I recently discovered Australian artist Alex Louisa’s Instagram page and was fascinated by all of the beautiful work she is creating with PanPastel, so I contacted her to find out more.

“Hush” PanPastel on Pastelmat   27×19″ (68x48cm)

I couldn’t believe it when she told me that she has only been working with PanPastel for a few months. Wow. In fact the piece shown above (“Hush”) was selected as a finalist in this year’s prestigious Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize.

“Sulphur” PanPastel on Pastelmat    27.5×19.5″(70x50cm)

Alex told me that she thought she loved working with pencils, charcoal and oils until she tried PanPastel Colors properly. She had tried them here and there to block in large areas of colour in charcoal drawings on watercolour paper. But she realized she wasn’t using them to their full potential. It wasn’t until she tried PanPastel on a whim with some more textured paper that she realised just how brilliant, and unique they are. She had been commissioned to create 14 paintings featuring cloudscapes, and invested in a PanPastel full set immediately.

“Pieces and Pinecones” PanPastel on Pastelmat    27×16″ (69x41cm)

“Pinecones Work in Progress” PanPastel on Pastelmat   

Alex explained: “Materials wise I always use only PanPastel, with the exception of a couple of pieces that have a salted watercolour background. I always find myself using the hand held Sofft sponges rather than the Sofft applicators with handles.

I love that you can pinch the sponges into any shape that you desire, and obtain what looks like fluid oil brushstrokes. I love the large (Angle Slice) sponges for the ease in which you can quickly hack in backgrounds and base colours, and my favourite sponge is the one with the two pointed ends (Sofft Sponge Bar Point) – I use it on it’s edge for any fine detailing.

I started using Mi-Teintes Tex paper but have switched to Pastelmat since then, and ADORE it.”

“Feather preview” PanPastel on Pastelmat   

Alex says “they’ve become my absolute favourite medium, and I’ve been able to create more artworks in this timeframe than I ever have in my life! I don’t need to mess around mixing paint colours (nor am I wasting huge amounts of paint on dried up palettes), I don’t need to wait for paint to dry, and I’m not trying to fill large areas with small drawing tools.

This convenience is a huge asset to me, as I only have time to work when my twin baby boys are sleeping! I keep finding new ways to use the sponges flicking their edges along the surface in an arc to create each vein in a feather. (Birds are one of the most common subjects in my work, so to finally be able to illustrate the feathers exactly how I want to, is a huge thing.)”

“Hush No.2″ PanPastel on Pastelmat    27×19” (68x48cm)

“Tangled” PanPastel on Pastelmat   19×27″ (48x68cm)

“Bone Blue Work in Progress” PanPastel on Pastelmat  

“Bone Blue” PanPastel on Pastelmat   

“Setting” PanPastel on paper   18.5×19″  (47.5x48cm)

Alex shares images of her work on Instagram (where she has 15,000+ followers) http://instagram.com/alexlouisa_  Her website is: http://alexlouisa.com/