Why I don’t spray my colorful soft pastel with fixative

I wanted to share my thoughts on why I don't spray my colorful, soft pastel paintings with fixative.

A finished, colorful, soft pastel piece created on pastel paper must be protected behind glass.  Soft Pastel is one of the most archival mediums as it is mainly pigment.  Soft pastel is not meant to be touched. Some shedding is normal, so they need an extra step when framing them.  If you are taking my Cosmic Creations class, I've included a bonus video: Caring for your Pastel Painting & DIY Framing Tips. I also have a video on my YouTube Channel.

Using a fixative can drastically change your colors and knock down your whites.  It's not ruined; you can then build back up the colors and whites until you are happy with it.

When creating on a sanded pastel paper like UART or something like Clairfontaine PastelMat. These papers specifically are made so you do not need a fixative.

When finished, I store my pastel paintings between a folded piece of glassine paper. Then, I put that between two pieces of cardboard to protect the piece until framing.

When would I use a fixative?  Sometimes, I will use a fixative on the bottom layers to secure that layer from mixing with my next layers. This is rare because I lay down my darks first and then bring up the values with my lights. I sometimes want to knock down my darks using a fixative on the bottom layer.    For me, this is the only time I would use a fixative on a colored pastel painting.

Using ONLY BLACK PanPastel gives me many more options as I'm not dealing with colors and whites.  When I create my pieces using only the black PanPastel, I can mount them to wood and seal them.  I can also frame them without using fixative.  They are mixed media and are another way I use PanPastel.