I'm often asked how I work with pastels. Here is a series of photos taken at various stages
of one of my RiverStone paintings. I, like most pastel painters, work from dark to light.
I start with hard pastels and make a rough sketch, usually on a colored, sanded paper.
I then place the major dark areas and slowly build the medium and then lighter values with
progressively softer pastels. The finishing touches are done with ultra soft, creamy pastels.
It is very similar to how oil painters work – but with out all the mess!