Why do I love pastels?I find pastels gratifying because of the immediacy of the results.
They are both a drawing and a painting medium and have most of the qualities of both; I can paint quickly and spontaneously, or take my time for more deliberate, detailed work.
No stretching / preparing papers or canvases, no waiting for paint to dry, no varnishing of the finished product to bring out the true colours.
They are economical to use, never dry out, they are easy to store and transport. They come in a great variety of colours and hardness, and they can be combined on the paper itself - no mixing necessary. As they are opaque, you can overpaint and rectify mistakes easily.
You can leave your work and come back to it when you are ready to continue, it will be exactly as you left it - no drying time or colour changes, no need to put things away when you have to take a break.
Although they are generally assumed to be safe and non-toxic - it is best not to breathe too much dust (use a paper face mask) and to wear latex gloves (or Artguard Barrier Cream) to prevent it from getting into your lungs or bloodstream through your hands.
This piece titled "Light House" was painted on 11" x 15" Canson watercolour paper using PanPastels, hard and soft pastels.
I find PastelMat to be a very nice surface to work with. It shares the depth of tooth with sandpaper without the harshness. This means that pastels (specially PanPastels) adhere quite well to it, blending and erasing are a bit more difficult and fixatives are not required. Also there is very little dust produced while working on these surfaces, always a good thing.
