Friday, May 14, 2010

Magic Dreams

Magic Dreams, pastel, 30x40cm. (12x16"), in exhibition at Galerie d'Art de Verfeil, France.
While you work with pastels, you will have dirty fingers. The problem is that you may transfer some dark pastel powder in your fingers, say blue, to the next pastel stick you pick up, let's say white or yellow. How do you avoid this? There are several techniques that I know and probably more that I don't. These are some of them:
1. Cleanse your fingers with a kneaded eraser. The eraser will pick up the dust from your fingers, if you work it several times.
2. Wash your hands often and wait for them to dry. Obviously, this is the least practical.
3. Have wet-wipes handy, wipe your fingers with one of them, then dry your fingers with a paper towel. This is the most practical one for me. When I work with pastels, I always wear an apron with a big front pocket. I have wet-wipes in a plastic bag, and dry paper towels, all in my pocket, so it's easy to wipe my fingers first in the wet wipes, then in the dry towels, and continue working.

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