This is one off my latest, completed in yellow ochres and with purple hues overlaid.

I’ve been reading up a bit on the difference between soft and hard pastels. I’ve only used hard pastels but from what I understand most artist graduate from hard to soft pastels, and the longer you take to transition the more difficult it is to grasp how soft pastels function.

Right now I am using Faber-Castell Hard Pastels. I’ve been looking into a few different brands of soft pastels such as Rembrandt, Sennelier and Schmincke. They seem like the Rolls Royce of the pastel world but I want to be sure of the change because soft pastels are quite expensive. I surely don’t want something too excessive or something that ends up being inadequate, due to too few ranges etc.

I’m looking at getting one of the the Sennelier sets, perhaps the “half stick set of 120 assorted colours”… it has a wide range of colours but retails for about $70, pretty cheap compared to the rest of the collection.

So for all of you pastel artist out there, can you help me out? Should I try to transition from hard pastel soon, do you in fact use both hard and soft in conjunction? Perhaps do all of the foundation work in hard pastel leaving only the final layers and detail for soft pastel? And which soft pastels would you recommend? This sistah needs some direction…

My latest, pastel piece, a plate of fruit… completed first in charcoal

Next, I added a bit of purple to the yellow ochre to form the underpainting. I like the soft feel of this piece and how the complementary colours work together. Who would have ever thought yellow and purple could do this.

It has been so long since I’ve posted but for good reason! I’m busy creating new pieces and it feels good! Here is my latest charcoal and pastel piece, a simple bowl of peaches and apples done in ochre.