"Retired" is the name of this painting and I will walk you through the process that it took me to get to this finished product. The final painted area is 12" high by 18" wide. The surface used is a half sheet of Sennelier's LaCarte Board. It has what's called a vegetable matter finished surface which helps hold the soft pastels used on this piece. The pastels used are Rembrandt soft pastels with Derwent pastel pencils. I will talk about how and why I used what I did in the process of painting this picture. Notice I said painted instead of draw. It's my belief that when a canvas, no matter what it is, is completely covered with paint then the end product is a painting. Soft pastels are made from the same pigment used in the process of making watercolor and oil paint. The only difference is the end result. Watercolor takes the pigment, puts it in a tray and when you want to use it you dilute it with water to make it usable. In the case of oil painting pigment a bunch of oil emulsifiers are used to make it liquid. Over time watercolor will fade oil paint dries and because it expands and contracts with humidity it can crack and because of its oil base it will also change color. Pastels are dry pigment with a dry binder added to hold the pigment together and does not change the colors yet remain the same from the day they are applied to a surface until the paper crumbles. But that holds true for all kinds of art support materials. Woods used for oil paints warp, can be eaten by bugs etc. Canvas both linen and cotton deteriorates as well. So what to use. Pastel of course because I love using them… I am after all a PASTELIST and here's how I do it.