Gateway

[ntl]

oil pastels, mixed brands, on Strathmore 90 lb cold pressed watercolor paper, ~6x9"
Learning a bit about oil pastels. Thanks for looking. C&C welcome.

 

[Donna T]

Nice. I like the sky and the way the texture of the paper adds a little sparkle behind the blues. Are oil pastels like soft pastels in that you usually start with the darks and work up to the lights?

 

[ntl]

Donna, thanks. I don't know, I really am at the beginning. Part of what I think I learned with this is to use a smoother paper. And I think I'll leave places uncovered where I want white, and probably block in with --perhaps a darker version of the desired lighter version. I know very little about this, I don't use them often. I think I'll start a thread re Tips for Using Oil Pastels.

 

[Artyczar]

I love how this turned out. The textures are very attractive, and I love how you did the tree stems. The animals are sweet.

 

[Terri]

Such a pretty scene! Your gate turned out beautifully. You got really nice textures going, too. Nice one!

 

[Terri]

Are oil pastels like soft pastels in that you usually start with the darks and work up to the lights?

You know, that's an interesting question. I don't paint like that with them, but others might. A lot depends on the brand used, too, some are more transparent than others and wouldn't cover darks well.

I've never done a full painting with soft pastels, so dark to light sounds like a whole different approach to me.

 

[triss]

Lovely countryside scene, ntl. It's always great to see people giving oil pastels a try (I think lots of artists have an unused box of them stuck at the back of a drawer somewhere!). The paper texture works well for breaking up the tree foliage, and I like your scraping effect for the background tree branches. Hope to see more of your oil pastel work.

 

[ntl]

Arty. Terri. thanks!
Triss, thanks to you, too. I have several boxes of oil pastels of varying ages, including two wonderful Grumbacher sets from about 1972. I don't use them much, and was surprised to receive another set, this King art that I can't find now.