Pastelmat is my favorite surface for painting with pastel pencils. It is also great for hard and soft pastels. It has enough tooth to take layers, but is smooth enough to blend.

Pastelmat is a great quality to work on. Dakota is always fast when shipping products. Friendly staff of employees.

This pastel paper has a very, very fine grit. It grabs the pastel and doesn't let go. It also holds a lot of pastel. Only thing I'm not used to yet is that it's difficult to finger blend. The pastel stays where you put it. Overall I like it but must use a lighter touch than I'm used to.

A friend turned me onto this paper…holds color well, yet can smudge if need to. Holds lots of multiple layers of different colors and colors remain sharp. I do not use fixative…

I work small out of necessity and I love the separate sheets as opposed to the pads but I do miss the glassine protector sheets that the pads have.

I’m taking an online workshop to learn about pawn pastels and PastelMat. I’m on the fence about the pastelmat as I have used Canson for 40 years. But I’ve seen people’s results and thought I’d give it a try. I think a four is a good rating. Perhaps it will rise in the future.

Haven't used PastelMat very often in the past. First time I used it I didn't understand how to use it. I'm now taking Marla Baggetta online classes, and after watching how she applies pastel to it, I now appreciate its beauty and ability to hold pastel.

Fantastic paper. My favorite by far. The feel is very silky, yet it grabs and holds pastel very well. The fact that it holds the pastel well means less dust and crumbling of pastels. That part is great.

I live this surface, as it holds many layers if pastel, and also can be used with watercolor underpaintings. I was disappointed , however in two of the loose sheets as they looked like they had scratch marks running across them both horizontally. I dont know if this was an actual defect in the paper, or if it happened in the packing if it. It almost looks as if someone ran a ruler or piece if cardboard across it! For this reason I am only giving it a 4 indtead of a 5!