I think this task is about using pastels much as I might use paint but I’m really not sure what’s expected. I have both oil and regular pastel crayons so I started with the oils.

Thinking of ‘painting’ I wondered if the idea was to use a solvent to facilitate blending so I added Liquin either to the support prior to adding colour, or after the colour to influence blending, but I’m not sure it made much difference. It’s also maybe problematic that the quality of the cartridge isn’t great, being a bit smooth.

I’ve blended with both stumps and my fingers. To some extent, I prefer the oil crayons due to their solidity but I’ve used the others also and found there’s a capacity for range in them. Sometimes I’ve used both in the same piece, along with inks and a pre-prepped support. I like mixed media but I recognise that this might be a strategy to avoid trying harder to do the same thing with just one medium.