Bluffed

[Bartc]

Out at Moss Beach Bluffs near Half Moon Bay, CA. Neocolor II with waterbrush on hot pressed Bockingford paper. B. Charlow 2023

Not sure about this new medium. I'm still learning how it works (or doesn't) for me.

 

[ntl]

It's a challenge, for sure. I'm glad you're keeping at it. Your "other" new colors are a good addition. The layering helps your transitions. What do you see as working, or not working?
I'm torn between looking at the upper portion vs the lower portion.

 

[Bartc]

It's a challenge, for sure. I'm glad you're keeping at it. Your "other" new colors are a good addition. The layering helps your transitions. What do you see as working, or not working?
I'm torn between looking at the upper portion vs the lower portion.

Hard to pin down. Part of the issue might be that I am repeating old habits from other media instead of working from scratch with this new one's best attributes.

Clearly, if you want color and you want the strokes to show, this is a great medium. My intention here was to use a crosshatched set of color overlays, as one might do in print etchings, but I didn't get that quite right. There are ways to blend colors, since this isn't an infinite color set (30) and any water medium can do that, but I didn't use a palette to do that, which seems necessary. Color saturation and value were a challenge in this one too. None of this would be any problem at all for me in acrylic, gouache, watercolor, etc., but maybe in pastel.

And though I've seen inspiring white overlays in YT video demos with this medium, I have not found white to be sufficiently opaque at all!

So in the end I'm with you as to where to focus in this one.

Where I liked it best was in the scrub bushes in the foreground. There I wanted some strokes to show and overlay about 4 colors and it appears to have worked. I'm not thrilled with the mountains and the sky is overly dark and saturated for my taste.

I don't like reworking paintings. Almost never improves them for me and mostly dulls or destroys the feeling. But I am tempted to try this with an overlay of dry pastels and see how that works. Also, might have worked better as a line and wash. We'll see.

 

[ntl]

Well, You're exploring, learning this one's "best attributes".
The hatching in the upper portion (UP) is most distracting to me--the red-violet more than on the blue areas. Possibly in part because I think it is overhead, a"sky", then I want to see a lighter area closer to the land/horizon. So perhaps a varying of pressure would help (me). And/or perhaps more blending of the lower sky portion. Or, which you probably don't want to do--I wouldn't--(but I do it anyway to get the affect I want)--is to use pan paints to glaze some areas.
The only area of "clouds" that jumps out is the varied angles of the dark blue on the VRight area.

Fluid paints are in MY estimation, generally MUCH friendlier. Unless I'm tearing my hair out at them! (in fact, it's why I don't use either oil pastels or oil bars often, though I have a pretty full set of colors of each... I also have acrylics, but haven't had them out for a long time, going for the gouache instead.

So for areas you want white, either leave that space uncovered, or use a lot less pressure if you do color it. You would probably have some mixing, so white would be tinted, not white. I wonder if using an acrylic gel medium on that space would work. I've used it with OPs a time or two to my satisfaction.

I've reworked a few pieces for learning purposes.
Best wishes.

 

[Bartc]

It's actually not red in the sky, but the camera did a trick on me. More a warm gray. But I had the devil of a time with that because it all seemed to be too dark regardless.

 

[Artyczar]

I have to say that I really agree with ntl. I personally would love to see more pink blending in the "sky" area. That might give more contrast/dynamics to the whole piece, but it also works as is too. I love the blue hills in this.

New mediums are HARD! I find them difficult at first.

 

[Terri]

This is a pretty scene, and I agree that your working of the foreground bushes is the most successful. I'm wondering if certain areas would blend better if more of the medium was laid down, via crosshatch or other layering. I know oil pastels tend to behave in a more malleable fashion once I've built up a few layers and reach for a clay shaper. If there's not enough medium it's harder to achieve that smoother blend. ntl makes a lot of interesting observations.

Nothing that more practice won't help.

 

[Bartc]

Terri, there is no actual medium here. It's a waxy crayon by itself and is soluble in water. But no medium to use for that. Of course, I suspect that something like acrylic medium might work or even Ceracolor (cold water wax) medium. That's not the idea here however.

 

[Arnie]

Like what youve done with the fg and mountain, but as has been discussed the sky has 'issues'. Not tried neocolour II myself, but blending with water is an option.

 

[Terri]

Terri, there is no actual medium here. It's a waxy crayon by itself and is soluble in water. But no medium to use for that. Of course, I suspect that something like acrylic medium might work or even Ceracolor (cold water wax) medium. That's not the idea here however.

