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Pastellists would be well advised to do lightfastness testing of their colors, if they are at all concerned for the future permanence of their paintings. Golden sells a lightfastness test kit that makes it easy, if you have a south-facing window available. I have been conducting some tests for ASTM, and it has become glaringly obvious to me that the popular notion that pastels are permanent is not necessarily realistic. The rate and degree of fading varies tremendously from color to color and from manufacturer to manufacturer.
ASTM will be writing a lightfastness standard for pastels, and much more testing remains to be done in the process. You will be hearing more about this in the future.
I enjoyed working in pastel from time to time, but until I have a very good idea which colors I can trust not to fade, I won't be using them again. Too much effort goes to waste when our creations change too rapidly into something different.
Virgil Elliott
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