulated their line and it was available in 2000, when I bought their complete set. As far as I know that is the latest reformulation. Some still are crumbly.

Here is an interesting link that discusses the various qualities of most of the available pastel lines. http://www.creativeprofessional.net/Main-Artists.html

Sharon, I am not sure exactly when that article was published. Wet Canvas started a review section a few months ago for just about every art product imaginable, and that is where I pulled that. From what I can tell each product has a blurb from the individual manufacturer. When I have time, I will see if I can find out just how old that is.

Considering I just started using pastels a little over a year ago, I would assume I have some of the newer ones, and they CRUMBLE, so if I have the new ones, I'd hate to see what the old ones were like.

Can't remember exactly when, the Pastel Journal had an article about the Roche line. A family member had taken it over, but the colors were limited, about half, compared to the original line of about 1,200. (that number is from memory, I might be way off)

Like I said, it was a while ago, the number may be higher now. The author of the article was very impressed by the quality of the pastels, but admitted to not being able to afford more, and it was bought straight from her, no middle-person. That could have been said for the sake of the article, but if she's still in business, someone's buying them!