A Brilliant Hack for Sorting Pastels

'Softly Goes the Day'            9x12       pastel        �Karen Margulis
available $145

I love teaching! Sometimes I learn just as much as I share. It was the case the last couple of days. I had the privilege of sharing with a wonderful artist and new friend form South Carolina. Linda came to my studio for a two day private session. I love having these in depth one on one workshops. Not only do we get the chance to cover a lot of material I have the opportunity to get to know the artist. 

And I learned much from Linda. I started a list of tips and ideas she shared with me but this one was the best!  When she arrived at my studio she was holding a round thing covered in tin foil. Did she bring cookies I wondered? I was intrigued and quite surprised when she removed the foil to reveal a wonderful tray of pastels!  

I thought it was interesting and very pretty but I didn't immediately see the brilliant solution she had for sorting and bringing her pastels to my class.

I love this hack for sorting pastels!

On closer inspection I saw that she was using the sections of a catering tray as a color wheel!

• The tray was a sturdy multi compartment tray from the deli department of the grocery store. (she had thrown away the lid before she thought of this hack)
• A Pocket Color Wheel fit perfectly in the center of the tray.
• The sections were lined with paper toweling.
• Using the color wheel as a guide the pastels were sorted by color, value and temperature. 
• The lighter value pastels were placed at the wide end and were arranged by value to the darkest pastels at short end of each section.
• The color wheel serves as a guide for each section. 
• The pure colors and neutrals are kept together. Though the center could be used for the neutrals.

Closeup of the green and yellow section

I love this hack because it makes use of a relatively easy to find tray. Here are some more reasons to try this hack.

•  It is a great way to sort and organize pastels without the expense of a box. I like it even though I have a box. It would make an efficient working pastel tray for the studio. It isn't that practical for travel unless you are driving to and from class.

• Taking time to organize your pastels in this manner is a great way to see what you need. You can see what colors, temperature and values you are missing and then make a list to order open stock or a set that has the missing pastels.

A big thank you to Linda for sharing this idea with me. I hope you find it as helpful as I do!

Today's Painting notes: This is a 9x12 pastel on Moonstone Canson Mi-Teintes paper. This is one of the demos I painted for this class.