Oil Pastels (artwork, best, son, day)

[Hazel W]

Originally Posted by 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.

This is great. Thanks. But I read it that you are doing pastels over oils and oils over pastels. The one that I tried, I was doing one oil color over another oil color. It didn't work. The second color did not "take", didn't show at all. I must be doing something wrong. Maybe I'll get a chance to try again today.

Thanks for the details.

[Kayekaye]

Originally Posted by Hazel W

This is great. Thanks. But I read it that you are doing pastels over oils and oils over pastels. The one that I tried, I was doing one oil color over another oil color. It didn't work. The second color did not "take", didn't show at all. I must be doing something wrong. Maybe I'll get a chance to try again today.

Thanks for the details.

I don't get what you described. Using oil over oil? Do you mean Oil Pastels over Oil Paint? I have done an Oil painting and then used Oil Pastels over that and it worked great. This one below is 16 x 20

[Hazel W]

Originally Posted by Kayekaye

I don't get what you described. Using oil over oil? Do you mean Oil Pastels over Oil Paint? I have done an Oil painting and then used Oil Pastels over that and it worked great. This one below is 16 x 20

Oil Pastel over oil pastel. One crayon over another. OK?

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Hazel W

Oil Pastel over oil pastel. One crayon over another. OK?

Oil pastels are very slow drying. Learning how to work with them takes a lot of experimentation and practice. If you are getting color creep from the bottom to the top, you may want to try some spray fixative over the bottom stuff before working on the next layer.

Really a lot depends on the pressure you use on the pastels. Once the ground- the paper, canvas or whatever you are drawing on- becomes fully loaded by the first coat, the second coat won't have any 'tooth' to grip to, so it will skid around on the bottom coat.

If you are using pastels as a drawing medium, you may want to use a water based paint to block in the background first if you like to work fast, or use oil paint if you prefer a slower paint.

If you are using pastels in their painterly role, try doing what the Expressionists did and lay colors close to each other but with minimum overlapping, then blend with a stump or a cotton-wrapped fingertip.

The artists who use pastels a lot often use colored papers or tinted canvas so they can keep the light colors fresh. Pastels are opaque, so lights cover darks well.

[Hazel W]

I knew I should have returned them!

[Kayekaye]

It is very ok to do one color over the other, that is what painting is all about. post what you tried. The first two samples my daughter put all different oil pastels crayons colors over each other to create new blended colors.

One thing to watch out for though is "Student Grade" as they just don't mix. They should be outlawed, what's the point of not mixing color.

Chalk pastels are an entirely different thing. Which are you using?

[Kayekaye]

I only use them on canvas. Don't give up until you know how to use them correctly, then if you don't like it fine. But if you have not found how to use them correctly you might miss out on how fun they really are.

Here is a youtube showing how to use:


Mangosteen - Time Lapse Video - Oil Pastel on Canvas - YouTube


Tips and Tricks #1~ How to Blend Oil Pastels - YouTube

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Hazel W

I knew I should have returned them!

No no! Acquiring new skills is always a good thing! New art tools and techniques are always a challenge. That's part of the fun.
If you think pastels are tough, try using an airbrush sometime. It took 5 years of dedication to become proficient with an airbrush for me, and it's now one of my most commonly used tools.

[Kayekaye]

Now airbrush is the one thing I did give up on, too hard for me. Not the cutting and planning but the spraying and keeping clean. ugh

[sarahgren]

Hi Hazel, Its a good medium to paint. Even I have painted many of my arts using using oil pastels. Check out some videos on jerrysartarama, you'll get many ideas and tips to paint with it.