Lava-flow of Clichés

This is just a scribble test sketch on the new (to me) PastelMat paper from Clairefontaine, the fancy dancy Euro paper manufacturer, paper color "dark gray". It is like shaved-down velour paper. Interesting, but I think I will survive it.

"Clairefontaine's fine art paper is manufactured at the Schut paper mill in the Netherlands. Est. 1618." I like that part, though this stuff is no doubt subcontracted out somewhere else. Like maybe, Arkansas.

I like the way the paper works with the pans. It also seems to take the water and alcohol washes just fine. Needs to be glued to board. We'll see!

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BONUS musical Quote: The late critic and music scholar Michael Steinberg, "dismissing" Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No 3 in 1964, in the Boston Globe as "a lava-flow of clichés." Whoa. More on Steinberg.
Here is the full review. Ravishingly excellent.