I am a long time Pastelmat user and paint realism. I absolutely love Pastelmat but it often comes with blemishes. I was excited when an “alternative” was to be released. When I first tried it, I admit I did not care for it. Alot of reviews led me to believe it would take pastel similar to Pastelmat and that is not the case. Pencil will not really layer over soft pastel in the same way. I decided to give it another try, changed up my style slightly and I love the results. The saturation of color it gives you is fantastic and is probably my favorite thing about the paper. Just know you need to plan a little more what colors you need where, as layering is limited. Given some adjustment, the results are quite impressive.

I was excited to try this new paper from Canson. It's different from Pastelmat and took me a bit of time to adjust my pastel work. But I love the softness it brings to the medium. I'm able to build my layers and get fine details in. Currently working on a red sheet that is luminous.

I like the green. I like how greens and earth colors pop. It's not as smooth as pastelmat IMHO. I will use the green now and then. Other than that it's just not my paper.