Soft Pastels

Soft Pastel is a tricky medium, not very popular in India. Pastels are colored chalks used for drawing. Pastels are drawn on PastelMat paper that have ability to hold the pastel colors. There are varieties of pastel colors available - soft, medium and hard, and also available in pencil form.

Powdery nature of pastels creates unique challenges - powder comes out during creation, posing dust related allergies. It's blunt edge and quick eroding nature makes fine works extremely difficult. The sequence of coloring is also different that in wet mediums. After a painting is complete, it is sprayed with fixer to ensure the powder sticks to the surface. The fixing ,however, darkens the colors too.

However, the quick instant nature of this medium outweighs the challenges it pose. This is my latest medium learnt and I enjoy the fast pace.