This is a 5"x7" pastel painting I did from a photograph I snapped on a trip my husband and I took with my father and sister to California. Yosemite National Park was one of our stops and it is a beautiful, awe inspiring place to visit. This pastel painting is of the famous Half Dome. Also, if you are not familiar with pastels, read on. The sticks are made of pure pigment with minimal binder and are an immediate, dry, and vibrant medium to paint with.  They rarely loose that vibrancy if properly and carefully handled and framed behind glass.