Husb and I went to a Seed Talk called “The Science of Psychedelics” by Dr. David Luke at Swansea University yesterday evening. There was a woman in the row in front of me with the most amazing red hair, Cochyn in Welsh, so of course I had to have a scribble. I used my (relatively) new Caran D’Ache NeoPastels. I’ve had them a while and tried them out but not had any success until now.
I admire the pastel work of USA-based artist Aletha M. Kuschan and she advised me to try NeoPastels (NOT the Neo Colour). I gave them a go on a couple of things but I wasn’t happy. I had used them on a very heavily textured hand-made paper, but this time I used a lighter-weight Khadi paper and I love the results. It was easy to blend and overlay them. This sketch took about 10 minutes.
scribblah 
I’m interested that you were advised to use the NeoPastels rather than the Neo Colors, which are the ones I use. I did struggle with the NeoColors for quite a while, but then one post by another artist showing how to put a watery base layer of NeoColor down before drawing over them broke the barriers. I wonder whether, apart from the paper change, there are other techniques that would work for you? At least when we change media we often find that some of those other un-used materials come into use again. 😀
Ah! I made a mistake, then. I thought you used the neo-pastels. Maybe that’s why I found it difficult to start with! Ooops 😀