Technique

A Pastel is a drawing or painting done with a soft, chalk-like pastel "stick" composed of powdered pigments held together with an aqueous gum binder.

In appearance, the pastel stick essentially looks like a piece of chalk, although it is actually somewhat softer and smoother.

A drawing or painting created with this kind of stick is called a Pastel. An artist who works in the medium of pastels is called a "Pastellist".

Any paper medium is suitable, as long it is neither too smooth nor lacking in sufficient stiffness to accept the strokes of the pastel stick. The choice is really only limited by the creative imagination of the artist.

The most essential consideration in choosing a medium is that the medium's surface be at least textured enough to enable the pastel powder to adhere to its surface.

For example, the highly textured paper normally used for watercolor work is also quite suitable for work in pastel, since its comparatively rough texture is sufficient to wear down the pastel stick enough to transfer the pigment and thus produce the image.   (http://www.marielydiejoffre.com/english/resource/faq_pastel.html)

Adrian Stoenică uses a highly textured cardboard and spreads the colour with his fingers. He only uses soft pastels for his work (never oil pastels, acrylic paints, oil or anything else). When it's finished, the pastel is sprayed with a special fixative, framed and protected with glass.