Oil Pastels (painting, artists, airbrush, day)

[Hazel W]

Originally Posted by Kayekaye

I love oil pastels. My daughter and I have created many many paintings with them. They are a looser look for the most part. We draw in the painting then take brushes with turpentine to blend them and move them around a bit. They are so fast and fun. The big drawback is they never really seem to dry if you pile it on too thick. They stay moist and can be smeared so be careful where you hang them.

I did read that about slow drying. Reminds me of water colors where, no matter how long I waited for one color to dry before painting next to it, I'd still get some running.

That is interesting about brushing it with turpentine. I'm having trouble envisioning that. Something to try. I've not been back to them since that first day. Too many irons in my fire right now.

Thanks much.

[Kayekaye]

Here's a couple my daughter did. Bear in mind this is a cell phone camera and a lot of detail is washed out.

[Hazel W]

Originally Posted by Kayekaye

Here's a couple my daughter did. Bear in mind this is a cell phone camera and a lot of detail is washed out.

Is one color on top of the other? Or did you draw in each section separately? I ask because, in the one I played with, one color would not apply atop a color I'd already used.

About cell phone, sometime last year, Apollo had two pictures in its magazine of paintings an artist had done on his smart phone or I Pad or some such. All these new gadgets - can't keep up with them. They were not camera pictures but actually "painted" on the device. I can't say how. I could probably find the issue if you wanted to see them. They were quite nice.

[Kayekaye]

Use the oil pastels as you would colored pencils in that you layer and blend while drawing. The turpentine blends it together as little or as much as you like.

Many cell phones take very good pictures and there are apps to enhance them very nicely. Mine isn't one LOL

[Hazel W]

Originally Posted by Kayekaye

Use the oil pastels as you would colored pencils in that you layer and blend while drawing. The turpentine blends it together as little or as much as you like.

Many cell phones take very good pictures and there are apps to enhance them very nicely. Mine isn't one LOL

I think I know what you are saying. The turpentine is a necessary step to having one color above another. Right?

[Kayekaye]

No, don't use the turpentine until you are done with the drawing. It melts the oil and blends the colors.

Just like color crayons you just put one color over the other however you like it. Shading and pressure how you need it.

Too much turpentine will just make it all run and smear so it has to be deliberate.

[banjomike]

Check out the works of Van Gogh, Georgia O'Keefe, Cezanne, Renoir, and Monet.

Dry pastels are essentially water colors without water. Oil pastels are oil paint that comes in a crayon stick instead of a tube.

This allows oil pastels to be very lightly applied, or ground into the field with full saturation by simply adjusting the pressure of the hand. They allow the artist to sketch or paint, and can be used with water color or acrylics or oil paint.

The only rule is 'fat over lean'. Oil pastels ('fat') have to go over water-based media ('lean'). If any water based media goes on over them, it won't adhere to the pastels. Oil paint when dry can be drawn over with pastels, and pastels can draw dry lines around wet oil paint. When drawn into wet oil, the paint will blend with the pastel.

Don't think of 'crayon' as being nothing but Crayolas, the kid's crayon. (And your oil pastels will work on top of them.)
The word is old, and is used for any color that is mixed into a base that will hold the color to the ground. Crayolas aren't the only crayons that use a wax base; all colored pencils also use wax. The colored pencils are called crayons in other nations. The French have made hard crayons for centuries using wax, animal fats, gelatin, and other materials for centuries. Conté crayons feel and act more like stick charcoal than what you think of as a crayon. And the good crayons don't come cheap, whatever they are called.

[PAhippo]

hey, thanks for the info.

bought some at a yard sale a while ago and I've been thinking of (finally) trying them out.

[Nerys52SoSilver]

I have a few oil pastels in metallic colors like gold pearl iridescent which I use in my cardmaking you can buy them as singles in art shops online.

[PAhippo]

That sounds like a good way to do sunsets!