About Pastels

A pastel is an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those used to produce some other colored visual arts media, such as oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation. 

Pastels offer an artist an unlimited palette with few constraints as to application and expression. Indeed, there seem to be more individual styles than any other medium, in part because pastel can act as both drawing and painting. Best of all is the ability it gives the artist to paint light.

The support used for your new pastel painting is Pried Board. It is lightweight and rigid with a wood fiber veneer and a dense polystyrene core that is primed with an arcrylicbased gesso/pumice primer withholds pastel very well. I recommend framing this without a mat in a framed sized to the painting. The primed board support will not bend or warp and an additional backing is not necessary. I frame most of my work in a plain air  style frame between 3-5" wide. 

I don't use fixative and suggest letting the framer know to not put fixative on the work. It can change the colors and make them darker or less vibrant. The work can be held by the edges when handling. The glassine paper covering the work will keep it from rubbing off on the foam core board. You may see little pastel dust on the glassine paper, this is in the nature of pastel and will not harm the pastel work in any wy. Also, please protect the pastel painting from water. 

* Check with your framer to make sue they are used to framing pastel works for the best results.