Experimenting with pan pastels

It has been a while since I have posted a blog, but life gets busy! Being inspired to try something new by my Artist's Way group, I experimented with a new medium, pan pastels...basically pastel powder packed into a container. It is applied with sponge applicators, and I also used makeup wedges. It is challenging to get any sharp lines, but it works great for blending. I was using some scrap paper, so it wasn't a very heavy weight.

 

 I started with a basic landscape, adding layers of color, but I should have combined it with some pastel sticks to incorporate some detail. Even with the smaller sponge applicators, I just couldn't get a sharp line.

 This piece actually started as my "sponge cleaning" paper, just to get some of the extra pastel off the sponge, but then I started creating something out of it, using a big pink eraser, which picked up the pastel quite well.

Overall it was fun to play with these pan pastels, and I could see using them in a mixed media application.