"Reflections of Red" is my latest painting.  It is an 18 x 24 pastel.  This painting was my first venture using iridescent pastels.  They are not apparent in this photo...but are very apparent to the viewer of the painting itself.  A number of years ago I purchased a full set of Sennelier pastels which included a number of iridescent pastels.  I couldn't imagine ever using them and ended up putting them in a basket in my supply closet. I have not touched them since except to move them around to different parts of the closet.  However, at the recent IAPS convention, I noticed a number of the paintings in the show used iridescent pastels.  Hmmmm.   As I began designing this still life setting and decided to use a silver tureen, I found myself thinking about how I would approach painting the silver.  Hmmmm.  I pulled out the basket of iridescent pastels and began looking through them.  I found a wonderful steel blue grey iridescent that made a perfect base for the silver tureen.  Iridescent whites and golds made perfect additional layers to create form.  Even when I used none iridescent pastels for the reflections the sparkles showed through from the base layers.  They really worked well for the silver.  I'm sold!  They have now been moved from their isolated basket in the closet to a section of my pastel trays next to my easel.  Another exciting benefit from attending IAPS!