Honsell JAXELL Soft Pastels, set of 12 Brown Shades

JAXELL Soft Pastels in 12 brown shades – soft chalk pastels for warm earth colours

The Honsell JAXELL Soft Pastels set of 12 brown shades is an artist-quality chalk pastel set for warm earth colours in portraits, landscapes and shading. The pastels are soft and highly pigmented. You can use them for gentle transitions and light applications of colour as well as for broad background areas.

Because the set contains only browns, it covers earth, wood and rock tones as well as warm shadows without any other colours. If you would like cooler tones or a wider range of colours, the JAXELL Soft series also includes a set of 12 greys and sets of 24, 36, 48 and 60 pastels.

Working with soft pastels

The pastels have a square cross-section of 10 × 10 mm. Use the broad side to cover areas and backgrounds, and the edge to draw narrow lines and add accents. For soft transitions, blend the colour with your finger or a blending stump. The pastels can also be worked with water and combined with watercolour, sanguine or charcoal. Soft pastels adhere better to paper with a slight tooth, because the surface holds more pigment. You can protect a finished piece with fixative, but apply it sparingly so that the colours do not look darker.

Which brown shades does the set contain?

The set comprises 12 shades with the colour numbers 656, 701, 702, 734, 673, 674, 675, 710, 676, 677, 708 and 709. The pastels come in a cardboard case, where you can keep them in order and carry them with you. For portraits, landscapes and nature studies, the earth tones are often enough for the basic modelling. If needed, add pale highlights or cool accents with pastels from another set in the series.

Honsell JAXELL Soft Pastels 12 Brown Shades product details

• Manufacturer: Honsell, JAXELL Soft series, art. no. 47646
• Contents: 12 soft pastels in a cardboard case
• Colour numbers: 656, 701, 702, 734, 673, 674, 675, 710, 676, 677, 708, 709
• Size of each pastel: 10 × 10 × 64 mm
• Properties: soft texture, high pigmentation, artist quality
• Colour range: browns (earth tones)

You will also need: pastel paper or another painting surface with a slight tooth; optional fixative for finished work.