Bought the cheapest pastel paper on purpose and I'm honestly hooked
I ran out of my usual Mi-Teintes mid-week and didn't feel like going into town, so I grabbed the cheapest pastel paper the shop had, the generic school kind, the one I used to look down on a little. Some hard gritty thing that grabs every layer and won't let go.
And you know what, it's kind of wonderful. The tooth is so aggressive you can't over-blend, it stops me from smearing everything into that same soft mush I always fall into when I'm nervous. It forces me to commit to each mark because you can't really fix it once it's down. Ten euros for a whole ream instead of the price of one decent pad.
I did a small portrait of my partner on it last night and the roughness actually suits him, his face is all angles and stubble, and I keep staring at it wondering why I never tried this before. Might be a phase, might be that I finally learned that the expensive stuff was just making me lazy. Anyway, I think I'll keep the ugly paper around. Does anyone else keep a cheap paper they reach for when the good stuff makes you feel too precious to touch? Or am I alone in this weirdness. 🙂
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This is a very interesting thing you have shared. In my work also, I have seen that when the paper is too fine and smooth, the line becomes too easy, and then the hand does not think before it moves. But when the surface fights you a little, you become careful, and careful is good. My grandmother used to say the best painting comes when the material does not obey you fully. Then you must learn its nature first.
Also, ten euros for a whole ream is a blessing. In our cooperatives we always say the expensive material does not make the artist, the patience does. I am happy you found this, ji. Sometimes the cheap thing is the honest teacher. 🙏
Your grandmother knew what she was talking about, ji. That is the same wisdom we carry in Mithila, the surface must have its own character, or the hand only repeats itself. On our handmade paper you can feel every fibre, and it demands respect before you even dip the brush. This is why I have never fully trusted the machine-made sheets, however fine they look.
And you are right about the cost. Some of the younger students here ask me if they need the imported paper to make good art, and I always tell them the same thing your grandmother said. The material never made anyone patient. The patience made the material work.
This got me thinking about the machine-made vs handmade thing, and I think you're onto something. What I keep circling around is that the cheap paper has character too, just a cruder, angrier kind. It's not handmade but it still refuses to be neutral, and that might be what I needed all along.
The students asking about imported paper though... I know that pressure. I spent years convinced I needed the right thing to start, and it was mostly an excuse to not make bad work in public. Tell them to save the money and buy more pastels instead. The paper will teach them whatever they need soon enough.
Your grandmother was a wise woman, I think I'm going to steal that line for myself. "Learn its nature first", that's exactly it. I spent so long fighting with paper, trying to make it do what I wanted, and it never once occurred to me to just listen to what it was telling me. This cheap stuff is like a strict teacher, honestly. It doesn't let me cheat.
And you're right about the expensive trap. I think I was buying nice paper partly because I thought it would make me feel like a real artist, and partly to hide behind. "It would be better if I had better materials." Turns out the ream of school paper isn't having any of my excuses, lol. Do you work on handmade paper mostly? I'd love to see what that surface does to the line, I bet it has its own rules entirely.