Soft Pastel on Sandpaper Paintings

Included are paintings from two series: "Black Paintings," and "Bolivianos." I have been devoted to soft pastel for more than thirty years and I continue to expound on its merits. For me no other fine art medium comes close. My self-invented techniques for using soft pastel achieve rich velvety textures and exceptionally vibrant color. Blending with my fingers, I painstakingly apply dozens of layers of pastel onto acid-free sandpaper. In addition to the thousands of pastels that I have to choose from, I blend new colors directly on the paper. Each pastel painting takes about three months and hundreds of hours to complete.