What is the difference between oils and pastels?
Oil Painting uses pigments with oil. In our case, the oil paintings are solvent free. The non-solvent binder is Safflower Oil. Gamblin Paints
To paint solvent-free, we recommend Gamblin Safflower Oil for cleaning brushes while you are working. Gamblin Safflower Oil is a pale, slow-drying oil. https://Gamblincolors.com
At their simplest, pastels are simply sticks of pigment held together with different binders.
While using them is called "painting," due to the effect created by a pastel when it is rubbed on paper, painting with pastels requires very specific techniques that are quite different from traditional painting. https://artincontext.org
We use soft pastels. Soft pastels, the most commonly used pastel, are made with a combination of white chalk, pigment and gum Arabic, which gives it a more dry appearing matte finish.