Pastel Night

As I was doing my weekly grocery and household shopping, I wandered over to the arts and crafts isle in Walmart. It is part of my routine. I look around, mostly “window shop,” and sometimes pick up a thing or two.

Today, a $5+ set of 12 soft pastels caught my eye. I don’t know why. I had never used them before, my only pastel-related experience being a poor understanding of how oil pastels worked as a kid. But, soft pastels? I honestly didn’t even know what they were. Something told me to grab them.

By evening time, I had watched a few YouTube videos on working with them. I was in for a surprise. These tiny chalk-like squares of pigment and binder laid down color beautifully. Before I knew it, I had finished my first soft pastel drawing.

Night sky with a large moon coming over the horizon from the left. A tree is on the right with an owl sitting on a branch.

Unlike colored pencils, which take me days to fill in the space, I could sketch and color in a single session. It was ideal timing finding these. After my previous nine-day struggle through my last drawing, I needed something simpler. I needed to feel like I was not taking on a massive project. And, soft pastels were the answer.

I didn’t use any noteworthy materials for this drawing. Just my cheap Walmart pastels and sketchbook.