What comes to mind when you first hear the word pastel?  Does it evoke weak, pale and muted colors that might look best on kitchen wallpaper?  How about warm peaches, yellows, mauves and fuchsias?  Yes, those images do describe one of the definitions of the word, probably the most current one.  But they are totally alien to  the second definition of the word: pastel, the painting medium.  Soft pastel, as it is formally known (to distinguish it from oil pastel) contains the very same pigments as oil paints, watercolors and acrylics.  But it's what it doesn't contain--thick binders, such as linseed oil in the case of oil paints; plastic in the case of acrylics--which allows pastel to deliver the same colors with greater strength and clarity. An added bonus:  protected properly--i.e., framed with archival materials and kept dry--a pastel painting will outlast a painting in any other medium.

Often, laymen who see my boxes of soft pastels say,  "Oh, you paint with chalks."  Another misconception.  Although, like chalk, pastels are rolled into sticks, that's where the similarity ends.  Chalk is lime, sometimes tinted with dye; soft pastels are pure pigment held together in stick form by a dry glue known as gum tragacanth.  Among the best (and most expensive) brands of pastel are Sennelier, handmade in France, and Schmincke, made in Germany.  These are my favorites, but I use  others as well.  Each has its own peculiar properties.

 Just as important as pastel itself is the paper, or support, on which pastel can be painted.  A pastel support must have 'tooth', that is, it must be rough enough to pick up and hold the particles of  pigment.  There are some very good standard papers, like Canson Mi-Teintes, which I've used for years.  These are wonderful for producing certain soft and blended effects.  But they're not that great for some of the sharper textures needed when portraying detail.  For that reason, I usually prefer to use a sanded paper or board as a support.  Sanded surfaces allow both soft and sharp textural effects, but, until recently, none of the available sanded papers have been archival, that is, acid free.  However, just a few years ago a pastel artist developed a fabulous archival paper called 'Wallis', which is currently my support of choice.