The soft pastel is an amazing medium. I started to use it long time ago but I’m still discovering its incredible qualities and new things ever since. 
Soft pastel contains mostly a pure pigment and just enough of the binder to hold the stick together and is therefore the purest color you can apply. 
It’s so exciting when I open my big old boxes full with pastels that I’ve been collecting for years and start painting directly with the sticks that I suddenly found myself using all my fingers as brushes blending the colors on the paper.

But don’t be mistaken. This is a serious technique used from Sixteenth Century till our days and from such recognized painters as Delacroix, Millet, Manet, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Therese Schwartze, Redon, Vuillard, Bonnard or even Degas, the most prolific painter in Pastel. Today many of the most renowned living artists have distinguished themselves in pastels and their works can be found in the best museum collections around the world.

Get yourself surprised and be welcome to Pastel world!