Attention Pastel Artists

As a freelance artist I am always looking for ways to save money on art supplies and equipment without sacrificing quality in my work. Over the last 30 years, I have discovered various alternatives. Pastel boxes can be expensive when purchased from an art supply store. Many times we are paying for a brand name rather than for workability in the studio and in the field. I found a cheap alternative by purchasing two plastic storage bins, 9" x 9" x 10", at a local dollar store. Each bin has 3 drawers and cost $7 each for a total expense of $14. Any soft material can be used to line the bottom of each drawer. I used egg-carton foam left over from a previous craft project but paper towels could also be used.

I labeled each drawer #1 through #6, using a permanent marker. The letters in parenthesis denote the color's complement. YG is yellow-green, YO is yellow-orange, RO is red-orange, RV is red-violet, BV is blue-violet, and BG is blue-green. Knowing the color's compliment, at a glance, saves time when needing to choose the color scheme for a painting and when needing to use the compliment in the shadow areas of an object.The drawers are labeled by color as follows: #1 Red Red-Violet (YG), #2 Violet Blue-Violet (YO), #3 Blue Blue-Green (RO), #4 Green Yellow-Green (RV), #5 Yellow Yellow-Orange (BV), #6 Orange Red-Orange (BG)