Tuesday, February 12, 2008

"Sunrise Oil Pastel" 2-11-08

Late last night I decided to play with my oil pastels while watching 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Well between scenes of Captain Nemo and Kirk Douglas I did a painting 9x12" on canvas paper. I worked from a photo I took just the other morning when I did the Sunrise, Coffee and PJ's post. So you'll see a similarity between the sunrise paintings, but in this one the sun is UP now, more contrast in the clouds and color in the sky.

The canvas paper is something I've never used oil pastels on, but it's supposed to be good because it's coated with gesso to protect the paper from the oils in the pastels. I liked how easy it was to smear or blend BUT...I did not like how soon everything got too slippery to add more color.
I will try the Fredrix brand of canvas paper next to see how that behaves, it's real canvas in a tablet form. The one I used for my 'sunrise' painting is Daler-Rowney oil painting paper. Besides trying out the Fredrix brand I'll also try gessoing some illustration board and see how that works. I have a feeling I'll like it without the weave and still be able to play around with linseed oil or turpintine if I want. This isn't something I have ever used with my oil pastel paintings, but I would like to try it more and you can't use these mediums if you are working on regular paper.
I hope you liked my Sunrise!

4 comments:

Mary McAndrew said...

This post was copied from my fine art blog, from the same picture I posted there:

Jan-Peter said...
By your sunrise who could be unhappy? I for one, could not!

February 17, 2008 7:05 PM


Mary McAndrew said...
Thank you Jan-Peter!
I guess the sunrise is just as happy and beautiful in Holland as it is in Buffalo! I could use a wonderful poem from my poet to put up with my next sunrise..hint hint.
Mary

February 17, 2008 7:13 PM

poached salmon said...

Hi,
I used to sketch with oil pastels more than 8 years back.have got too busy with a regular day job.I was planning to buy some art supplies and start again.Can you recomend a good brand for oil pastels?
What have you used for your sunrise painting?

Mary McAndrew said...

Hi,
I have all kinds in my oil pastel box, some are OLD from when I was a kid...they still work. Cray Pas Expressionist aren't too expensive, Holbein (they come individually in little plastic sleeves and are flat sided) are nice because of the range of values you can buy. You can play around with linseed oil or mineral spirits to thin them but I usually just use them straight. I will do an article about them when I can.

I hope you go to my NEW BLOG, I've moved this blog over to my art website and post there all the time. If you use the search box type in Oil Pastel and anything I did with them will come up. Also look on my gallery page under landscapes, you'll see Oil Pastel there. HOpe this helps, please let me know how you progress, I'll offer advice as I can.

Mary McAndrew said...

oh forgot to give you the address!
http://www.marymcandrew.com the blog is a link at the top and you can look at my galleries.