I was hunting around on DOA for information about faceup pastels, and I discovered the glory that is Pan Pastels. According to the collective brains of DOA, Pan Pastels are smoother, brighter, thicker and more adhesive to resin than the average chalk pastels. Since I'm not particularly thrilled with my current set of chalk pastels, I've been investigating Pan Pastels for Jareth's faceup.

I considered ordering them from an online dealer, but the shipping costs would have cancelled out any discounts. Therefore, I thought to buy them in person from a local art supply store. I ran into difficulty when I realized that most of the stores around here that carry art supplies provide inexpensive, middle-grade supplies for the casual artist, as opposed to the more expensive supplies of higher quality preferred by the devoted and/or picky and/or professional. I could have easily hopped on the T and gone into "the city" to find Pan Pastels if I still lived around Boston, but I don't, and, surprisingly enough, "the city" [=Burlington] does not have a store for high-grade artist's supplies. I found one nearby in Williston, however, Artists' Mediums, which does special orders and which I will probably patronize, even if they are confused on the correct plural of "medium."

Since Pan Pastels cost an arm, a leg and three vertebrae, I've been deliberating over which to order. There are sets of 5 or 10, but I won't necessarily use all the colors in a set. But single colors are more expensive per pan than the same number of pans purchased as a set. So far I'm thinking of the following:

P.S. While I'm at it, I should get some Winsor & Newton brush cleaner.