Well, there's pigment in there someplace, right? I used the term loosely as the descriptor for the crayons, just to get more of it on the paper before applying the water. Sorry for not being clear.

 

[Bartc]

Like what youve done with the fg and mountain, but as has been discussed the sky has 'issues'. Not tried neocolour II myself, but blending with water is an option.

Did that but surprised about how the blending appears to work sometimes, not so much others. Is it color dependent? Don't really know.

 

[KreativeK]

I really do like this, all of it, and agree it is difficult to use the Neo colors. For me they are most helpful as accent marks on top of other media.

 

[Bartc]

Kay, it's not difficult at all. Just takes learning like every other medium that's new to you.

It sort of reminds me of using watercolor pencils or watercolor sticks. In this case it feels like and goes on like an ordinary wax crayon, but then there are all those interesting water effects you can do with them. And as you note they can make distinct marks but they can also be blended and washed too. Or do both combined.

What I think I may do wrong is try to scribble too fast, as a kid would do with an ordinary Crayola. That's when it doesn't work as well as I'd like. But when I take my time and treat it more seriously it seems to have merits. I have yet to try it as an underpainting for my pastels; that's the next experiment if I ever get around to it. Lots to learn. And any art store is a "candy shop" for me!

 

[Geoffr]

There is a restaurant there, Moss Beach Distillery, that is very much worth a visit.

 

[Jade]

Kay, it's not difficult at all. Just takes learning like every other medium that's new to you.

It sort of reminds me of using watercolor pencils or watercolor sticks. In this case it feels like and goes on like an ordinary wax crayon, but then there are all those interesting water effects you can do with them. And as you note they can make distinct marks but they can also be blended and washed too. Or do both combined.

What I think I may do wrong is try to scribble too fast, as a kid would do with an ordinary Crayola. That's when it doesn't work as well as I'd like. But when I take my time and treat it more seriously it seems to have merits. I have yet to try it as an underpainting for my pastels; that's the next experiment if I ever get around to it. Lots to learn. And any art store is a "candy shop" for me!

A bit of an older post @Bartc but wondered how you got on with neocolour 2 wax crayons? I've just got some and am playing with as is and with water...

 

[Bartc]

Get along with them fine, but don't use them as a main medium. Sometimes I just want that sensation of drawing. Never did try it as an underpainting for pastels, as it is waxy and pastel may not stick to that.

I don't personally care for them dry on textured surfaces, so I gravitate toward using multi-media papers, because those are smoother and hold up to water, making them ideal for Neocolors in my book.

They do make for interesting effects and you can use them like watercolors. If you're out and about, as opposed to a studio, that makes them a very handy plein air or travel kit with a watercolor brush.

I didn't buy their mixing plastic surface as you can make those yourself from any plastic cutting board, just roughing up one side a bit with sandpaper. Works fine and just the same.

They are a fun and reasonably versatile medium and they are quality materials.

 

[Jade]

Thanks @Bartc I did try just putting my wet brush on the crayon and using it with watercolor.. handy as you said too. I will try some more watercolour practice. I

I mainly like doing fairly detailed drawings so am wondering if watercolour pencils might give a bit more precision than I'm getting with these but I think they could be particularly good for skys and covering an expanse of paper when needed...

 

[Bartc]

Thanks @Bartc I did try just putting my wet brush on the crayon and using it with watercolor.. handy as you said too. I will try some more watercolour practice. I

I mainly like doing fairly detailed drawings so am wondering if watercolour pencils might give a bit more precision than I'm getting with these but I think they could be particularly good for skys and covering an expanse of paper when needed...

Actually, if you watch some of the earlier instruction videos they note that you can sharpen the crayons for more precise detailing. And I recall seeing a sharpener that had a bowl to catch the scraps, which you can use for watercoloring.

But if you want true precision more easily, WC pencils and sticks would be my choice. They're fun, versatile, and also easy to carry around and use dry or wet.

WC pencils may not be as saturated as Neocolor, but I'm not sure about that. My depend on brand.

However, InkTense pencils and sticks are also very versatile and they are truly saturated. Advantage of InkTense is that it's ink and once dry it is not water soluble, unlike WC pencils and Neocolor.

 

[Jade]

I'll try sharpening and saving the scraps. Good idea. Yes, I've had my eye on inktense for those reasons. I'll keep going with the neocolour too and try different ways.