Adapting a piece: advice needed

[hobbyartist87]

Apologies if it's not posted in the right forum (it's been a while since I've been active on Creative Spark).

A few years ago I did a field pumpkin piece, taking John Middick Field Pumpkins course. That original piece I did was about 5" x 7". Recently I decided to do a bigger version of it (about 9.5" x about 13"). I've had to restart the piece several times and am considering switching to oil pastels if my current attempt doesn't turn out the way I want it to.

Reference: https://uploads.teachablecdn.com/attachments/EPHxfQ7HSdyPgtpLjdpa_Pumpkin+Ref.jpg

When I did this in colored pencils, I started with the shadows in darker muted red. If I were to do this in oil pastels, how would I need to change my approach? Is the 25 piece set of Expressionist oil pastels going to give me enough colors to blend from or should I go for the 36 set or 50 set? Or even order individual colors (my least preferred option since I hope to get the oil pastel piece done by mid-January if I have to switch over to oil pastels)?

I know oil pastels are framed with the glass right up against the piece. If I were to do the oil pastel piece on Ampersand Pasteboard, do I get an 11x14 board and add a mat when framing? What is the easiest way to frame the oil pastel version?

 

[Donna T]

Hi hobbyartist, I can see why you want to do another version of those pumpkins. I’ve only ever used soft pastels so I can’t say for sure how the oil pastel process would work. I’m pretty sure you would start with the darks and gradually build up to the lights but maybe you could check out some YouTube tutorials just to be sure. If there’s a method for doing an underpainting it might help to establish all the values first. As for colors I would think a variety that includes some vibrant reds, yellows and oranges might allow you to blend the shades you need and also have some cooler violets and blues for the shaded blends. I like your idea of painting on a small area inside a larger board then matting the whole thing. Let us know how it goes!

 

[hobbyartist87]

Donna, thank you. Do you think a 25 piece set would be sufficient or should I get individual colors?

 

[Donna T]

Gosh, I don’t know. I guess it depends on the colors in the set. Maybe if you got the 25 piece set and you absolutely needed an additional color or two you could buy them separately.