First Pastel paiting

Floating in the same ethusiasm, i bought a new set of soft pastels for some hands on . Camel soft pastels set with 20 shades. Only one kind camel has. The shop guy told me they have some local made soft pastels, each stick costing around 20 - 30 rupees almost equal to oil paint tubes of medium size. Now i know why. The camel set cost me 130. Pretty good for a first hands on learning.
One thing i liked is the ease with which you can get down to paint anything. You dont have to "decide" about painting, anywhere anytime pick your box and your sketch book and start doing it. But oil painting on the otherhand , i have to pick a canvas (which is quite costly compared to a sheet of paper) so i HAVE TO get down to do a "serious painting". That sort of binds me down and i have to really pick a nice "full" time to start doing it. Add to it the hassle with gathering and setling down with thinner/brushes/palet/rag/tissues/board around! Pastels on the other hand is more or less like a sketch, you just have to get the box and sit down. Nothing else needed. Absolutely nothing else. Dont you like the sound of it ?

I get down to doing my pastels when ever i wish, right after office, quite late in the night, multitasking while conversing/watching TV anything anytime. It just fits in anywhere. I even used it on the train!! May it be a serious subject you want to do, or just practise "plein air" (which iam currently interested in doing)  Comparing soft with hard pastels, softs feel much closer to oils and water colors and even the end results are not quite far off compared to hard pastels . Hard patels on the other hand have a texture of their own which is  stamped on the end result quite conspicuously, right or wrong, the rendering is quite unique, of its own kind. Also the hardness tires me down quickly, my hands already sore with working overtime on computer.

so heres my pastel painting of "gondolas" , pic i was wanting to do since long in oil.

One on the left is with hard pastels . On the right is soft pastels. both little unfinished. One thing is i still dnt know how to control is the shedding of color, i have not bought a binder yet.