• Working with pastels is dusty work.. Don't blow the dust away as you will breath in a certain amount. Rather, take the work outside and tap to get rid of the dust.
• Don't keep any food or drink near by otherwise you will be eating dust!
• Put down a sheet on the floor or wash the floor frequently.
• If this is the medium you work in most, consider an air filter in your studio.
• Try working with gloves.. the pigments can be absorbed through the skin and it's much easier to clean off the gloves than your fingers when changing colors.
• Winsor & Newton have a helpful "Artguard Barrier Cream" you can use to protect your hands if gloves aren't your thing.
• When spraying your work with any fixative, make sure you are in a well ventilated area or outside.
• Keep some "Wet Ones" or "Baby Wipes" handy to clean your hands or glove. Keep them in a bag to stop them drying out quickly.
• Keep your pastels in Rice! Put a layer of rice in your pastel box to keep them safe and clean.
• Create the habit of cleaning the pastel each time before putting them back. Use a towel or paper towel attached to your easel.
• Working on an easel allows the dust to fall down and out of the way rather than collecting on a flat piece of paper.
• A tube cut in half and attached to the bottom of the easel will catch the falling dust rather than ending up on the floor.
• Reuse Styrofoam trays from your groceries to keep like colors together when working

• Edgar Degas would steam the pastel with boiling water to create interesting surface textures. The steam could make the pastel into a paste, which you can apply with a palette knife, or a wash that and be applied with a brush.
• Blending tools made out of old styrofoam are cheap and disposable.
• Be careful of over-blending your pastels. While you can use fingers or a stump both of these have their drawbacks. The process of layering your strokes can normally do this quite well.
• Scumbling is where you spread the pigment, smoothing or blending it into the paper. A stump (kind of a pencil made entirely out of paper) is used but can take off or dull the pigment. Try using a pointed stick, end of a brush or pencil with "Hold-It" or "Blue Tack" or a little kneaded eraser around it. You can shape it into a point and get into the little areas too!
• Getting a light "watercolor" like look from your pastels. On white paper, use the broad side of the pastel to make your strokes. Start with the darkest values first finishing with the lightest. Try to let the paper show through with some of the lightest values. Layer your colors, but the tooth of the paper will fill up quickly so you will only be able to have a few layers.
• In pastel you work from Dark to Light. This might be hard for those of us coming from Watercolor where you work Light to Dark. Try applying your light colors first leaving spaces for the darks to add later. You will have to be organized because once you have your light colors down you can't go over them with darks without making your colors murky and loose their crispness.
• Mix a little red, blue or yellow with your black to give your shadows depth.
• Try blocking in color just like in oil or acrylic paintings. Squint your eyes and start with the basic shapes, no details. Then move onto refining the blocks adding smaller "blocks" of color until finally you are finishing off with the details.
• Use different types of strokes in your work to give it life. Using the same stroke for the entire painting can be repetitive.
• Avoiding Mud! Avoid layering cool over warm colors and vice-versa, unless you use a fixative to isolate the layers. Try not to overwork the pastel and if you want to correct some part of the work, remove the pastel right down to surface of the paper if possible rather than going over the existing color.
• Try using a harder pastel first (see chart) to block in your painting with loose free strokes so as not to fill in the tooth to quick. You can then move onto using softer pastels for the final layers giving you nice bold colors.

• Remember to plan your work. The funny thing about painting is to make it look spontaneous and effortless you actually need to plan. Make a thumbnail sketch, with composition, balance of values and the paintings "angle" in mind..
• Take a break every now and then. Having a fresh look at your painting after time away can help you evaluate the painting and know when it is time to stop!
• Hold your photo reference up to the light to see more details in the shadows than just a mass of black. There is always more to a shadow than you can see.
• Try making a black and white copy of your painting to check it's balance of values. You need a balance of Darks, Medium and Lights to make your painting interesting and attractive. You will be able to see if your darks aren't dark enough or to many mids and not enough lights.
• Fixative is a good way to extend the tooth of your paper so you can add more layers or to isolate one layer from another

• Take lessons. There is always something you can learn from others and it is the fastest way to progress. They might not teach pastel work but are great at figures and would be happy for you to attend their classes but use the medium you prefer.
• Making your own pastels. If you dropped your favorite color or have lots of little bits of the same color, collect them and crush as much as possible in a small plastic cup. Add a drop or two of alcohol and roll into a stick. Let it dry for a few days and it is ready to use.
• If you want to ship your pastels unframed, a Canadian company 'Specialty Arts Distributing' offers a non-static, "Crystal Clear Artwork Bag". Visit their Web site: www.crystalclearbags.com for more information.
• When framing your work, keep it simple. You are showing the painting not the frame. A white matting works well, doesn't deter from the work and doesn't put off a potential buyer like a color can.. "that wont go in with our decor". Make sure you have the all-important spacer between the mat and your work.

• The tooth of a paper refers to how much pastel pigment the paper can "hold"
• The texture of paper is the weave and look of the paper as well as the feel of it when you apply the pastel.
• Paper with limited tooth is best for light sketches while some of the papers with ample tooth can hold several layers.
• Everyone has their favorite paper they like to use.. but to preserve your work you need to make sure you use "acid-free" paper.
• Some of the different types you get effect the look of the pastel on the paper, e.g..
  • A lightly sanded paper like Art Spectrum is good for a painterly approach.
  • A velvet-like surface like La Carte, holds pigment well but you can't use any sprays or liqud.
  • Canson and Strathmore papers can be used with a small amount of water.
  • Arches cold press 300lb can take a lot of stress, rubbing and Scumbling and still looks good. Because of its' shallow tooth it can't take to many layers of pastel.
• If you want to use liquid on your work you will want to make sure it is secured to a board etc like you would when doing Watercolor. You can tape all the edges down to a board. The paper will ripple a little but will flatten out upon drying.
• You will need to consider what you will be doing (a sketch or a "work of art") and choose the paper that best suits. You might want to consider the papers tooth, textures, color and if it is a masterpiece you intend to create, the archival quality.

This is a basic set.. you would need additional colors if you where going to concentrate on paintings topics like floral, or portraits and landscapes. Floral's might need some more reds and yellows while landscapes need more earth colors and greens. Skin colors will be needed for portraits but that might not be as easy as it sounds to a beginner. There can be surprising colors that are used by expert pastel artists when doing highlights and shadows in the face. Some research into what colors they use might be easier. Go through some books in the library or book store.. Normally a list of the colors they like to use will be in the first few chapters.

• You can layer your paintings flat on a shelf by using Glassine. Glassine is for the interleaving or storage of artwork. This translucent sheet will not smudge pastel, charcoal, or graphite drawings.
• A thin pH-balanced foam core board (or non-acid / archival board) between every few pieces along with the Glassine will help to evenly distribute the weight.
• Use pH-balanced pieces of paper over the gassline as tabs with details of the image so you can easily find any piece of work without disturbing your others to much.
• If you don't have glassine paper you can use tracing paper to cover work .