These US-made pastels are personal favorites. They offer the softness and vivid color of Senneliers, but they're slightly harder, so drawing-like control is also quite possible. The coat of color laid down is rich, but not so thick that it becomes a challenge to control. Colors lay on top of one another in a graceful, natural way, and multiple layers can successfully painted without any problems with greasy build-up.

As you can see on the chart at the top of the page, colors can be laid down thickly (typically, I went over each area roughly twice), but the pigment does not clog the paper. They are easy to blend (evidence the nice transition from red to orange above), and they can be laid down with considerable subtlety (note the transition from orange to yellow).

A further benefit is the availability of unique colors. Marigold is very nice, and looks much like the flower itself. Sinopia is a perfect rust color. Zest is a yellow green that looks quite natural, but jumps out of the box. The reds and oranges are especially luscious and vivid, almost flourescent in their effect.

No big surprises in the closeup view. The pastel is responsive to pressure, easy to control, easy to blend (you can see some of the orange being charged into the red).

All told, ArtWorks pastels are a pleasure, a delight, well worth the investment. Plus, they are intelligently packaged so that any artist (amateur, professional, experienced, rich, starving) can find the right colors in the right pre-packaged set.

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