portrait painting with pastels

[you know who]

have any of you had this problem? With Rembrant pastels( Talens co.) I
have blended the pastels and noticed a day or so later sometimes it seems
to 'pull apart ' creating small holes in the pastel. Almost appears as if
the pastel is melting as does a 1 inch snow in the sun only on a much
smaller scale. After subtle blending of halftones in a portrait this is
very maddening. Is it the binder in the pastel? Or is it the paper or
what. I cant figure it out because it seems to be an intermittant
problem. any advice or answers would greatly be welcome. thanks in
advance. geo.

[Peter Davis]

What kind of paper/support are you using? Is the painting being
jarred, bumped, or otherwise jostled?

Pastel is a very fragile medium, and it doesn't take much to make the
pastel dust fall off the paper. If you're using a paper with a lot of
texture, the pastel might hold very well in the "valleys" of the
paper, but be somewhat looser on the "hills."

Other than that, I can think of no reason why the color should
separate or change once it's laid down. Pastel has very little
binder. Rembrandt is a reputable brand, so the quality should be
good.

-pd

--
Peter Davis
http://world.std.com/~pd

"If you can't behave yourself, who can you behave?"