Can anyone offer suggestions on how to get gumpaste a nice color pink or even a bright pink. In the past I have always used red gel color, but always end up with pepto colored pink. Wondering if I should start with a different gel color, but not sure what. TIA

This page should help you!
http://www.layercakeshop.com/index.php/Shop/Baking/Food-Coloring/View-all-products.html

I totally agree that the soft pink is great. You need to invest some extra work to build up a nice selection of colors to choose from. As you have found using red to make pink just does not work.