This piece was challenging.  At some point, early on in my career, I worked on illustration board and had some success with it.  And I know of others who work on it and love it, but I am not one of them.  This piece reminded me as to why I don’t like cold pressed illustration board for pastels.  I found that I had to work hard to get the pastel onto the board.  Although, it does create the feeling that I am working with oil pastels instead of soft pastels.