Yikes @Brenda, is the PASTELMAT worth the high price over Strathmore…?
Hi Dave! It is the Clairefontaine Pastelmat paper, and the price is initially shocking! I agree. It didn’t take but one or two drawings for me to realize it is now my favorite paper. It holds so much pastel and can also hold so many layers of colored pencil. I bought a pad which had the light gray, dark gray, buttercup and maize. The light gray was perfect for the bluejay, acting as a wonderful light value. My granddaughter just did a fox with pan pastels and colored pencils on a piece of pastelmat in the maize color which was perfect for the oranges and yellows of the fox. It served as a terrific value for starting, pushing the darks darker, and was not overly dark for highlights. She did need a bit of white and chose to use white gel pens to strengthen the reflections in the eye and the hairs in the ears.
The main advantage in my opinion is the amount of material the pastelmat can hold, combined with the pan pastels to result in very little pastel dust for my lungs to deal with. In fact, the fox drawing with pan pastel background, while hanging at the local show/competition, had been “fingered” by some small hands, resulting in a few smears of yellowish powder on the light-colored mat. However, there was ample pastel on the paper that there was no way to tell the drawing had been touched or damaged.
My other favorite paper is Stonehenge white. It is 100% cotton and holds the materials really well, but definitely doesn’t grab as many layers as the pastelmat. I think it’s a situation of trying a couple of sheets of pastelmat to see what you think, keeping in mind it is akin to very fine sandpaper in texture. In fact, you could buy a piece of very fine grit sandpaper to get an idea of what pastelmat is sort of like.
Ask any questions you wish! If it’s not something I can answer or have an opinion about, I’m sure we can get someone to offer more information. I love this forum and the people who make it up.
Brenda
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Are the prices you sent from the Blick website? I find they have the best prices on most all the supplies I need, with Amazon being a close second.
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Very well done. Excellent choice for your subject and I would be very satisfied if my project looked as good.
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I’m working on composition of my next drawing. Following is an image with the original photo reference at the bottom with a modified photo reference at the top. Looking at the rule of threes overlay I cut off the right edge, extended the left side a bit, and moved the left bird/perch up to maximize the intersection points of interest and dropped the right bird a bit. I’m also wondering about where to put highlights in the background to move the viewers eyes through the drawing effectively.
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I use the grid and variations thereof to help with proportions and scale. I also commit the greatest blasphemy of using tracing paper for more complicated pieces. I use oil pastels and tend toward more interpretive renderings so I feel no guilt about the trading paper!
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Hi David,
That’s an excellent approach. The designing phase, especially taking good enough time and efforts for considering the composition is critical, because no matter how perfectly you can handle the medium of your choice, it is very hard to make a successful piece if the composition is not good.
With regard to this particular subject, I would delete the tree and add something different. I would focus on the fact that the birds are looking in the completely opposite directions and try to emphasize the interestingness.
Something like this:
I once wrote about my idea about how to utilize photo references.
If you are interested, the discussion is in this topic.
Good luck with your new project! 
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@Maki thanks for your great thoughts, I went to your link and read that too… pretty inspirational. You’ve given me some good food for thought. I went through the whole colored pencil course again last evening and will be working the composition before starting the piece.
I really appreciate your thoughtful feedback and ideas.
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Art is a joy for me @Dotsie. There are no laws or rules that will get in the way of the challenge of making it my own. I am really loving experiencing something that I had put off when I decided I needed a real job and got absorbed in all the busyness of life. Thanks for your kind words.
@Brenda how do the polychromos compare to the Derwent colored pencils?
Hi Dave. I’ve never used Derwent colored pencils. I use Prismacolor Premier, Caran D’ache Luminance, and Fabre Castell polychromos. If you’re familiar with the polychromos, they are oil based instead of wax based. They don’t break as easily as Prismacolor, and they burnish beautifully with turpenoid.
I’ve heard good things about the Derwent, and I will give them a try eventually.
Brenda
It’s taken a bit to rewire my brain in composition theory. I reworked the new reference to revisit a completely different composition and color scheme for the background using the grid of 3’s, triangle, and split complementary color theory. I need some feedback from you experts out there on whether the layout looks ok? I have a couple of concerns but would like your thoughts…
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THIS IS PHENOMENAL!!!
I’ve never seen any bird artworks this unique before.
How did you come up with this splendid pink-purple background colour???
I would love to see how this design will turn out as a painting/drawing.
Once complete, please do submit the piece to the Member’s Minute.
Matt will be delighted to critique it 
Thanks Maki! I used paint.net to develop the new reference image. Used multiple background images with adjusted layer effects and transparency levels to get the layout arrangement and colors the way I wanted them… The challenge will be building the background in pan pastels. I’ve sketched the drawing out on bristol paper so tomorrow I’ll tackle the background.
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I haven’t been online with the community or working art for months, but am picking up this piece to get going again. Yesterday I started working sketches of the eye/head of the upper left subject and am struggling with color layering of the red eye and the complexity of colors in the feathers/hairs. I’ll see if I can upload the sketch and ref pic. The second pic is the blown up ref pic.
I’m working on 9"x12" Strathmore 400 series Colored Pencil paper, acid free, medium surface, white, 100 lb paper and using FC Polychromos pencils. The problem is in achieving the bright red eye color and, well, the complex flow and layering of the head feathers. Maybe I’m making this more difficult than I need to…
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