52 artistApril 2021 http://www.painters-online.co.ukOIL PASTELS
- Thick acrylic paint on canvas board primed
with gesso and pumice. Heavy applications
of soft oil pastel were worked into the
surface in layers to create impasto and
scumbled effects. - Oil pastel washes (thinned with solvent)
on canvas paper. This underpainting with oil
pastel acts as a resist to thin applications of
white acrylic paint to create scumbled colour
effects with both media. - Oil pastel was loosely applied to Canson
Mi-Teintes ‘Touch’ pastel paper, allowing the
colour of the support to show through and
become an integral part of the painting.
Acrylic inks were applied next. The result is
both transparent painted areas and impasto
drawn marks in the same painting. - Toning and blending with oil pastels on
Canson Mi-Teintes ‘Touch’ pastel paper.
Heavy pressure creates a dense heavily
saturated area of oil pastel on the support.
Lighter applications create an implied lighter
tone. Different coloured supports will give
different optical effects, making the applied
colours appear warmer, darker and so on. On
the right, white oil pastel was used with the
red to create a lighter opaque tint. - Hatched layering with oil pastels both
soft and hard. By varying the pressure and
direction of the strokes, oil pastels create
depth in drawing with colour.- Graphite with oil pastel on Canson Mi-
Teintes ‘Touch’ pastel paper (white). Graphite
was applied first, then oil pastel, then
graphite again to cut through the oil pastel.
A soft light green oil pastel was applied last
of all. IMPORTANT: wipe the pastels and
graphite sticks with a soft cloth between
applications to keep both media clean. - Diluted water-soluble graphite applied
on a prepared textured ground (Wallace
Seymour ‘Bone Ash’) on acid-free card, which
was allowed to dry, then drawn into with a
scalpel blade. Oil pastel was applied next
then drawn into as well with a scalpel to
reveal the graphite under drawing. Harmony
in layering. - Masking techniques with thin
photocopier-type papers are a great way to
create straight-edged shapes when working
with oil pastels. Masking tape is useful for
masking out areas before oil pastel is applied
if you want to work hands-free without
holding the paper. In this example soft oil
pastel colours were blended, working one
into the other with firm strokes. Other areas
were blended with fingers to create smooth
transitions. The two central areas were then
protected with strips of masking tape and
red soft oil pastels applied. The top colour
and middle were finger blended and the
bottom section left as open, drawn strokes.
Once the masking tape was removed,
pink oil pastel was then applied to an area
between two pieces of torn paper to give
a contrasting shape with a ragged edge.
A good example of how to achieve sharp
edges and layering with oil pastels.IDEAS FOR USING OIL
PASTELS EXPRESSIVELY
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