Soft Pastel on Canvas, no glass

There was a conversation on wetcanvas.com recently about a way to frame pastels without glass. It doesn't appear to be possible in their regular state. Bill Creevy did a demonstration at the International Association of Pastel Societies convention in 1999 (I think it was) in Albuquerque. You use PVA Size made by Gamblin. As I recall you put about a teaspoon of size in a cup of water. You begin by putting your pastel drawing on the canvas, then spray with the mixture. When dry you put another layer of pastel and spray again, continuing until you have the desired completion of your painting. He did a pear on a shelf. The water ran down, streaked the canvas, and he speeded up the drying time with a hair dryer. His painting lacked detail but was very nice.

In his book,The Pastel Book Materials and Techniques for Today's Artist, he doesn't seem to use this method, but he uses acrylic medium mixed with pastel to give texture and permanent fixing. It is a great book for pastelists. Many ideas, demonstrations and information about soft pastels and oil pastels.

I couldn't wait to try The PVA and completed the boots and spurs below. It looks much like an oil painting and the pastel does not rub off. These probably have about 30 layers. Fun to do and framed like an oil painting. I guess in reality it is like an acrylic painting, right?