Margaret Cowling on a favourite AS watercolour: Tasman Blue

Tasman Blue - some say it's opaque, but so what? It can be, but it depends what you do with it. It's bold as a saturated colour, a sweet, joyous mid and a warm blue. It can dilute down to the finest suggestion, in fact a veil. I love to glaze a Tas Blue veil across an area - figure, still life, land or seascape - that mood change is magic.

Margaret Cowling.

Margaret Cowling is an Australian artist who has had a long and wonderful association with the Art Spectrum company.  

You can find out more about Margaret here

And view one of her painting galleries here

guide to Art Spectrum pastel sets part two of three!

We have so many sets we've had to break them up. Please click on images to see photos full-size. The site has decided to be extra colourful and put this text in blue ... 

Of course, many artists prefer to make up their own collections of colours, but if you are not sure where to start, or would like the convenience of a lovely range of colours already selected for you, you will really enjoy these sets.

Sets of thirty pastels: 'Assorted', 'Darks' (a collection of our darkest colours - N's and D's with some vibrant P's amongst them - please see link to our pastel page for tint names), 'Flowers' (as vibrant as you would expect), 'Landscape', 'Portrait' and 'Seascape' (a lovely seascape set, dominated by blues and greens, while not forgetting some very useful sand colours).

Set of thirty Jumbo pastels: An assorted set of our large, studio pastels (below). Popular with those who really churn through their pastels in the studio - but also for very discerning street artists.

Set of sixty in a wooden box (increasingly luxurious).

Set of 120 in a wooden box - an absolutely beautiful colour range (surpassed only by our Deluxe set - but that's for the next post).

If you are interested in any of these sets, please contact your nearest retail stockist of Art Spectrum products. You can find your nearest stockist by speaking to the distributor for your country or state.

Our full pastel colour chart is provided here. You can also find a list of our pastel pigments here.

Please note that individual colours in sets may change due to availability.

guide to Art Spectrum pastel sets part one of three!

Complimenting our Colourfix papers (and vice versa) is the Art Spectrum pastel range. Every pastel in our range is available individually but we also have a useful series of pastel sets - wonderful as a Christmas gift for the keen pastellist (or simply as a gift to yourself!).

6ix Packs - sets of six related colours: 'Lightest Lights', 'Fiery Warms', 'Red Wine 'n' Roses', 'Blues 'n' Violets', 'Moody Blues', 'Winter Greens', 'Summer Greens', 'Autumn Earths', 'Rich Earths', 'Stone Tones', 'Darkest Darks', 'Extra Soft Cool Tints', 'Extra Soft Warm Tints' and 'Black, White and Between' (excellent for life drawing).

Boxed Sets of 12: set of 12 'Life Drawing' (a wonderful life drawing set including white, black, greys and some earths - pictured below - someone's been using this set!) or a set of 12 'Grey Tonal' (a range of cool and warm greys, plus black and white).

Boxed Sets of 15: 'Assorted' (a great range of colours to start with), 'Landscape' (a lovely range of violets, blues, greens, earths and red and grey), 'Portrait' and 'Darks'.

Next post: Sets of 30, 60 and 120. And later: our wonderful Deluxe Pastel Set.

Please note that individual colours in sets may change due to availability.

If you are interested in any of these sets, please contact your nearest retail stockist of Art Spectrum products. You can find your nearest stockist by speaking to the distributor for your country or state.
Our full pastel colour chart is provided here. You can also find a list of our pastel pigments here.

the colourfix suede colour range

For those who were wondering about this picture in our first Suede post, the colours from left to right are Tasman Sky, Outback Blush, Brown Paper Bag (a neutral brown, by popular request), Jacaranda, Kalangadoo (it's a South Australian town!), White Suede, Black Suede and Kangaroo Grey.

art spectrum painting knives

Art Spectrum Painting Knives are sensitive, flexible steel blades designed for applying paint directly to the canvas. The cranked handles keep your hand well clear of wet paint. Three out of the full range of eighteen are shown below: 1087, 1006 (left-handed) and 1081.

If you're feeling experimental you might like to try our new Steel Brushes line of ten painting knives (pictured below is knife 1201). There's an intriguing range of shapes in very flexible carbon steel with bubinga handles.

If you'd like to find out more, please ask your nearest stockist of Art Spectrum products for more details.

Happy painting!