I have had some requests for pastels of late, and it has become my second favorite media. Oils are my favorite and when I became involved with them, I kind of buried by pastels on the back of the shelf. As beautiful as they are, with their clear color and sparkle that you cannot achieve with any other media, they are a mess to work with. Within minutes I'm covered with pastel dust (very unhealthy) and so is my studio. When I finally complete a painting, the framing process is misery. It takes me several tries to get the mats on without smearing pastel dust on them or the glass. Then, if you move them around, inevitably dust falls on the mats and you must disassemble and clean the mats and glass again. I won't even go into the routine to mail one! Having whined about all that, I do love the look of that pure pigment.
I thought I had better give it a try again. It is amazing how fast you loose your touch, or rather, I did. I filled up the tooth of the paper with pastel much too early in the process. I definitely need more practice with this media. Anyway, here is my attempt.
