Woman with a White Parasol - Soft Pastel demo painting by Lena Rivo

Painted on Canson Mi-Teintes Velvet paper, 17×17 inches. Materials: soft pastel, PanPastel, and pastel pencils.

I work with soft pastels from various brands: Terry Ludwig, Unison, Girault, Schmincke, Sennelier, Blue Earth, Diane Townsend, Rembrandt and Roche. When choosing pastels, I’m drawn to muted, nuanced colors. I think I only use reds and blues in their fully saturated form - most other colors, especially greens, are quite grayish.