Cleaning Pastels

I am probably the messiest pastel artist out there.  There.  I've said it.  I am always rushed for time when I paint, I'm really bad about putting things back in the right place, figuring I will do it later. (I usually do organize them later.  Really, I do.)  And as a plein air artist, I'll bet my pastels get dirtier than any of you studio artists because my pastels are rubbing against each other whenever I use them.  And I use them a lot.

So I want to tell you what I know about cleaning them.

I have cleaned them in rice, in cornmeal, with a slightly damp sponge, a piece of foam, in the grass, with a rag and with a paper towel.  And I have cleaned them for years using these different methods.  However, no one way has jumped out to me as being particularly awesome until just this past week.

This is the story.

I was up at the beach painting, sitting on a cushion in the sand.  My hands had gotten dusty from the pastel and so I rubbed them in the sand to remove the bulk of the dust.  I have done that in the past.  It works in a pinch.  Then I remembered reading about cleaning pastels in sand.  I never gave it a second thought because I figured it would be too abrasive on my delicate sticks.  But as I sat there I thought I'd give it a shot.  Nothing to lose, right.?

And holy cow!  Did that sand ever clean those filthy pastels!  Cleaner than they have ever been, and so much faster than anything else I have tried.

I filled up a little dish I take with me to hold the pastels I am working with with sand and took it home to play (clean) with.  I am going to sift all of the miscellaneous flotsam and jetsam out the the sand, wash and dry it and will then give the pastels the once over.  I will report on this later.

But this is the awesome parts so far:  Excellent cleaning ability, washability (you can't wash cornmeal or rice), it's FREE and it's readily availability - at least around here it is, living on the shores of Lake Ontario.

I will conduct further experiments and will report back!  Who knows?  Maybe I'll even get my pastels cleaned.