Review: Terry Ludwig Ultra Violet Pastel Set

I've been eyeing this set for a while, for several reasons: 1) Everyone seems to rave about Terry Ludwig pastels 2) Purple is one of my favourite colours. At first, I was drawn to the Intense Dark II set but I realised that I was only interested in the deep purples, most of which were in the Ultra Violet set. 

What stopped me was the crazy pricing, but when I recently came into some extra cash, I bit the bullet and bought it from Jackson's Art.

It's even more gorgeous in person, if that's possible. The colours are rich and I was pleasantly surprised to see how large and substantial each stick is. Guess my expectations were not high after having bought Blue Earth pastels. Those are TINY - more like half sticks, which makes them incredibly overpriced.

The set comes with a helpful printout of the colours. I've filled them in here, using a light hand so the actual colours are a lot more vibrant. Some of the sticks are quite similar. I wish they could have replaced a couple of the similar shades with more red violet hues.

I was all ready to give these pastels a test run, and decided to paint two bears. But first, I did the background using mostly Unison and Rembrandt pastels. Instantly, I knew I had made a mistake choosing UArt 400 paper. I had previously used UArt mostly for pastel pencils and had forgotten how smeary it is. The very initial layer is fine - the paper grabs the pastel. However, after the first layer, pastels simply smear all over the place. Even a light swipe with a finger will result in the pastel dust moving across the paper, creating mud everywhere. Layering colours on this paper is challenging to say the least and it was a constant battle trying not to overblend.

Then on to the bear. I decided to use yellow/orange tones and the purple Terry Ludwigs for the shadow areas. First the good - the Terry Ludwig pigmentation is incredible. The deep purples are truly deep and not grey deep but with vivid colour, which I love. In terms of softness, I would say they are in the same range as Unisons - not as soft as Sennelier but softer than Rembrandt.

However, I was let down by the paper. I struggled to layer Terry Ludwig on top of existing colour and clean strokes were impossible. It was a smudgy mess and frustrating to say the least. By the time I'd completed the first bear, I was quickly losing interest in this piece.

I have to admit I rushed through the rest of the piece, mostly because I was so done. I knew if I delayed any more, I might not muster enough motivation to complete it. So here's the final painting. I used some of the lighter Terry Ludwigs for the foreground as well. 

As I wrote in my IG post: Not my best work beclaws I couldn't bear the paper any more and it was making me grizzly. At least it's done and not bruined. Lesson learnt: I will think beary hard next time befur attempting another animal pawtrait on UArt.

Some humour to lighten the mood.

Final thoughts: I'll have to try the Terry Ludwig pastels again on a different paper to see how they perform. I like the square shape as I can make sharp lines with the edges though that never lasts very long! Do know that these pastel do generate a lot of dust though. The best part about these pastels is the pigmentation so much. After completing this painting, I found various shades of purple all over my hands, legs and even on my face! Why does that happen? Art mysteries!

You can buy Terry ludwig pastel sets from Jackson's Art. If you use my referral link, I'll get a few points.