Hi Hanna,
I've been using soft pasels for a long time and in the past couple of years have been experimenting with washes and grounds.
In the pastel critique section I have one painting called "King of Southbeach" that I first established where the figure would go then put in the background. Then to soften, I washed with alcohol, as prescribed by Albert Handell in his book
"Painting the Landscape in Pastel", since the alcohol dries faster than water.
Also, Judith Carducci uses water to wash in the base colors (article in American Artist, May 2001). Also, I think I've heard of using turpentine or mineral spirits the same way, but can't put my finger on exactly where I may have read it so I won't elaborate.
For any wash method though you need to be sure to use a paper that will hold up to getting wet. Both Handell and Carducci use Wallis Archival pastel paper (I've tried it and it's a beautiful sanded paper that takes in alot of layers) and Carducci also uses Pastelboard (I use this too, and it's made by Ampersand). It is masonite, conveniently coated with gesso and marble dust.
Although I've never used fixative on a finished painting, I have used reworkable fixative on a section (upper left corner of background in King painting) so that the final layer can just skim over without blending in. Daniel E. Greene also discusses use of fixatives while painting in his 1974 book
"Pastel".
Enjoy experimenting!
Hybrid Mode
