What comes to mind when you first hear the word pastel? Does it evoke weak, pale and muted colors that might look best on kitchen wallpaper? How about warm peaches, yellows, mauves and fuchsias? Yes, those images do describe one of the definitions of the word, probably the most current one. But they are totally alien to the second definition of the word: pastel, the painting medium. Soft pastel, as it is formally known (to distinguish it from oil pastel) contains the very same pigments as oil paints, watercolors and acrylics. But it's what it doesn't contain--thick binders, such as linseed oil in the case of oil paints; plastic in the case of acrylics--which allows pastel to deliver the same colors with greater strength and clarity. An added bonus: protected properly--i.e., framed with archival materials under glass and kept dry--a pastel painting will outlast a painting in any other medium.
Sometimes, people who see boxes of soft pastels say, "Oh, they look like chalk." Another misconception. Although, like chalk, pastels are rolled into sticks, that's where the similarity ends. Chalk is lime, sometimes tinted with dye; soft pastels are pure pigment held together in stick form by a dry glue known as gum tragacanth. Among the best (and most expensive) brands of pastel are Sennelier, handmade in France, and Schmincke, made in Germany. Each has its own peculiar properties.