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Hi Winnie,
It's been a while since I created this piece (about 7 years), so bear with me on trying to explain it:
I was able to get a finely blended effect on the portrait below by using a very soft brush (like a make-up brush or large watercolor mop). First, I drew a very light outline drawing in white pastel pencil (on burgundy paper). Then applied soft pastels to mass in the large shapes of color, trying to cover the whole paper to get an idea of value and color relationships. Not really worried about detail at this point, just relationships. Then, gradually went in and used hard Nu-Pastels to bring out some details, until finally ending with hard pastel pencils for the fine details (can't remember the brand name of these).
Between each step, actually with each application of pastel, I blended them using the brush. I'm pretty sure I used the smooth side of Canson paper. By the time I was done, there was a HUGE pile of pastel dust on my easel and the floor.
I've heard that blending is the big "no no" in pastels and not sure how "against the rules" this technique is, but hey, it worked for me. I know that Daniel Greene applies color directly and doesn't manipulate the pastel once it touches the paper working from dark to light in stages. His portraits are very vibrant, with a full range of light to dark.
Hope this helps.
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