As I write this I am flying over South Carolina.

I am heading back to Texas for another workshop. I have another opportunity to take a handful of artists and have them forever changed in their mindset about the amazing, dusty medium of pastel. I love shaking up everything they know about my beloved sticks. 

So what to pack?  I always struggle with packaging clothes-  I am not a fashionista…so figuring out what clothes to take is not easy for me. 

But all my pastel gear? Piece of cake.  I have a large Heilman box which I line up by power-  not value, not by brands and definitely never by hue. And I keep them dusty. No sense cleaning them.  Truly.  If I use a stick, I’ll clean it off as I go. I never saw the reason to spend so much time and attention on having perfectly clean sticks. Vacuuming them,  cornmeal, etc….I feel it is a waste of time. I’d rather be painting.

So one box of pastels- check.  Microfiber cloth- check. Bunch of pastel pencils- check. An exacto blade and my favorite surface-  Sennelier LaCarte. Yup. The good stuff. Check and check.

And that’s it!  I think attendees are always amazed that I can pack so little. Well, I don’t need much. Most pastelists really don’t need much either.  We may want all the colors and all the brands…but we don’t really need them.  

I will be bringing my “Power of Pastel” workshop to more places next year- New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and my home turf of South Carolina.  And of course, more workshops online.  

But right now I gotta go…more pastelists to convert! 

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