Pastel dust residue

[Elizabeth Schott]

Does anyone else have this problem while working with pastels on Wallis or other good sanded paper?

These pants are made of a velour material, and I have blended a lot with my finger in a latex glove. As the layers build, this residue seems to get pushed around and will not disappear unless I blend it in. You cannot blow it away, and if you use a dry soft brush it removes too many layers.

[Mai Ly]

Beth,

It sounds like you might have over blended and filled up the tooth of the paper with too much pastels, especially if you are using soft pastels. Wallis paper can hold up many layers of pastels without giving the problems that you are describing.

You can lift all (or some) of the pastels off for that area with a bristle brush. Try to layer your pastels from hard pastels to soft pastels. If you know that you are going to do a lot of layering, then initially apply the pastels with softer pressure, and increase it towards the final stages.

Try to not do too much blending whether with fingers or anything else at the beginning or throughout the painting. Rather, leave it to the final stage. This way, you keep the pastels pigments looking much fresher, as well as avoiding pushing too much pastels into the grooves of the paper.

Mai