Discovering oil pastels

I recently visited an art store for buying some supplies for oil painting. While skimming through the shelves which were pretty overloaded with a vast range of art goodies, I came across some sets of oil pastels. I was curious to try them out for it has been ages since I did so. The last memory dates back to my primary school days when pastels and crayons were the only mediums I had explored.

Quite unsure of my ability, I picked up the student quality pastels(junior level) instead of the myriad professional ones available. It took me a few days to finally overcome the inertia and get started with the new medium I bought.

Very surprisingly, oil pastels have proven to exceed my expectations drastically. Simply put, oil pastels can weave magic even for someone who is just starting with this medium. Everyday I unravel something exciting.

Well, there is a lot to explore in this domain and I very earnestly look forward to whats in store. Posting some experiments here.

1. Start with some basic elements to understand the texture of the medium

2. Then try out something a little more complex with a composition of lighting and texture.


Comments

harith said…
How easy is it to fix mistakes? In case of water colours, paint stripes won't dry up quickly. So, adding some more water and diluting with the colours can neutralise mistakes to some extent.
July 14, 2014 at 12:15 AM
Mohita Menon said…
It may not be that straightforward as it depends a lot on the kind of pastel and texture of paper being used. However you can use a sharp object to scrape off color, another way is using your fingers/cloth which will blend some colors and lighten it.
July 17, 2014 at 10:13 PM
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