water pastels

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Water‑soluble pastels

The wax content of these colour sticks gives them a slightly moist texture, so that they handle rather like oil pastels when you use them for drawn strokes. But brush over the colour with clean water, and it instantly dissolves into an even, semi‑transparent wash. The quality of the wet colour is like a coarse watercolour wash. You can vary it considerably according to the amount of water that you add ‑ for instance, with a barely wetted brush you can spread the colour tint while retaining a strong impression of the linear marks.

The restricted colour range is composed of strong, unsubtle hues, but with the potential fluidity of the medium you have more scope for mixing and blending colours on the working surface.