Iris, I've added a video that demonstrates the use of a very limited palette and my blending technique it is SAA Birthday Celebration - Beach Scene

Iris I use about 20 to 30 colours in any given painting. I mostly paint landscapes and seascapes so I, ill advisedly, bought a number of general sets when I first started out snd that's left me with a lot of bright colours that I'll probably never use. So my advice would be consider what are you are mostly going to paint: landscapes, seascapes, portraits, interiors. If you're going to paint one of the first three I mentioned then I'd suggest you buy a landscapes or seascape or portrait set and then build up from there as you find you need different additional colours. If you are going to paint interiors or still lives then a larger general set might be a better bet. As far as blending is concerned one of the things that I found really crucial is not to put too much pastel on the paper, use a gentle touch and put a minimal amount of pastel on. It's worth practising that before you try to do it in in a painting.

do you recommend buying a large selection of colours. When i try to blend i wipe out one colour with the next one. iris