10 Reasons to Love Pastels: Just Add Water
Well, in honor of being almost to my 200th post on this blog, I thought I'd do a series: 10 Reasons to Love Pastels. Since I spend most of my time scrubbing chalk into my paintings, I'll be focusing on chalk pastels for these posts, and how I've learned to love so many things about them over the last (gulp) nine years of painting with soft pastel. Reason #10 to love soft pastels: they can be blended with water! "Down at the Oaks" 9 x 12 Chalk pastel on watercolor paper Click here to view large or purchase Chalk pastels are easy to blend with water, by taking a dry pastel painting (on watercolor paper or canvas) and brushing with water. Click here to see a detailed tutorial on using this method. You can also paint with wet pastel sticks directly on canvas, or press dry pastel sticks onto a wet paper or canvas to get a unique effect: "The Road to Reno" 9 x 12 Chalk pastel on flat canvas Click here to view large or purchase There are d